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Utility Tunnel at Banner Estrella Medical Center
Banner Estrella Medical Center
is the first acute care hospital in the area to serve the
rapidly-growing communities in the West Valley of Phoenix, Arizona.
The first portion of this 50-acre campus opened in
December 2004 with a 180-bed acute care hospital tower, diagnostic
and treatment center and central plant facility, all designed by
the Healthcare Team at Syska Hennessy Group.
Fast Track Process
For the client, speed to market was critical, along with the need
to carefully control costs and minimize change orders during design
and construction. Syska accomplished this in three ways: by developing
a fast track process to pre-determine critical utility sizes, separating
the plans and specifications into 3 distinct phases: Site Utilities,
Shell and Core, and Tenant Improvements, and maintaining close
involvement and coordination with the client’s contractor,
DPR Construction, and their subcontractor team, early in the design
phase.
Typically, a major hospital project such as this requires anywhere
from 5-7 years to design and construct, however the Syska team,
working closely with the Project Architect, NBBJ, and the owner,
was able to compress the schedule significantly, requiring only
2.5 years from initial concept to completion of construction. This
was done by implementing Hospital of the Future design criteria
developed by Syska Hennessy Group, for core locations, and utility
sizing.
Regular meetings were held with the Project Team, the Project
Architect, the Client, and the Contractor, to resolve design issues,
perform maintainability and constructability analysis, and establish
good communications. These meetings, held at various locations,
allowed the entire team to surface and address minor issues, before
they became major problems.
Master Plan Future
When the Master Plan is complete, the hospital is projected to
expand to nearly 300 beds by 2010. Services offered at the medical
campus will include surgery, cancer care, cardiac services, ambulatory
care, emergency services and a comprehensive women and infant services
program.
Syska Hennessy Group is providing consulting and engineering for
this 440,000 sq. ft. "Hospital of the Future", designing
the building systems in a modular fashion with maximum flexibility
and selective redundancy to facilitate the planned expansion of
the hospital, including the addition of two new patient towers
and the expansion of the Diagnostic and Treatment Center and Central
Plant, with minimal impact on the central systems.
Because this hospital is located in a desert environment, special
attention was placed on the additional cooling needs of the facility,
along with the need to limit outside equipment exposure to the
elements. Visual aesthetics were also a key consideration in the
location of key equipment.
The Hospital’s new Central Plant facility was strategically
located out of the way of future hospital expansion areas. This
created some challenges as the location was not directly adjacent
to the first phase Hospital Tower and Diagnostic and Treatment
facility. Syska engineers designed a Utility Tunnel or Service
Spine directly connecting the central plant to the Tower and D&T
facility, and sized it at 16-feet high, to allow for easy of maintainability
and access and to facilitate “back of house” delivery
outside of the patient areas, and future facility expansion. Medium
voltage distribution systems were designed to provide longer distance
electrical service while reducing voltage loss, and high temperature,
high pressure water systems were used in place of traditional steam
pipes, providing a lower cost delivery alternative that is carried
in smaller pipes with less loss of energy. The size of the utility
tunnel even allows for the future delivery of unit substations
through the tunnel itself, when the building is expanded.
Banner Estrella Medical Center The Hospital project is located in the vicinity of one of the
largest atomic power plants in the country, as well as a major
U.S. Air Force base, and therefore has been planned with special
considerations given to security, and response capabilities in
case of a major disaster.
Syska provided an onsite staff member in Arizona, to
speed the construction process, by immediately responding to design
issues during construction, and facilitating rapid communications
with both the client and the contractor.
Banner Health
Regional Healthcare Services Provider
Banner Health is one of the largest, not-for-profit health care
systems in the country. Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Banner operates
19 hospital, six long term care centers and other facilities in
eight western states. Their specialized services include heart
care, cancer treatment, organ transplants, bone marrow transplants,
and cutting-edge research in the fields of spinal cord injuries
and Alzheimer’s disease.
Syska Hennessy Group has developed and maintained a long-term
client relationship with Banner Health, driven by design innovation,
and creative solutions to the facility needs of this client. The
firm has leveraged its national resources to bring cutting edge
solutions to benefit this leading regional health services provider.
Banner Estrella Medical Center has won the top honors
in the 20th Annual Design Awards competition of Modern Healthcare.
Check
out all the winners in their Best of 2004 article >>
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