ARLINGTON, Va.—Skanska USA recently completed the construction of Virginia Hospital Center’s new parking garage in Arlington. The new parking garage includes three levels below grade and six levels above grade to hold approximately 1,700 cars.

Skanska has also started building the new six-story 245,000-square-foot outpatient pavilion which will house physical therapy examination and treatment rooms, radiology and imaging suites, clinics for examinations and six operating rooms. The garage and pavilion will provide direct, easy access for patients from their arrival at the parking garage to treatment areas.

“It is an honor for Skanska to be part of the team bringing the new Virginia Hospital Center garage and patient tower to life,” said Dale Kopnitsky, general manager and executive vice president responsible for Skanska’s Washington D.C. building operations. “As Skanska’s largest healthcare project in the region, this garage completion signifies the progress we are making in delivering these much-needed buildings to the community.”

Skanska used two large cranes during the building process. Each crane had a lifting capacity of approximately 440 tons and had a 360-degree spin capability with a wagon and additional counterweights. In addition:

• construction workers completed 188,941 man hours;
• 116,000 cubic yards of earth was removed;
• 356 steel piles were drilled which equates to approximately 2.85 miles;
• 376 structural tiebacks were installed which equates to approximately 1.85 miles;
• 1,900 precast concrete slabs were installed; and
• 625 truckloads of concrete were poured.

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TYLER, Texas — The Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System in Tyler broke ground April 3 on an expansion of the Christus Mother Frances Hospital. This expansion is a two-part project that includes a new parking garage and a tower that will house an Emergency Care Center, Intensive Care Units and multiple support services, with additional space for future growth.

The 186,452-square-foot tower will have a skywalk leading to the 297,300-square-foot, 850-space parking garage. The combined budget for the two-part project is approximately $92.1 million. This expansion is a coordinated effort between HDR Architects, SSR Engineering and McCarthy Contractors — all based out of Dallas — and Walter P. Moore out of Houston. Construction on the parking garage began in May, projected for completion in Jan. 2018. Construction on the tower is projected to begin after the completion of the parking garage in Feb. 2018, with construction completion scheduled for fall of 2019.

The overall goal of the hospital expansion is twofold, according to Kyle Rutherford, associate vice president for construction services at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System. Part one is the construction of the parking garage to alleviate current parking issues for the hospital, and part two is to improve the existing Emergency Care Center (ECC) and ICU capabilities of the hospital. “The ECC will have a linear design that will include all private rooms to improve patient privacy and positively impact infection control,” said Rutherford.

Additionally, the new ECC will bring leading-edge technology, improved patient flow, air flight and ground transportation accessibility to improve wait time and length of stay.

The plans for the expansion include 48 private treatment rooms in the ECC, with dedicated pediatric-friendly rooms and a surge capacity to 52 to allow up to 90,000 visits annually. “The existing ECC was constructed to receive approximately 45,000 visits each year, and we’ve averaged more than 80,000 visits annually for some time now, making us the busiest ECC in the area,” said Rutherford.

The new tower will have six levels, with a range of services in the basement, a state-of-the-art- emergency care center on level one, a 24-bed ICU on both levels three and four, with level five yet undesignated, open for future growth needs. The expansion’s final level includes a rooftop with two helipads that will bring the medical center’s “Flight For Life” program into a new area with direct ECC access, improving accessibility to ECC care.

“The expansion will provide covered parking for all visitors, as well as an ECC that will improve throughput and decrease wait times in a private and comfortable environment, especially for our pediatric patients and their families,” said Rutherford. The ICU design will allow the clinical staff to have bedside clinical documentation, continuous patient observation and a “hospitality room” feel, according to Rutherford. “Support services will be readily available, reducing the distance staff will need to travel, minimizing time away from patients,” said Rutherford. Additionally, interior enhancements of water features, indirect lighting and other planned aesthetic improvements for the hospital were chosen to reduce stress and create a calming and healing environment for patients.

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