Institutional - Award of Merit

University of Maryland Health Center
College Park, Md.

Forrester Construction Co. of Rockville, Md., completed a $4.8 million addition to the University of Maryland Health Center while students continued to receive care.

"This was a tough site - patients and staff during construction occupied the building," said one of the judges. "It was very hard to build in this location with the logistics. This project is definitely a winner."

The original health center, built in 1963, needed a major upgrade to meet modern health-care standards and improve care delivery and traffic flow. About 350 students receive treatment at the center each day, totaling approximately 60,000 medical visits annually. Students frequently waited in long lines in the hallways.

Forrester received a $7 million construction-manager-at-risk contract in 2001 to add 25,000 sq. ft. to the center, doubling its size. Anshen+Allen of Baltimore designed the expansion.

Funding problems delayed the start of work until fall of 2002. Construction of the first phase, the expansion, wrapped up in January 2004 and crews began renovating the existing space. Forrester completed the job two months ahead of schedule.

The concrete addition wrapped around the east side of the former health center. At each floor, punch-through openings, 18 ft. wide and 12 ft. tall, connected the existing and new sections. Crews shored the slabs with structural steel and removed the existing exterior wall sections by hand while students received medical treatment behind temporary partitions just a few feet away.

During the first day of footer excavations, Forrester found that the existing building's footer was higher than expected and any work on the new structure could undermine the occupied health center. Forrester solved the problem by lowering column footings and adding new reinforcing steel, and it shifted to work along the perimeter until the underpinning was complete.

Adjacent buildings, parking and a road locked in the construction site on all four sides, requiring the use of multiple mobile cranes working inside the building footprint, rather than a tower crane as originally planned. Staging of materials took place offsite.

Cold weather hampered the schedule, delaying excavation and opening of the new south entrance. Concrete work progressed despite the cold. But an unexpected steam leak delayed pours until the university brought someone in to cap it.

Forrester tied into campus utilities at several adjacent buildings and to underground mains. Crews added a chilled-water loop, a high-pressure steam loop, stormwater and potable water mains, an emergency generator duct bank and asphalt during spring break to avoid disruptions.

Feeding the high-voltage electrical service from the existing building into the new structure required close coordination with the user. Heller Electric Co. of Brandywine, Md., completed the electrical work.

The exterior brick masonry, performed by George Moehrle Masonry of Frederick, Md., received recognition from the Washington Building Congress Craftsmanship Awards program. The association praised the Flemish bond, quoin and other detail work.

New features include a triage and waiting area; a physical therapy unit; 35 patient examination rooms, up from 21; dental chairs and additional lavatories; an elevator; and a larger laboratory.

Owner: University of Maryland
Architect: Anshen + Allen
General Contractor: Forrester Construction
Demolition: "Tammal Enterprises, Inc."
Excavation: "Grade A Excavating Co., Inc."
Site Work: "Chamberlain Contractors, Inc."
Plumbing: Magnolia Plumbing
Environmental: LVI Environmental Services Inc
Concrete: V & V Construction
Structural Concrete: AJO Concrete Construction Inc
Masonry: "George Moehrle Masonry, Inc"
Structural Steel: Inka Erection Corporation
Electrical: Heller Electric Company
Security: "Tech, Inc."

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