CREW Blue Ribbon Awards Program Book 2024

Connecticut Children's | NICU Surge Unit Hartford, CT

Owner : Connecticut Children’s Project Size : 8,800 SF Project Team: DPR Construction, S/L/A/M Collaborative, BVH Integrated Services The team met regularly with the owner, were proactive in the field researching as-built conditions, and collaborated with the nurses to minimize impact to their operations. The integration of the team led to the success of the NICU surge project completion and opening. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) serves the smallest, most vulnerable patients at Connecticut Children’s. While a new Patient Tower is under construction with 75 new NICU beds, the health system still had a need today. Constructed in the heart of the existing building below Cardiology, next to Neurosurgery and the Emergency Departments (ED) the NICU surge project required an integrated team to deliver an 8,800-sq.-ft, 16-bed unit to support the growing number of patients. Built as a temporary solution and designed to efficiently convert, the NICU surge space will become a Behavioral Health (BH) unit within the ED when the Tower is complete. Patient rooms, nurse’s stations and support spaces were right-sized and the med/gas connections and outlets were carefully selected and strategically placed. Only 20% of the space will need to be altered sustainably reducing construction waste and minimizing day two costs. An integrated team supported design development, target value delivery, phasing and logistics. Designed simultaneously with the Tower, the teams collaborated on the NICU layout. Charettes were held with the nursing staff, and mock-ups were built to test the layouts. Serving as a functional mock-up, the team will be provided 12-months of feedback to evolve the design. Detailed plans for infection control programs to separate the construction from the operational hospital and logistics to minimize disruptions to the neighboring departments. They included how to move materials through the hospital, cleaning of materials entering and exiting, and negative air boundaries to separate construction activities. The initial budget was reduced by $1M, meeting the $4.6M target. For ex. the project tied into the existing air handling systems. The team shut air systems from portions of the hospital that were being taken offline or demolished as part of the Tower project to be used within the NICU surge. Coordinating schedules, timing shutoffs and volume of air supply between the projects was crucial to the mechanical design.

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