Skanska, in a joint venture with Shook Construction, was selected to provide pre-construction and construction management services for the Atrium Medical Center Health and Technology Campus.
The new Atrium Medical Center is a full service, acute care replacement hospital facility for the Middletown region of Ohio, located between Cincinnati and Dayton along the I-75 corridor. The new facility is located on a 230-acre, greenfield site and houses various services such as Open Heart Program, Cath Labs, Radiology (including CT and MRI), Laboratory, Pharmacy, Emergency Care, ICU/CCU, Food Service and Healing Garden. The structure has been designed and built to accommodate future vertical expansion to a full height of seven stories. Total gross square footage is approximately 544,443 and 225 beds.
In addition to the new hospital facility, a significant road and utility infrastructure was installed within the 230 acre site to allow for the Hospital’s future growth into a multi-purpose health and technology campus to properly service the growing communities of the surrounding areas.
Constructing the project
One of the notable challenges of the Atrium Medical Center project was the construction of three buildings being built concurrently with the construction of the main hospital, each of which tied in to the primary structure. The issue that arose from this was the coordination of finish details, which needed to be identical from building to building. Elevations needed to be consistent, and materials could not vary in color. All of the flooring materials had to be ordered together to avoid any slight pigment changes from order to order. In addition to the internal items, tying together the two separate roofing systems proved to be a challenge. An expansion joint was eventually used to circumvent the issue. Temporary walls had to be built and maintained to protect the main hospital from the exposed conditions some of the other buildings presented. Skanska and Shook Construction were not responsible for one of the additional buildings, and phasing became an issue when the schedule for that project began to slip so Skanska and Shook Construction revised their original phases.
Environment
The goal was set forth at the beginning of the project and advertised incessantly to everyone involved that this would be the cleanest, safest job site possible. There were approximately a million and a half work hours put into the project with no serious injuries. The success started with the commitment to cleanliness. The philosophy was that at a clean site workers are more apt to be more cognizant of what they are doing. The need to maintain a clean site was expressed early and often and reinforced throughout the project. In addition, the Project Management staff started every work day with a fifteen minute “stretch and flex” that was required of everyone on the site in the morning. This not only allowed people to loosen up before beginning their work, it also gave them time to shake off any cobwebs from the night before. These tasks were even extended to hospital personnel that had to be on-site as the project neared completion. Each of these items was minimal in effort or time, but the sum effort resulted in a massive project with an outstanding safety performance record.
Benefits for the community
Two charity golf tournaments organized and sponsored by Skanska and Shook Construction raised over $20,000 for the state-of-the-art Heart Center constructed at the new hospital. The tournaments benefited Mid-Miami Healthcare Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Middletown Regional Hospital, who was charged with raising more than $4 million for the comprehensive heart center through its Advancing Care for a Healthier Community capital campaign.
More than 100 golfers participated, mostly local contractors and subcontractors on the hospital construction team. “We’re very pleased to make this contribution, and to help make an already excellent hospital even stronger for the future,” said Steve Risner, project director for Skanska and Shook Construction, the organizer of the golf event. “We’re fortunate to have an A-team on this project—a team that takes great pride in what they’re bringing to the region. I’m pleased that so many care enough not only to do outstanding work on the project site, but also to come out and support this fund raiser with a day of golf.”
