Fort Hood Medical Center Celebrates Topping Out

FORT HOOD, Texas — A joint venture between Dallas-headquartered Balfour Beatty and St. Louis-headquartered McCarthy Building Companies Inc. celebrated the topping out of Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center Replacement at Ford Hood on May 14.

The project’s on-site building team, joined by members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Health Facilities Planning Agency, Medical Command and 800 workers, signed the last beam to be put in place, which was inscribed with the words “Build Strong. Army Strong.” Increased efficiency in the design-build approach removed at least two years from the construction timeline, saving the project time and money.

“The design-build process, in conjunction with our decades of experience in the health care industry, has enabled the team to build a coordinated, high-quality facility that meets the government’s budget and schedule,” said Michael J. McWay, president of McCarthy’s Texas Division and chairman of the Balfour Beatty | McCarthy Management Committee, in a press statement.

The $536 million medical center replacement is the largest project to date funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and it is the largest design-build project in the Department of Defense’s medical construction. It serves about 45,000 active duty personnel and about 125,000 military family members and retirees within a 40-mile radius.

Located on a 72-acre site, the 947,000-square-foot replacement facility will feature a six-story hospital tower, two two-story outpatient clinics, a three-story outpatient specialty clinic, an ambulance garage, logistics building, central utility plant and three parking structures.

The project team is using insulated precast panels in the façade, so that when the panels are erected, the façade will be complete, with the brick already cast into the panels. This method cuts down on the time of enclosure, as well as costs.

The facility is being designed and constructed to incorporate maximum flexibility, as the health care industry grows and the community’s health care needs increase. As a result, two floors can be added at a later time. The use of the concrete structural system allows for longer bays, which can also be easily adapted to future health care technology changes.

Designed to meet LEED Gold standards, the new medical center will feature more than a 30 percent reduction in energy use (over the ASHRAE Standard 90.1), a utility use reduction of 55 percent over the existing hospital as a result of daylighting and the addition of a green roof, a 50 percent water reduction for irrigation used due to drought-tolerant landscaping, and a 30 percent decrease in water usage for plumbing systems.

Construction on the project is slated for completion in July 2014 and will become completely operational in summer 2015.