The project also included shell spaces for a future Library and future Dialysis unit.  Through intricate coordination, DPR was able to incorporate the finish out of both future units during the construction of the main project. General conditions were shared between projects, saving the facility considerable expense. These savings contributed to making the build-outs affordable to complete during the main project.

The project had several challenges, both expected and unexpected. Availability of manpower was an issue due to the after-effects of hurricane Katrina. DPR’s strong relationships with national subcontracting firms helped the team staff the project. The national firms supplemented the local forces that were available, and were instrumental to the success of the project.

What was unexpected was that Louisiana had the wettest, coldest winter in seven years.  This resulted in more than 142 rain days during construction of the tower.  The owner allowed a 20-day schedule extension; the remaining 122 days were made up through overlapping trade schedules, and off-hours and weekend work.

To allow ample daylight to reach all workstations, 18 20' X 20' windows were cut into the sides of the building, creating light-filled work areas in a previously dreary space. A complex Building Management System (BMS) includes more control zones than a typical system, allowing the tenants greater control of energy use.

Clean construction methods were used during construction to help eliminate the potential for "sick building syndrome." Equipment and ductwork were wrapped during installation to keep them clean; when air systems were started, passageways were clean and no construction debris entered into circulation.

More than 75% off waste was recycled or diverted, and the site included separate bins for steel, concrete, unpainted drywall and waste. All office furniture was made of certified wood products, and drywall—which was self-performed by DPR—was made from recycled materials.

The project, situated alongside critical patient care areas on the 14th floor of Lutheran Tower, required a disciplined approach to infection control. Constant communication with the facility’s staff, doctors and nurses was a necessity. DPR coordinated all activity with staff, working around the day-to-day needs of the patients, with their safety and comfort a driving focus.

Critically ill patients occupied adjacent floors. As part of a rigorous infection control plan, DPR sealed draft stops and ductwork to ensure debris from the construction area did not enter patient rooms. Negative pressure machines, tacky mats, HEPA filters and other barriers were used as well.

The footprint of the new patient tower was directly over the location of the original utilities' path to the hospital. Rather than shut the water off to the hospital while tying into the new line, the team used this new approach: temporary “saddles” were attached to the exterior of the 8-inch water main in two sections, and then connected to a nitrogen source. The water in the pipes in the work area froze, allowing workers to cut open the pipe and install the new line. Work had to be performed quickly, before the frozen water could melt, potentially sending hundreds of gallons of water through the open pipe.

To drill 20-foot piers inside the occupied pharmacy, DPR built temporary walls to encapsulate work activity within the partitions. A Bobcat was brought in to drill the piers and worked within the temporary walls. Exhaust from the Bobcat was released from the building via a 50-foot flexible steel tube attached to the muffler. The tube extended out of the work area, down the hall and out of a side door of the hospital.

To install the structural steel into the piers, a hole was cut in the roof for cranes to "fly" the steel in. To protect staff, DPR timed the incoming piers with the staff; each time a new piece came in, the staff would leave the area for 20 minutes (it is against OSHA regulation to allow major lifts over occupied spaces) then return when the coast was clear.

The project required the relocation of the employee parking lot. The owner's original schedule called for a new lot to be built prior to beginning construction of the new building. DPR recommended several approaches to “parking control” to allow work to begin on both phases at once. DPR built sidewalks, covered walkways, brought in a shuttle van and built a bus stop pavilion to make the employee's trek from an outer lot easier. By starting the new lot and building at the same time, six months were shaved from the schedule.

• 450-sq.-ft. C-Section addition
• 4,000-sq.-ft. Cardiac Catheterization addition
• 20 Med/Surg Patient rooms, 9,600-sq.-ft., buildout of shell space
• Relocation of existing utilities

The C-Section suite was tied into the building in an alcove space of the central courtyard of the hospital. Because of this “locked-in” location, cranes were used to excavate, dump in select fill and place structural steel – from the staging area in the parking lot, over the building, to the inside of the courtyard. To comply with OSHA and DPR safety requirements (which do not allow any load to be lifted over people), the team coordinated with the hospital to lift in and out when there were no scheduled C-Sections (the area under the lift path is the birthing center). DPR used spotters inside the hospital along the lift path to keep people from walking through during a lift, and to alert the team when an emergency C-Section needed to come through. In those instances, work was halted immediately and resumed only when the team could be sure there was no traffic.

One of the most critical challenges was removing exterior precast panels to expose the building substructure. Field measurements for steel tie-in points, exact dimensions of concrete edges, and structural openings all had to be verified. However, removing the panels left the building's exterior skin exposed to weather and environmental breaches to Infectious Disease Controls. This condition was more exaggerated in some cases because some of the panels were three stories tall, opening three floors at a time to the exposures referenced.

The DPR staff engaged in many creative methods to get this segment of work done and still keep the areas behind the precast in operation. It was necessary to constantly come up with new ways to install temporary weather protection and monitor the installations. Coordination with the facility and end user for shut downs of the space was continuous. The work was completed with no incidents to patients, staff, or the facility.

The team created an electronic model of the concrete structure using Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools. Because the details could be accurately modeled electronically, potential clashes were resolved before workers broke ground. DPR was also able to give the subcontractor a 3D view of what the underground work looked like, resulting in a higher level of quality.

The electrophysiology (EP) laboratory renovation project included the renovation of a PACU bay, isolation room, and two existing laboratories into new EP labs. One of the labs was particularly challenging as it required changing the function of the room and involved heavy major utility changes and coordination. The team also had to overcome space limitations in order to fit a state of the art imaging robot, lighting, HVAC, sprinklers, and other items, into the required 9-ft., 6-in. ceiling height with a concrete deck height of just 9-ft., 9-in.

The emergency department expansion added 25,000 sq. ft. and 16 additional ED beds to the facility. The two-story vertical expansion added 40,000 sq. ft. to be used for labs, offices, materials management on the first floor and four ORs, a 15-bed PACU and 27-bed ICU.

Both the vertical and horizontal expansions were built concurrently, increasing the already high level of importance on strict infection control procedures. The team constantly monitored particulate counts and enclosures around temporary walls. Throughout months of construction directly above occupied operating rooms and inside the active emergency department, no unplanned shutdowns occurred.

The soil in Clear Lake is sandy, requiring massive footings. Rather than dig individual footings, DPR excavated the entire area, poured footings and plinths, then backfilled around them. Excavating a single large area meant there was no risk of the cave-ins associated with digging footings in sandy soil, and two weeks were shaved from the schedule.

With three of four floors in place, the owner added two floors to the scope of the project. Designs were not complete, and rebar—which had a lead time of six weeks—is typically not ordered until drawings are farther along. Rather than push the schedule out, DPR pre-ordered the rebar, estimating quantities based on the previous floors and allowing for changes in the field to accommodate the larger ductwork required for floors five and six. The anticipated field changes were made quickly, ultimately saving time on the scheduled compared to ordering rebar when designs were complete.

The addition of two floors of cast-in-place concrete would have exceeded the soil bearing capacity of the site, so the design of the roof was changed to steel, which is long lead. To keep the project moving forward, a temporary rubber roof was installed so finishouts could begin on the first four floors. Waterproof sheetrock was used on top-out walls in some areas where wall framing and ductwork installation could begin. The cost of the temporary roof—approximately $70,000—paid for itself in time saved four times over. It also allowed the team to essentially stay on the same schedule proposed before the addition of two floors. Installation of a connector bridge from the heart hospital to the main hospital also presented challenges. Created using more than 100 tons of steel, the 400-ft. bridge was installed over a busy county road. The team was required to coordinate with several entities to close the road while sections of the bridge were installed.

With patients on floors above and below, the team focused on infection control and minimizing disruption from noise and vibration.
Materials were moved in and out of the building in covered containers to minimize construction-related debris from entering clean hospital areas. Tacky mats were placed inside entry points to construction zones to capture dust. Workers were required to wear booties in the work area, and to remove them at designated exit points (to keep used booties from being scattered around the jobsite).

Workers were reminded daily of the level of professionalism required when working in an occupied hospital. A DPR representative was onsite at all times to monitor noise levels, ensure workers know to keep voice levels down and don't drop materials on the floor.

When noisy work was unavoidable, DPR coordinated with occupants of the floors above and below to plan around patient needs when work took place.

With the developer's budget and LEED credits in mind, the preconstruction team conducted cost studies of multiple office buildings, as well as the effectiveness of different parking systems.
Life cycle cost analysis showed that spending more on some items, for example the mechanical systems and glazing (upgrading to the more efficient Aircool Chillers with VFD, and Solar Band XL windows), up front would pay off in utility cost savings in about six years. The developer's budget was reached after an extensive value engineering effort, including $2,900,000 in suggestions, none of which affected LEED certification points.

The team, which self-performed the concrete, utilized BIM software to accurately detail/build the cast-in place concrete structures virtually and minimize construction waste. A “Tenant Manual” was created for future tenants to help guide them through the LEED-CI Certification process. More than 92.03 percent of all construction waste was recycled, with 2,944,690 pounds of debris diverted from landfills.

The buildings are part of a 333-acre master planned project in northwest Austin. The property includes a 182-acre habitat preserve for the golden cheeked warbler. Construction was scheduled around the bird’s mating season, when noisy work is not allowed.

Construction was not always on continuous floors - i.e., the second and fifth floors were under construction while others were fully occupied - so site cleanliness took on an elevated role. Subcontractor crews continuously moved from one floor to another, creating tracks of construction dirt and debris. Each subcontractor was required to have a dedicated cleaning crew that cleaned throughout the day, rather than just day's end.

Hurricane Gustav caused the schedule to be delayed early on. Everyone stepped in to get the project back on schedule, and to ensure end-users and Christus' leadership knew where the project stood schedule-wise throughout. The project was completed within the contractually agreed-to timeframe.

The 33,000-sq.-ft. GLP lab includes 13 double lab modules, four single lab modules, seven tissue culture rooms, three linear equipment rooms, a darkroom, microscopy, histology, office, conferences rooms and workrooms. This portion of the project was completed in a fast six months to accommodate the owner's need for research space.

The GMP lab was constructed in space adjacent to the occupied GLP lab, and will be validated by the FDA. The 7,700-sq.-ft. space includes four production rooms, a quality control room, cell freezing room and offices. The vivarium, located on the opposite side of the building, houses small animals and includes animal holding, cleaning and sterilizing areas.

A SketchUp model was used to coordinate shop drawing with the stainless steel wall vendor in Colorado, which saved time on the schedule and improved the quality of the final product.

Despite a very fast schedule and highly complex scope, the project was completed under budget and with just 16 punchlist items at substantial completion.

Fast Computer, Fast Schedule
It almost goes without saying that one of the fastest computing facilities in the world would be built on an equally fast schedule. The 10-month schedule included minimum 56-hour workweeks for the field teams, sometimes with only DPR-mandated days off. In addition, there were 41 weather impact days—far more than usual in Austin—that were absorbed by the schedule.

All owner milestones were completed on time or early, and the owner was able to move into the space two months early to begin build-out of the super-computer. The project was also awarded the University of Texas Safety Through Exemplary Performance (STEP) Silver Award. The project was completed with zero accidents, zero recordables and zero lost time incidents.

Self Performed Work
DPR self-performed demolition, drywall, accessory installation and concrete to help drive the schedule and fill in difficult to contract scopes.

The project design includes the use of UPS flywheels in lieu of the more typical static batteries. The UPS flywheels have several advantages for this project: they use about 30% less space than static batteries, are not potential explosion hazards, don't require special room ventilation, and have a life span of approximately 20 years. In emergency situations they provide 14 seconds of load at 100%, which is more than enough time for emergency generators to reach full capacity.

In lieu of the split DX units that were planned for the roof, the team recommended using Water-Cooled Chillers and a Cooling Tower. DX units are less expensive to install, but much more expensive to run. Using life cycle energy analysis tools with the BIM, the team determined that although the Water-Cooled Chillers were more expensive to install, over a 15-year period the University would save upwards of $16 million in energy and maintenance costs.

The ceiling in the data center white space was lower than in a typical data center, and did not have the load capacity to support the data cable trays. The team designed the load from the cable trays to be supported from the raised access flooring below. Rather than hanging from the ceiling, the trays are supported from below via poles at the base of the server cabinet.

The cable tray support system was designed electronically in BIM, and run through clash detection software during design. The team was able to see exactly how much space was available for cabling, and make adjustments where needed. In some instances, the design left as little as ½” clearance. Having the entire design and construction team involved in the clash detection, accurate changes could be made in the drawings rather than the field when changes are more costly to implement.

To help expedite the schedule, an early release package for abatement was developed for the portion of the building that was unoccupied prior to the project starting. When the building was vacated, DPR was able to move quickly and could focus on the white space, demarcs and electrical room demo and build-back.

Technical Details

• Tier Level: Tier III
• Structure: Precast concrete
• Raised Floor: 9,000 sq. ft.
• Critical Load: 1.44 MW
• Watts/square foot: 150/sq. ft.
• Hot aisle/cold aisle containment
• Rotary Flywheel Uninterruptible Power System (UPS): 2N
• Chilled Water System: N+1 system for cooling of white space and UPS rooms

Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools are being used to streamline coordination of equipment installation and to resolve clashes before designs are complete. At the construction mid-way point, the team has identified 400 major clashes that have led to re-sizing of ductwork, lowering ceilings and re-routing of mechanical and electrical systems. The mechanical team estimates that the electronic coordination has saved them approximately two months on the schedule and $50,000-$10,000 due to lack of conflicts.

DPR created the architectural, structural and miscellaneous support models. The mechanical and electrical subcontractors each created their scopes in the model, as did the telecommunication and fire protection contractors. The subcontractors have gained the most use of the models through multidiscipline coordination, shop drawing creation and visuals to attach to RFIs.

At the end of the project, the model will be handed over to the owner to use with their ‘as-built’ documentation and facility management.

The owner's initial plan called for two distinct phases: shell construction and data center finishout, with demobilization from the site between the two. This was to accommodate the company's fiscal year and funding availability. DPR recommended compressing the shell construction by two months and starting later, eliminating the need for additional demobilization/mobilization and saving on the overall budget.

The electrical underground design would not be ready in time to meet the new accelerated schedule. Completion of the building slab was a critical schedule milestone, as it was to serve as the casting bed for the tilt-up panels. However, the electrical underground design would not be ready in time for the new accelerated schedule. Under the original schedule, the massive amount of electrical conduit needed would have been installed below the slab prior to it being poured. To allow construction to proceed while electrical design was in progress, the project's structural engineers analyzed the foundation grade beam structure and made recommendations for proceeding with the slab. The approach was to utilize the four feet of flowable, lightweight concrete under the exterior grade beams for access. When the building construction was complete, a portion of the interior slab was removed and sections of the lightweight concrete excavated. Electricians were then able to run conduit from the interior of the building to the exterior yard while the interior build-out progressed.

The city utility also did not have sufficient infrastructure to support the facility by the accelerated completion date. They agreed to have power ready in time for the original completion date but could not guarantee service for the compressed construction schedule. The team enlisted a temporary services design and implementation company to design and provide temporary cooling and dehumidification of the interior to allow sensitive activities to continue without hindering the schedule.

http://www.christushealthhosting.com/

The R&D consolidation project brought many separate work groups together into a single open work area. Each of these groups has different equipment with different MEP requirements, different schedules, and different overall project needs. To help each user group visualize the layout of the new space and get their feedback on changes prior to installing work, DPR walked each through a mock-up of the space. Before laying out floors and installing equipment as it was shown on the plans, DPR ran everything through the end-users first. Each was shown – through mockups, sketches, blueprints – what their space would ‘look' like to help them visualize what they needed. Most of the silicon chip scientists moving in to the facility had never built a lab before and found this exercise helpful to pinpoint exactly what they would need.

The fast schedule left no time for shop drawing approvals or prefabrication. On mechanical and electrical-heavy projects like this, time is typically spent early on to review submittals with subcontractor teams, receive their approvals, and prefabricate much of the work. Because of the fast pace of this project, there was no time to review shop drawings or prefabricate MEP systems. Everything had to be approved, built, and installed on site and on the fly.

DPR supervised and coordinated the work on site as it was installed. Field engineers from the mechanical and electrical teams worked on site with DPR to hand sketch single sections of work. The sketches were emailed to engineers for approval, then fabricated and installed. DPR's superintendent coordinated the work of the teams to ensure the work – performed under raised floor and in the same space – continued efficiently without workers getting in each other's way.

Part of DPR's scope of work was to oversee the decommissioning, moving, and reinstallation of more than 150 different kinds of microchip research and testing tools. Each tool move involved the tool operator, riggers, movers, mechanical subs, electrical subs, and DPR. Each tool also had different requirements for downtime, MEP systems, and start-up, and a constantly changing schedule for when it could be moved, based on current production schedules.

DPR took a hands-on, tool-by-tool approach to supervising the tool moves. A mechanical/electrical coordinator was stationed at each end of the move to monitor the shutdown and startup. The superintendent at the project site coordinated installation subcontractors, making sure each parties was there when needed and that work was performed in the right order. For example, electrical connections must be made before compressed air, followed by process water. This process was repeated as tools were ready to be moved over the course of four months.

After project was finished, DPR had to take it all offline to install 120 zone valves in less than 48 hours at the request of the owner. These new process cold water zone valves were added to allow the owner to isolate smaller sections of the system for maintenance work, so all tools don't have to be shut down for one repair.