2020 CMAA Project Achievement Award
Healthcare: Construction value less than $50 Million
Mount Nittany Medical Center - Cardiovascular Pavilion
Owner: Mount Nittany Health | CM: Alexander Building Construction Co.
Our safety culture at Mount Nittany Medical Center advocated a philosophy of working within a “6-Sided Box” in the healthcare environment. We re-enforced the potential impact of actions and work that is completed may have on the health, safety and comfort of the patients, staff and visitors of the hospital. Outside of our ICRA containment and construction areas, the data cable, fire suppression system, water, steam, ductwork, or conduit may be actively serving systems that have a direct impact on life dependent equipment and/or services that keep the patients and staff at the hospital safe. This mindset of working in the 6-sided box with hospital spaces all around us instilled the empathy necessary to work in a healthcare environment.
Our team was keenly aware of Prevention through Design which not only assists with safety during construction but also assists the end user. This project had difficult ductwork tie-ins to make to existing AHUs and the originally designed tie-in for supply and return ductwork would have required workers to climb on top of a very large AHU in the Emergency Department Penthouse and would also have required numerous existing systems relocations and shutdowns. Alexander and McClure worked with Mount Nittany and the design team on a solution to re-design the location of the ductwork tie-in downstream of the original location. We not only eliminated the hazardous conditions of accessing the work from unsafe heights but also eliminated numerous system shutdowns and improved future maintenance access.
The Structural Steel Erection Process was extremely critical as to not interrupt the operations of the Emergency Department below and to allow patients and EMS teams to access the building. Careful planning led to selecting the proper crane to sit in the only place that would not interrupt traffic and properly lift all steel members. We engaged a structural engineer to evaluate that a steel member would not puncture the concrete roof structure if accidentally dropped during erection. Spaces inside the Emergency Department were evacuated in a phased approach allowing steel to swing over and set without having occupants below and without interrupting Emergency Department operations.
