Adding Care for High-Risk Mothers and Babies
Abrazo Arrowhead NICU Expansion | Glendale, Arizona
DPR completed a second-floor vertical expansion at Abrazo Arrowhead's existing campus to provide an additional 8,500 sq. ft. of NICU space. Adding capacity, as well as physician subspecialty coverage and capabilities, the unit will allow Abrazo Arrowhead to serve more families and keep more moms and babies together in their community. The addition increases the unit's size from 21 to 35 beds, and supports enhanced capabilities to pursue certification as a Level IIIB NICU for more complex maternal and neonatal medical conditions, and obstetric and fetal complications. |
About the
Project
Building a vertical expansion within a tight site, above and surrounded by active hospital operations, comes with inherent challenges and sensitivities. Not only did the hospital's existing Level IIIA perinatal care center next door remain open during construction, but the expansion work was completed above active cardiovascular operating rooms (CVORs), surgical instrument sterilization, and material handling spaces. The project required multiple innovative and collaborative solutions between DPR's Special Services Group (SSG), VDC, and self-perform teams. These addressed:
Project
Innovations
Working Around 24-7 Hospital Operations
DPR's project team, self-perform teams, and trade partners implemented best practices to mitigate noise and vibration, and frequently communicated with the departments operating below. The team also sequenced structural steel erection around the cardiovascular operating room schedule, ensuring that at least one CVOR was open at all times.
Preventing Risk of Fire or Water Intrusion
The team added several mitigation measures to protect the existing structure beneath the expansion. These included adding sand on the existing roof to protect from welding sparks, protective measures for roof drains, and cutting in "dog houses" i.e., roofing curbs with sheet metal caps at column connections and extensions.
Keeping Rain Out of Exposed Areas
Ripping the roof off of a building, during a record-setting season for rain, opened the project up to risk of water intrusion in several areas. To close in the 9,000 square feet of exposed structure, the team utilized a "greenhouse" of prefabricated, interconnected plastic panels, which a DPR self-perform carpentry crew had already preassembled on site for immediate installation after steel erection was complete.
Catching and Mitigating Risk with VDC
Exploratory/surgical demolition was not available to validate existing conditions against the design, given the hospital’s occupied first floor. Using laser scanning technology, our in-house VDC team confirmed that the first-floor existing columns and metal decking were outside of tolerance by a substantial margin. Catching this issue early enabled DPR's self-perform concrete team to mitigate risk by adding extra measures to maintain integrity of the existing structure. Also, the resulting BIM model allowed for extensive MEPF coordination to eliminate clashes. DPR's in-house VDC and strategic partner VConstruct even assisted the fire protection subcontractor by creating a highly refined model of their scope, preventing potential rework.
Project
Innovations
Working Around 24-7 Hospital Operations
DPR's project team, self-perform teams, and trade partners implemented best practices to mitigate noise and vibration, and frequently communicated with the departments operating below. The team also sequenced structural steel erection around the cardiovascular operating room schedule, ensuring that at least one CVOR was open at all times.
Preventing Risk of Fire or Water Intrusion
The team added several mitigation measures to protect the existing structure beneath the expansion. These included adding sand on the existing roof to protect from welding sparks, protective measures for roof drains, and cutting in "dog houses" i.e., roofing curbs with sheet metal caps at column connections and extensions.
Keeping Rain Out of Exposed Areas
Ripping the roof off of a building, during a record-setting season for rain, opened the project up to risk of water intrusion in several areas. To close in the 9,000 square feet of exposed structure, the team utilized a "greenhouse" of prefabricated, interconnected plastic panels, which a DPR self-perform carpentry crew had already preassembled on site for immediate installation after steel erection was complete.
Catching and Mitigating Risk with VDC
Exploratory/surgical demolition was not available to validate existing conditions against the design, given the hospital’s occupied first floor. Using laser scanning technology, our in-house VDC team confirmed that the first-floor existing columns and metal decking were outside of tolerance by a substantial margin. Catching this issue early enabled DPR's self-perform concrete team to mitigate risk by adding extra measures to maintain integrity of the existing structure. Also, the resulting BIM model allowed for extensive MEPF coordination to eliminate clashes. DPR's in-house VDC and strategic partner VConstruct even assisted the fire protection subcontractor by creating a highly refined model of their scope, preventing potential rework.
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