Project Profile
By EnCon Marketing Staff
UCHealth’s new state-of-the-art, $12.3 million freestanding emergency facility features 12 private exam rooms, a major trauma room, two behavioral health rooms, isolation and decontamination rooms, advanced imaging, ultrasound and x-ray services, and a 24 hour lab and pharmacy. UCHealth developed the freestanding ED solution as an alternative to their standard of acute patient care.
Precast concrete was also chosen for its versatility, fire resistance, rapid construction, and for the ease in creating a total precast structure with a single source supplier for the core and shell of the structure. The wall panels provide a low maintenance facade that will retain its pristine, factory built condition and attractive appearance throughout its life. The Harmony facility incorporates 132 pieces of precast concrete, serving as both an architectural envelope design and structural support for the facility. The hospital project highlights the use of Stresscon’s architectural precast products, featuring three colors of inlay bricks accented with brick banding. Stresscon accomplished a creative, innovative and aesthetic use of precast concrete and masonry to create the difficult brick banding in the panels.
Stresscon’s precast/prestressed components included long-span double tees, inlay brick wall panels, beams, and columns. One very unique project feature is the precast sloped double tee roof system. The precast components are designed to meet specific natural disaster force protection criteria.
The open floor design requires double tees spanning 72 to 78 feet, creating a roof system with no interior load bearing elements. The precast exterior load-bearing horizontal panels were cast with block-outs as a complete wall system that encompasses needed fenestration to consolidate trade requirements and reduce required onsite installation time.
Typical construction technologies would have added twelve weeks to the build schedule. The team completed the entire project, from design phase through erection, in just over five and a half months, utilizing heavy collaborative and coordination efforts from all involved project partners. After initial meetings with the project developer, precast was selected as the preferred material due to the ease of fabrication, an expedited erection schedule, and more economical pricing over conventional steel framing. Precast also provided an effective building envelope while meeting desired project architectural features; primarily, blending into the existing campus landscape.
