Planned to achieve LEED for Healthcare Silver certification, the hospital will feature green roofs, a healing and viewing garden, skylights, exterior canopies and screens, LED lighting and a pediatrics play area that will enhance the facility’s healing environment. Another green-oriented feature includes a chilled-water system, which is projected to reduce the amount of water needed in the hospital’s sterile processing area by roughly 90 percent, as the water it produces will be able to more efficiently cool the machines used to clean and sterilize equipment. The new medical center wing will feature a steel frame with an exterior consisting mainly of precast concrete panels and glass. The glass exterior is intended to maximize daylight harvesting, which will contribute to its green certification.

Seismic Upgrades

Due to the liquefiable soils at the site, the foundation system consisted of Auger Pressure Grouted (APG) piles that extend below concrete reinforced pile caps. The APG piles are approximately 120 feet long, with 60 feet extended into the competent soil layers. The APG piles were designed to accommodate down-drag forces caused by up to 20 inches of seismically induced settlement of the upper soil layers. The pile caps were interconnected by a two-way concrete flat slab and beam system. The retaining walls from the ground level to the first floor are approximately 18 inches thick.

Gravity Framing

The gravity framing consisted of 3-inch by 20-gauge metal deck plus 3.25-inch lightweight concrete fill floor system spanning approximately 10 feet to the structural steel wide flange beam and girders. The typically bay size is approximately 29 feet by 29 feet. The floor system used for the mechanical equipment yard on the roof of the three-story portion of the building consists of a 3-inch by 18-gauge metal deck plus 4.25-inch normal-weight concrete fill. The floor system at the first level consists of a 3-inch by 18-gauge metal deck plus 6-inch normal-weight concrete fill. Typical gravity columns are 14-inch-wide flange shapes. The ground floor consists of 10- to 12-inch reinforced concrete two-way, flat-slab-and-beam system that spans to pile caps. This system is used to mitigate the potential loss of soilbearing due to the liquefiable soil layers that are present in the upper 60 to 70 feet of soil.

Lateral-Force Resisting System

This system consists of Special Moment Resisting Frames (SMRF) in both of the principle directions of the building. The SMRF system was implemented to provide flexibility and accommodate interior and exterior architectural programming and planning. The typical steel SMRF assembly consists of 30- to 36-inch-deep columns and 33- to 36-inch-deep beams. The moment-frame connection that was used for this project was the SidePlate “Frame” connection that underwent full-scale testing and exceeded OSHPD approval standards for fully restrained moment connections.

Conclusion

VCMC is the designated Level II Trauma Center for the west county and is known for its extraordinary trauma team, which includes skilled and talented surgeons covering neurosurgery, orthopedic and general surgery cases. Additionally, the award-winning neonatal intensive care unit and pediatric unit are unique to a county this size; VCMC boasts the only pediatric hospitalist in the county as well as having the county’s first and only Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). VCMC is also the only Ventura County academic teaching hospital with a residency affiliated with UCLA School of Medicine.

The new construction will connect to existing buildings and unify them through a network of inviting indoor-outdoor rooms, plazas and gardens, making a true healthcare campus. The seismic upgrades and well-thought out design will greatly enhance this facility and the level of care provided.

HOK is the project architect. Additional project partners include KPFF Consulting Engineers, Los Angeles, structural engineer; ME Engineers, Culver City, Calif., MEP engineer; RBF Consulting, Los Angeles, civil engineer; and Treadwell & Rollo, San Francisco, geotechnical engineer.

Jack Reddehase, DBIA, CHC, LEED AP is vice president Clark Construction Group – California LP and may be reached at 415-716-7549 or jack.reddehase@clarkconstruction.com. Clark Construction Group is a leading provider of general building and civil construction services.
 

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Seismic Compliance

Seismic construction requirements are a nationwide phenomena. Different regions of the U.S. have adopted building codes to deal with various levels of seismic risk. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), hospital buildings in 39 states are vulnerable to earthquake damage – not only to construction materials and techniques, but also to nonstructural building systems. In critical applications, such as health care facilities, these components must go beyond the structure surviving an earthquake. Hospitals must remain functional in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Seismic Codes Across the U.S.

The seismic provisions of building codes are based on earthquake hazard maps that show the probabilities of certain levels of earthquake shaking in particular areas. The code requirements reflect the fact that some places are more likely than others to have strong earthquakes. The entire country is not required to meet the same seismic design standards as California, the state with the greatest risk. Places that have less severe and less frequent earthquakes have less stringent design requirements. For example, seismic codes require less in Boston than in Los Angeles. Conversely, seismic code requirements in southern Illinois, near the New Madrid seismic zone, are much stricter than in Chicago, which is less likely to have a strong earthquake.

Structural Evaluation Improvements

Since 1994, important programs and statutes have been enacted to help hospitals implement seismic building projects. One of these milestones was the implementation of Hazards US (HAZUS), developed by Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) in conjunction with the Hospital Building Safety Board.

HAZUS is a state-of-the-art modeling technology that allows for more accurate evaluation of the seismic-safety level of hospital buildings. Through HAZUS, a number of hospital buildings have been reclassified to lower levels of risk, taking them from Structural Performance Category (SPC)-1 (highest risk of collapse) to SPC-2 (lower risk of collapse). As a result, more than half of the hospital buildings that previously had to be retrofit or replaced by 2013/2015 now can be rebuilt by 2030. Certain facilities were able to secure a five-year extension, and others were granted another two years after that. However, currently, the final deadline to reach SPC level 2 is Jan. 1, 2020.

Challenges

Even with deadlines in place and standards being set, several obstacles remain – including the high costs of new hospital construction and the lack of funding and financial incentives for the hospitals to complete the work. The cost of making these seismic improvements ranges from $45 billion to $110 billion, according to a 2007 study by the Rand Corporation. And financing could double the cost. Complying by 2030 with the mandate that acute-care hospitals remain operational following an earthquake could add 20 percent to construction costs.

When the U.S. experienced an economic recession, many hospitals were on the edge of bankruptcy. Credit rates skyrocketed, and with no state financing for the Seismic Safety Act available, Jan Emerson-Shea, spokesperson with the California Hospital Association, described the act as “the most expensive unfunded mandate in the history of the state of California.”

However, many facilities are making use of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Grant Program. With $63 million in PDM funding made available last year alone, the grant is an excellent source of capital for health care facilities to make their upgrades.
After 15 years, nearly 90 percent of the state’s 470 acute care hospitals have reached SPC 2 or above. That leaves only a handful of hospitals still working to complete their upgrades before the Jan. 1, 2020 deadline.

Construction Brings Medical Center Up to State Seismic Requirements

Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC) is a fully integrated, comprehensive system of hospital, clinic and specialty services. The system provides access to high-quality, compassionate health care to residents throughout Ventura County. While VCMC provides access to health care to all county residents, special emphasis is placed on providing access to care for the underserved and those facing barriers to access. Referred to as the “safety net” population, these individuals comprise over three quarters of the care provided by VCMC.

New Construction

In 2013, construction began on what is now a parking lot behind the hospital for a $300 million, four-story, 242,000-square-foot hospital wing to replace a portion of the building completed in the 1950s. The project will bring the medical center up to state seismic requirements SB1953 with SB306 extension and is anticipated for a 2017 completion.

The project will replace a 122-bed, acute-care facility with a state-of-the-art facility and will support numerous medical services, including emergency, surgery obstetrics, ICU, NICU, PICU and imaging. It will also include six operating rooms including a hybrid OR and two interventional suites.

In addition to the medical scope of work, the team will add a new central utility plant and loading dock with potential safety self-closing gates to the VCMC campus, relocating the existing steam plant operations into the new building, partial demolition of the existing facilities, and renovation of the existing facilities that are not demolished. The hospital will remain fully functional throughout the duration of the project.

For the rest of the project details and how it has been brought up to seismic standards, read next week’s Ventura County Medical Center Upgrades Seismic Safety Standards: Part 2.

Jack Reddehase, DBIA, CHC, LEED AP is vice president Clark Construction Group – California LP and may be reached at 415-716-7549 or jack.reddehase@clarkconstruction.com. Clark Construction Group is a leading provider of general building and civil construction services.

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