The LEED for Healthcare green building rating system is an arrangement of guidelines and performance standards for certifying health care facilities. The goal is to promote clean, healthy, affordable, durable and environmentally friendly practices into the construction and design of the building. The rating system consists of points or credits accumulated by saving energy, having accessible public transportation and mitigating the effects of stormwater runoff.

To earn LEED certification, a health care project must fulfill all prerequisites and qualify for a minimum number of credits. After the credits are calculated, the facility gets receives a Silver, Gold or Platinum rating. The design of the building is particularly important, but the interior components also play a significant role in achieving LEED certification in a hospital setting. Here are six prerequisites to consider when attempting to achieve LEED for health care.

Sustainable Sites

The site on which the facility sits is one of the most important considerations when it comes to the relationship between the health care facility and the environment. LEED for health care aims to strengthen this relationship by minimizing facility impacts on its neighboring habitat.

Water Efficiency

Water usage has sadly become something that many take for granted. Long showers, flushing a toilet or even brushing one’s teeth consume more water than we generally realize. Sustaining water is a key aspect in achieving LEED certification. For this reason, it is important to look at ways to reduce consumption or choose the correct products and materials that can help reach this goal.

Energy & Atmosphere

The burning of fossil fuels is known to be a key contributor in the production of carbon dioxide. Understanding new approaches to alleviate stresses on the atmosphere is a main focus for achieving sustainability.

Materials & Resources

When it comes to materials and resources, LEED wants facilities to consider materials that will have less impact on the environment by using recyclable content such as green flooring. This type of flooring is sustainably harvested from environmentally friendly, reclaimed sources. Options include bio-based tile, carpet and carpet tiles, terrazzo and polished concrete.

Indoor Air Quality

Air quality is important to every facility, yet it may be even more important when it comes to a health care facility. In a place designed to promote healing, air-quality issues should to be non-existent.

Innovation & Design

Innovation and design targets the use of new ideas and techniques for green design and construction. Required prerequisites include project planning and design to maximize opportunities for integrated, cost-effective adoption of green design and construction strategies. Credits can include innovation in design, which provides design teams and projects the opportunity to achieve performance above the requirements set by the LEED rating system.

By focusing on these topics that LEED for health care covers — as well as other facility-specific sustainability goals — your facility will establish itself as a site that promotes clean and healthy practices, both indoors and out. Not only will you be increasing the quality of the patient’s experience, but you can also obtain benefits that come along with following sustainable standards.

Mitchell Bryant is the communications specialist at Spectra Contract Flooring.

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Today’s health care facilities have to be adaptable and efficient to remain competitive in the face of change, and also note the importance that the physical bricks-and-mortar building plays in the overall delivery of modern health care. In Part I of this article, we discussed how modern buildings play a critical role in addressing the unique challenges in today’s health care facilities. Meeting objectives like coordinated and integrated care requires facilities that are cutting edge, which means new approaches to planning, architecture and construction as well as operations and service delivery. With an emphasis on preventive medicine and cost-saving measures, facilities must incorporate design features that allow them to adapt to the rapidly changing landscape of the industry.

The Introduction of Modern Technology

The introduction of modern technology – from diagnostic and treatment technology to electronic health records (EHRs) and HIPAA Compliant Phone Services (Read More here) – all drive new protocols and methods, requiring continual innovation in building environments. Robotic surgery systems and MRIs are perhaps the most obvious examples of technology developments that impact buildings in terms of size, power, configuration, orientation, structure, infrastructure and the need for flexibility.

Similarly, the portability of and access to EHRs requires fundamental shifts in building technology, information systems and building infrastructure to support communication flow. As health systems introduce EHRs, the ability to manage pre- and post-visit data more effectively, as well as the “medical encounter-protocol data,” becomes evident. This data needs to be managed such that it is securely available, portable and accessible by authorized providers and medical staff.

Few organizations can match The Vancouver Clinic, a privately held multispecialty medical group in Southwest Washington, in terms of explosive growth. The clinic network has grown from 65 to 270 physicians or providers in fewer than 11 years. That growth has been driven by effective integration of services supported by robust information, diagnostic and treatment technology.

Replacing Facilities

Replacing older facilities has become necessary and urgent in many communities. The 1946 Hill-Burton Act funded hospital and clinic projects in 4,000 U.S. communities – especially underserved rural communities – and these facilities have reached the limits of functionality and use. Meanwhile, the development of comprehensive medical centers within cities shifted services and concentrated care in urban areas. Megahospitals in virtually every city in the U.S. define the institutional hospital campus, which is not effective or conducive for outpatient modalities and services.

The construction effort associated with replacing aging plants can be extremely complex, especially when a facility is in use and housing critical patients. In the hospital setting, services are expensive, and shutting down an operating room may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a week. Challenges include prescriptive, complex regulations and the need to upgrade multiple systems’ support infrastructure.

Coquille Valley Hospital, a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) in Coquille, Ore., exemplifies the new commitment to addressing customer needs with a transformational experience for the patient/customer, family and community. The three-story facility serves some 12,500 patients, including three retirement communities. The replacement hospital introduced single-occupancy patient rooms supported by state-of-the-art interventional programs and public spaces derived from those found in modern hotels. The transformational experience ensures compliance with HIPAA and accessibility while optimizing flow.

Transforming the National Imperative
There is no question that there is a national imperative to modernize, repurpose or replace aging health care facilities. However, this process is no longer solely about the edifice. Indeed, it is about the ways in which a bricks and mortar building can enable the transformation of the health care enterprise and the experience of all users, including patients as customers.

Miguel Burbano de Lara is an architect at Fort Collins, Colo.-based Neenan Archistruction. He can be reached at miguel.burbano@neenan.com.

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Today’s health care buildings must enable and support a sustainable health care enterprise’s response to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which mandates for safety, superior quality, and lower costs in the treatment of patients. This article written by florida health insurance exchanges has more information on ACA. Understanding how the act works from a patient’s perspective is critical if we are to create modern buildings and methodologies that play a critical role in addressing the ACA emphasis on population health.

ACA is grounded in coordinated and integrated care. In order to support these objectives, the nation’s aging plant requires accelerated intervention for modernization, repurposing, or replacement using a radically different approach to planning, architecture and construction.

In addition to the physical building response, health care organizations are also transforming services delivery. They are shifting from episodic treatment to preventive protocols, and from high-cost inpatient programs to lower-cost, more accessible outpatient delivery. To support these shifts, today’s health care organizations seek facilities that are designed to support higher efficiency, lower costs, integration of players, consolidation and accountability, which produce different demands for facility development.

The ACA Imperative Shift

The ACA introduced an imperative shift from inpatient to outpatient care, as well as a move toward population and community-based health care creating significant facility challenges for health care leaders. Space must be allocated in ambulatory care facilities to support the population wellness and behavioral health programs, which are driven by primary care and outpatient services.

Electronic Health Records

Electronic Health Record (EHR)-enabled care is a significant driver for coordinated, integrated care in the new patient-centered medical home (PCMH) delivery model. For example, the Sutter Gould Medical Foundation’s Turlock Care Center in Turlock, Calif., which opened in August 2014, consolidated several clinics in order to provide better services distribution and better access, as well as new services and new technology. Operating on the principles of a PCMH, the ambulatory center offers urgent care, primary care and specialty care, supplemented by behavioral health, nutritional and social services. The center optimizes EHR technology, Lean workflow processes and architectural solutions that nurture the care team philosophy.

Cost Containment & Speed to Market

Architectural solutions that are driven by EHR technology and sustain Lean workflow processes have proven cost-effective. Specifically, effective results can be achieved through careful allocation and arrangement of space to sustain care team delivery models. For example, when a facility is designed to increase the number of universal examining rooms by decreasing non-productive space, the organization is able to increase productivity, often without increasing the number of staff. At the same time, the care team’s model eliminates redundant positions, as when medical assistants who are also capable of scheduling appointments eliminate the need for redundant scheduling staff.

St. Charles Prineville is a case in point. The hospital selected a dramatically different, innovative medical care team module for its new campus in Prineville, Ore., which opened in fall of 2015. St. Charles Prineville offers comprehensive patient, family and visitor services, including primary care and specialty care clinics, emergency department, lab, radiology and rehab. The health system has an ambitious goal of co-locating the functions of the nurse’s station to serve and support surgery, the emergency department and the walk-in clinic, thus leveraging nursing staff with a broad skill set to perform multiple tasks.

As the ACA directives make their way into the market, facilities must evolve. Key drivers include EHR technology, Lean workflow processes and architectural forms that foster the care team approach. As budgets tighten and operations must become more efficient, tactics that save time and money are valued more than ever.

Tune in for Part II on this topic.

Miguel Burbano de Lara, AIA, NCARB, architect at Fort Collins, Colo.-based Neenan Archistruction can be reached at miguel.burbano@neenan.com.

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It has been said that everything is bigger in Texas, and Dallas’ Parkland Hospital is no exception. Open to patients Aug. 20, 2015, the new hospital is intended to serve 30,000 people per day for the next 50 years. When construction started in 2008, it was the 10th largest medical construction project in the world, and the largest public health care project in the country built in a single phase. Today it is ranks as the 31^st largest hospital in the United States. While working with this facility, Kenosha, Wis.-based Kenall LED Lighting and Controls was asked to provide a streamlined, ultra reliable lighting solution.

Parkland was designed by a joint venture of architectural firms HDR, based in Omaha, Neb., and Corgan, based in Dallas. Because of the facility’s size and design parameters, sourcing consistent, reliable, energy-efficient lighting products that could be delivered on time and on budget was a very important piece of the Parkland puzzle.

“Our biggest challenge was the sheer scale of the project, so we wanted to keep the [lighting] design as simple as possible and be consistent throughout,” said Jeffrey Hargens, an electrical engineer and lighting designer at HDR.

To keep maintenance and relamping simple, specifiers selected sealed MedMaster T5 luminaires for the 862 patient rooms. In addition, Kenall provided a combination of LED and fluorescent lighting fixtures for the corridors, surgical suites, MRI and imaging suites, bathrooms and workstations, including:

• MedMaster Behavioral Health luminaires
• Mighty Mac patient room luminaires
• SimpleSeal corridor lighting
• MedMaster exam lighting
• MedMaster surgical suite lighting
• Stratalume task lighting
• CleanScene graphic panel luminaires for MRI and imaging suites
• Auracyl wall sconces
• MedMaster sealed downlights
• MedMaster vanity lights
• SoftStep Contour and MightyMac step lights

• Lighted wayfinding and informational signage

The Parkland Hospital project was Kenall’s largest single project to date — one awarded based on a reputation for consistency, quality and on-time delivery.

“This is a job that you can’t have a manufacturer back out of or be late on: other suppliers had issues, but we never had any complaints with Kenall,” Hargens said.

Despite its size, the Parkland Hospital project was delivered on budget and only four months behind schedule. The building was originally projected to be 1.68 million square feet in size, but eventually reached 2.8 million square feet and 17 stories tall.

As a result of innovations in many areas, including lighting, it is also environmentally friendly. The hospital was expected to achieve LEED Silver certification, but in June 2015 it was awarded LEED Gold certification by the USGBC.

Frank Gonzales is the director of product management at Kenall. He can be contacted at 262- 891-9700.

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Throughout his 40 years of involvement with Parkland Health, Anderson established a number of community-based health clinics in neighborhoods that lacked services. While he stepped down from the Parkland in 2011 after the hospital had failed several health inspections, Anderson was known to connect with disadvantaged patients on a personal level. About 12 of his clinics that were opened in underserved neighborhoods are still standing today.

To continue his tradition of providing health care services to disadvantaged communities, the ambulatory clinic broke ground July 10, 2014. The building was substantially completed on Oct. 30, 2016.

Dallas-based FKP Architects was responsible for designing the interior of the hospital while Dallas-based VAI Architects was responsible for the exterior core and shell of the building. Kansas City, Mo.-based JE Dunn and Dallas-based Roberts O’Brien worked together as the general contractors.

One of the building’s main features includes a sky bridge that connects the ambulatory clinic to the main hospital on the second floor. An additional connection is made through the lower level, according to a statement from Parkland Health. Additional supplies and hospital equipment can be transported to the building through an underground tunnel.

The facility’s design also incorporates 171 exam rooms as well as four MRI machines, five CT scanners, three radiology units and seven ultrasound rooms with the capacity to expand. The facility also comes with a pharmacy that will operate 24/7, according to a statement from Parkland Health.

One of the biggest challenges during construction was that the building was designed several times based on changes. This also extended the construction schedule.

The ambulatory clinic will be located next to the DART green line, making it easier for staff and patients to access the hospital’s services. This also continues Anderson’s tradition of making services accessible to everyone in the Dallas community.

“Patients, family and staff members can easily get to the clinic via light rail or DART buses,” said Jerry Nickerson, Jr., Parkland’s interim vice president of facilities and development in a statement.

During 2016, there were more than 355,000 outpatient specialty clinic visits. In March of that year, Fred Cerise, M.D., MPH succeeded Anderson and is now in responsible for monitoring the ambulatory clinic’s progress while receiving feedback from patients and staff.

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There’s no doubt health care facilities face real challenges when dealing with construction and design. One way to combat these challenges is by staying up-to-date on industry-related trends.

One trend that will continue to expand is outpatient construction as it uses surgical technology to accelerate inpatient procedures into outpatient settings, as well as the continuing trend of patients being funneled by health care systems into outpatient settings. Additionally, as hospitals and health care systems focus on population health, determining what infrastructure will meet the needs of the communities they serve while still supporting current operational efficiency will become increasingly important.

Serious strategy questions will have to be asked. Do entirely new facilities need to be built? Would it be more cost-effective to renovate or repurpose facilities? Perhaps maximizing space through consolidating facilities would be the most advantageous avenue. Or maybe, depending on the circumstances, leasing facilities may offer the best value.

Each situation is unique and it’s critical that health care facilities accommodate necessary changes in finding alternative avenues to provide care in the communities they serve. That includes: ambulatory care facilities, long-term care facilities, imaging centers, medical office buildings and assisted living.

With so many options of potential health care service models available, health care facilities continually face the need to increase their capabilities within those models. Whether it’s keeping up with the latest in technology, adhering compliance to new code requirements, increasing efficiency or upgrading facilities to meet patient needs, the ongoing endgame is improving patient satisfaction.

Another ongoing trend is moving toward more green alternatives, such as LED lighting, low-flow plumbing fixtures and more efficient HVAC systems. Also, as rapid technology advancements involve more sophisticated techniques and equipment, facilities will need to address network data needs, security system enhancement and more up-to-date patient monitoring systems.

The health care industry needs to implement smart growth solutions to capitalize on their existing footprints. There is much to take into consideration. From planning, design and procurement, through construction and operations, each phase of the construction lifecycle offers its own unique set of challenges.

While navigating the complexities of health care construction can be a daunting challenge, opportunities for easing the load are real. Whether through capitalizing on current industry trends or taking on the different stages of the construction lifecycle using the above best practices, meeting deadlines and staying on budget do not necessarily have to be either/or propositions. This will ultimately allow for better overall experiences for health care staffs as well patients and their families.

Douglas Gayden is the director of health care for Greenville, S.C.-based Gordian. He can be reached at 678.920.3672.

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The total cost to build the new tower is $244 million, an increase from $239 million after a $5 million approval to add a hybrid procedure room. The project is Sharp HealthCare’s largest investment to date and is being funded through philanthropic donations to Sharp HealthCare Foundation, bonds, cash reserves and the Medi-Cal hospital fee program, according to a statement from Sharp HealthCare.

“We’re committed to expanding Sharp Chula Vista as this bi-national community continues to grow,” said Pablo Velez, Ph.D., RN, chief executive officer at Sharp Chula Vista, in a statement.

The design-build team for the project includes Greely, Colo.-based general contractor Hensel Phelps; Los Angeles-based architecture firm SmithGroupJJR; and San Diego-based architecture firm AVRP Studios. The grand opening of the new hospital at Sharp Chula Vista is anticipated for 2019.

One of the newest features in the hospital is the redesigned main entrance and lobby. Here, large windows will greet patients with natural light, which will also help to maintain internal temperatures during summer months.

“What really makes this project special is that so many of the craftsmen on the project call the South Bay home and utilize Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center for their health care needs,” said Damian Buessing, director of operations at Hensel Phelps, in a statement.

The hospital will also feature five high-tech surgical suites that offer state-of-the-art technology that used to meet the needs of patients who come to Sharp Chula Vista with health problems that could not be treated at other hospitals.

At 343 beds, the hospital will provide a comprehensive heart program and will also offer specialized orthopedic care for and women and infants. Sharp Chula Vista is the largest health care provider in South County and one of the largest private employers in the county as well, employing more than 2,000 staff and maintaining relationships with nearly 500 affiliated physicians.

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From cleanliness and accessibility to heavy wear, hospitals face a unique set of challenges. Flooring is no exception. It’s a crucial part of creating a quality care setting. Below, are various factors to consider when choosing flooring for a health care facility and also steps on how to incorporate evidence-based design into a hospital flooring plan.

When discussing evidence-based design in hospital flooring, it’s a smart bet to lean heavily on the guidelines provided by The Center for Health Design (CHD), which, in 2012, published a peer-reviewed guide to implementing evidence-based design (EBD) in the selection of health care flooring. The guide draws on EBD and original research, detailing industry best practices for flooring. This approach sees real results that help promote the well-being of those who walk through a health care facility’s doors. Here are some key considerations for weighing your health care flooring options.

Pay Attention to Flooring

The entrance of a hospital, its corridors and clinical areas serve different purposes and will face different pressures. Entrances, for instance, are the first areas patients, families and visitors see in a hospital. They also experience some of the heaviest foot traffic. A health care facility will want a welcoming floor that promotes the specific design vision and makes a strong first impression for its patrons. Corridors also see heavy use, including foot traffic and heavy rolling loads, such as equipment carts, stretchers, med carts and wheelchairs. Clinical areas are at the highest risk of accumulating pathogens and other harmful germs.

Minimizing Fall Risk

Choosing the right flooring can minimize the risk of patients sustaining falls, so hospital flooring should be slip-resistant, impermeable and easily cleaned. That’s all easy enough, but other EBD standards such as recommendations for finishes are not as obvious. The finishing on hospital flooring should have a low reflectance value as to prevent glare, and joints and seams should be few and far between in order to prevent tripping.

Texture & Noise Absorption

Texture affects many aspects of the flooring’s performance, ranging from noise absorbance to reducing injuries related to falling. Preventing falls is important, but they will inevitably happen, and floors that have energy-absorbent properties will minimize injuries of staff or patients who fall. This can also be achieved through underlays that will increase cushioning. Underlays and finishes can also be used for noise absorbance, reducing noise from rolling carts or heavy foot traffic.

Reducing Staff Fatigue

Nurses, doctors and other health care facility personnel work long shifts. And, for much of those shifts, they’re on their feet. Cushioned flooring or mats can reduce staff fatigue, saving their feet and their sanity. However, CHD recommends that cushioning be combined with roller mobility, so that equipment can still be transferred easily.

Minimizing Risk of Infections

Health care associated infections (HAIs) are a health care facility’s nightmare. EBD can guide hospitals in choosing flooring that best mitigates the risk of HAI, while improving the overall patient experience. CHD has a host of recommendations to this end. It recommends against using carpet, especially in burn units and operating rooms, where the risk for airborne pathogens is high.

Going Green

LEED guidelines shouldn’t be ignored when choosing a flooring solution that works for you. In addition to allowing your facility to be in accordance with USGBC standards, choosing the right floor coverings will also improve the indoor air quality of your facility. The LEED for Healthcare guide offers guidance on how to best accomplish this.

Aaron Hartung is the marketing manager at Spectra Contract Flooring, the largest commercial flooring contractor in the U.S. He can be reached at 303-778-8665.

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A feasibility study is designed to uncover the strengths and weaknesses of any project. Not only does this evaluate a project’s potential for success, it helps document every aspect of planning, engineering and construction while revealing the full scope of the project. To complete a feasibility study in full, precise documentation during each phase of the project is critical. In Part I of this article, the benefits of communication and accessibility were discussed, now specifics of the study are explored a bit more thoroughly.

By documenting each step in the process, projects are revamped and redesigned and will often go through several iterations of approvals or short delays. When a project is finally relaunched, it’s important for the team to have access to the feasibility study and the defined scope so they can address budget plans and timelines surrounding project construction. This approach can be particularly important for large-scale projects such as health care facilities.

Developed Components

Accurate information captured from the right sources contributes to key components of a study, including the following:

Floor-plan layouts: As with every other aspect of the assessment, floor plans must reflect the current state of the building. To verify the plan, visit the site and walk through it. Identify key systems and needed modifications or improvements. It is important to include a demo plan with the new work plan so that a facilities group can account for the cost of the demo. Also, make sure that the equipment plan is taken into consideration because it can lead to a lot of demand on the existing infrastructure, especially from an electrical standpoint.

Engineering narratives: To develop a realistic narrative, seek the technical, detailed input unique to the perspective of the maintenance staff. Recently, the project team serving the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital met with the maintenance group to walk through a space slated for renovation. The team learned vitally important details that they could not have derived from inspecting drawings, such as minor repairs and renovations that were completed by the maintenance staff but not documented.

Construction estimates: Construction estimates should reflect good historical data that is both regional and, when possible, client-specific. Experienced planners have the latest historical data and a working knowledge of its meaning and application. A project team conducting a feasibility study may have client-specific data, or the information might come from the facilities group. A real risk of an inaccurate estimate arises when material costs escalate between the time of the feasibility study and the time that the project is put out for bid. A feasibility study should explicitly clarify that its projections are based on prices known as of a specified date.

Dynamic Starting Points

So, why might a well-documented feasibility study not exist? At the initial starting point of the project there is no purchase order to associate with the cost of the study, meaning the funds to the study are not available. Usually funding is not available until a board of directors has approved a project. Although feasibility studies are not that expensive and can be done quickly, the funding must be allocated for them.

Experienced project teams see and understand this dynamic and have strategies to help facilities groups begin this important pre-planning step toward clarity and confidence that comes from knowing what a project entails and how it can be done within a reasonably precise time frame and within a well-researched and fully documented cost estimate.

By gathering key stakeholders and achieving consensus on the scope of a project, a facilities group begins to empower decision makers toward a very successful project.

Scott Heywood, AIA, LEED AP, is director at the Ghafari Birmingham, Ala., office, and can be reached at sheywood@ghafari.com or 205-203-4611.

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SEATTLE – SoilFreeze, based in Seattle, provides a unique technology that can reduce time and costs during construction projects. As the only U.S. construction company specializing in ground-freezing technology, SoilFreeze provides services like structural shoring, groundwater cutoff and soil contamination remediation for health care facilities and other commercial buildings.

To get the job done, SoilFreeze relies on commercial refrigeration systems manufactured and produced by Technical Systems Inc. (TSI), a division of Pryor, Okla.-based RAE Corporation. Through the partnership, SoilFreeze has access to innovative and sustainable forms of technology that can complete projects seamlessly and in short amounts of time.

Commercial Chilling

Commercial refrigeration systems work by using a liquid refrigerant to cool evaporator tubes and absorb heat from the chilled water circulating through the machine. The chilled vapor is then drawn out of the evaporator by the compressor. From there, the compressor pumps the refrigerant vapor to the condenser, raising its pressure and temperature. The refrigerant condenses on or in the condenser tubes, giving up its heat to the cooling water (or air). The high-pressure liquid refrigerant from the condenser then passes through the expansion device that reduces the refrigerant pressure and temperature as it enters the evaporator. The refrigerant again flows over the chilled-water coils absorbing more heat and completing the cycle. There has also been an evolution of ac drives or variable frequency drive technology (used to boost the energy efficiency of AC electric motors) and reset control features that give the chiller duty ratings.

Commercial refrigeration systems allow builders to develop a waterproof barrier by freezing the ground. This eliminates the need to pump groundwater out of an excavation site and to treat and store it somewhere else. It also eliminates the risk of spreading contaminated groundwater into previously uncontaminated areas. If you’re in warmer climates and could do with the perspective of national hvac companies checking out parent companies similar to CoolSys can provide some insight if you’re interested.

The process of freezing the ground before an excavation is time-consuming, but with the right technology and tools, it saves time as the excavation does not need to be stopped repeatedly in order to shore up and waterproof newly excavated areas. This makes the productivity of professional excavation companies like Rickabaugh Construction increase as less focus needs to be made on freezing the ground.

Construction Sites

When working on construction sites, the first step SoilFreeze takes is installing piping vertically in the ground to form a freezing system around the perimeter of the excavation site. From there, a flow system is hooked up to these pipes in order to circulate refrigerant through a chilling system; this fluid pulls heat out of the ground and is re-cooled by the chillers continuously until the ground reaches -20 degrees Fahrenheit. This process takes between four and eight weeks, depending on soil conditions and ambient temperatures.

Once the ground reaches -20 degrees Fahrenheit, the refrigerant solution continues to circulate to maintain this temperature and keep the ground structurally sound throughout the excavation process. Excavation work ranges in duration based on the construction project, but can last up to two years or more. Accordingly, if you would like to learn more about the role of excavation technology in the construction industry as well as in home improvement projects, you can find further information by reaching out to an excavation contractor who can talk you through the process.

“Long-term, extensive ground freezing requires extremely reliable chilling equipment and technology,” said Larry Applegate, president of SoilFreeze, in a statement. “We contacted RAE Corporation many years ago to purchase our very first chiller. Over time, we’ve continued to purchase their equipment, because they have proven to meet our needs.”

TSI has modified their commercial chillers to better meet the needs of SoilFreeze. According to a statement from Jeremy Colvard, vice president at RAE Corporation, the chillers built for SoilFreeze are designed to be loaded and unloaded with forklifts or cranes, and to be controlled remotely.

“We designed a microprocessor control system so that Larry [Applegate] and his team can remotely connect to and communicate with the refrigeration units,” said Colvard in a statement.

This article was provided by Pryor, Okla.-based Technical Systems Chilling Equipment. The company creates technologically advanced equipment used in health care facilities and other commercial buildings to improve building performance. They can be contacted at 918-825-7222.

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