In May 2007, GE Johnson Construction Co., in a joint venture with Kitchell Contractors, completed the $70-million, multi-phased addition and renovation project at Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver. The project included construction of a new parking garage, central utility plant upgrades, fourth and fifth floor remodel of the patient tower, new ICU/CCU wing, new surgery wing, new orthopedic wing, new main entrance and lobby and massive renovations to existing spaces within the hospital. Porter Hospital is an existing campus and had to remain operational throughout construction, which proved to be one of the most challenging aspects of the project.

The central utility plant upgrades included new primary electrical feeds from two alternate city substations to the plant switchgear, which required the switchover of all emergency and critical power for the entire campus. Upgrades also included demolition and installation of two new generators with underground fuel storage tanks and a new 944-ton chiller.

The patient tower renovations of the fourth and fifth floors included complete demolition of the existing space and construction of 50 new private patient rooms. Above ceiling work on the third floor had to be completed for the remodeled floors above while they remained occupied. A three-story mechanical space was also added to the exterior of the patient tower to support the renovated areas.

The surgery addition is a three-story, cast-in-place structure containing a new central sterile area on the ground floor, educational area with meeting rooms on the first floor and eight new operating rooms on the second floor, which consists of eye, heart, neuro/spine and general operating rooms. Adjoining the surgery addition and constructed two floors above ground is the new orthopedic addition. The columns supporting the ortho addition had to penetrate an existing parking garage structure to new caissons below. The ortho wing consists of five new operating rooms and one shelled space for future build-out. Two of the new ortho ORs are fully integrated and all of them have video monitoring.

Porter Adventist Hospital
Additions & Renovations
Denver

Silver Hard Hat Award

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Computer Room, managed by Earth System Research Laboratory/Global Systems Division, needed to be both robust and reliable. With a mission of continually producing short- and long-term forecast models, the supercomputer makes possible new discoveries in atmospheric, oceanic and hydrologic sciences to further the understanding of the Earth's weather and climate.

To fit a significant amount of equipment in a small space, the project team coordinated closely throughout the two-part design and construction process. The first phase focused on the room's infrastructure while the second involved electrical fitup after the actual computing equipment was selected.

Beginning with an empty, 2,200-sq-ft space, cooling, plumbing, electrical, architectural and fire protection systems were designed to keep the supercomputer continuously operational. Designed to cool 350 watts/sq ft in high-density areas, the cooling system is approximately 35 times larger than that found in a similar-sized room in a house. Seventy percent of the cooling is provided by CRAC units delivering into a cold aisle from below, with 30% furnished by overhead cooling modules. The system is N+1 redundant and equipped with special controls and alarms to monitor and prevent formation of condensation.

An outside air supply provides fresh air for occupants and pressurization to keep the space dust-free. Ecaro, an environmentally friendly dry fire protection agent, is used, with wet sprinklers as a backup. The space is protected by 67 smoke detectors.

A 500 kVA UPS accommodates the extreme densities required for initial and future computer rack loads. Since the existing standby generator is at capacity, should the power fail, a dedicated 400 kVa UPS will allow cooling to continue through a manual shutdown. An emergency power-off system can instantly de-energize all equipment in the room.
Completed on time and in budget, the facility has operated successfully since its completion to better our understanding of climate change.

NOAA New Computer Room
Boulder

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