Hospital Renovation - Grant Medical Systems
Healthcare
Hospital Renovation
The Project
QPM was engaged to renovate an existing building to create a new Spine Center including an exercise facility, diagnostic room, outpatient surgery center and doctor offices.
The QPM Solution
The key challenge for QPM with this project was a massive change in scope: After the work to renovate the building had begun, the client elected to amend the scope to include the construction of a new 4-foot therapy pool in the existing basement. The pool was to be planned, estimated, scheduled and constructed – with no extension of the existing project schedule.
The addition of the pool required significant creativity on the part of QPM. The pool interior area required highly toxic and flammable paint that the local paint contractor was not qualified to use. The QPM Project Manager researched the MSDS sheets on the paint and developed a Safety Plan for the painter to use when working with these chemicals.
In addition, the paint required special air monitoring equipment and that proper ventilation be established to avoid compromising the safety of the medical staff still working in the other portion of the facility. All work crews had to be fitted with respirators.
An additional challenge was how to dig out the existing basement to accommodate the pool. QPM determined a method by which the back wall of the basement was set up with 6-foot dirt conveyors, allowing the workers to hand dig the dirt and use the conveyors to remove it from the basement area. Once the digging was completed and the wall removed, QPM anticipated the challenges associated with potential future service issues for the pool and recommended an 8-foot by 4-foot door be installed to allow access to the pool area.
Architectural drawings proposed using glass for the facility’s exercise room, but the PM value-engineered this option and recommended instead using plexiglass, saving the client considerable expense.
And finally, the original building plans failed to show the correct power layouts, so QPM was forced to address issues with the power grid as they arose during the renovation.
The Results
In the end, and despite the myriad issues associated with adding the therapy pool to the project scope, QPM completed the project on schedule.
