James Leary Architecture and Planning and DPR credit collaboration as vital to hospital project success

Building within an operating hospital and working with California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) can be demanding even under the best conditions. For DPR and James Leary Architecture and Planning, a recent 2,000-sq.-ft. renovation of a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) located in Scripps Memorial Hospital included elements that further compounded the complexity of the job.

“This 2,000-sq.-ft. remodel entails nearly every challenging activity that you’ll probably ever see in healthcare construction,” said DPR Project Manager Steve Sherrer.

The three-month project consisted of the demolition of an existing lounge and offices, relocation of the floor’s main rated corridor, and numerous tie-ins and shutdowns, including an air handler, a Nurse Call System that monitors the location of nurses and infants, and a main medical gas tie-in that required the entire two-tower, seven-story hospital to be shut down. In addition, the project team had to work with two different sets of clients, the Scripps Women’s Center staff and the Children’s Hospital staff, which manages the NICU.

‘We had several preconstruction meetings to discuss and address all the sensitivities of designing and building around a functioning unit with newborns being treated immediately adjacent to the project area,” said Edouard Ruegg, AIA, principal of James Leary. “We also wanted to make sure that everyone was well informed and prepared prior to project start to ensure a smooth delivery.”

The preconstruction walk-thrus also turned out to be beneficial, noted Eric Scavone of James Leary, as DPR was able to note existing conditions. This allowed the team to work together to develop strategies and detailed plans, making the project easier to construct and help it through the field inspection approval process.

“DPR has been very proactive in keeping the project moving on schedule and developing solutions for challenges that arise,” said Scavone. “They have entrenched themselves in the project and know the systems better than anyone so nothing seems to come as a surprise.”

One of the biggest challenges was the medical gas tie-in that required the entire hospital to be back-fed from temporary bottles while DPR connected the new NICU systems to the main lines. According to Scavone, DPR took a lead in coordinating the tie-in and set up several meetings to study different options and came up with a plan that worked.

“It was truly a collaborative effort between the facility, staff, architects, engineers” credits Sherrer. “Rick Wilson, DPR’s project superintendent, coordinated five different meetings, two months in advance of the scheduled shutdown. We put contingency plans in place that accounted for everything that the project team could possibly imagine, and it went off without a single hiccup.”

Beginning at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning in August, DPR and Scripps project teams started its three hours of preparation by distributing temporary bottles to patients and staff and back-feeding each hospital tower for medical air and oxygen. And, by 3:30 p.m. the same day, the last member of the project team left the site after completing a job well done, said Sherrer.