Dec 15 2010
On December 13, 2010, the Balfour Beatty | McCarthy joint venture, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Health Facilities Planning Agency (HFPA) and Medical Command (MEDCOM) celebrated the official groundbreaking for the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center Replacement at Fort Hood, Texas. At $534 million, the Medical Center replacement is the largest project to date funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The Balfour Beatty | McCarthy team is providing design-build services for the 947,000-square-foot project, which will replace the existing 45-year old Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center and provide a new, state-of-the-art healthcare facility for Service Members and their Families.
“This is among the first design-build healthcare projects of this magnitude to be awarded by USACE,” said Michael J. McWay, president of McCarthy’s Texas Division and chairman of the Balfour Beatty | McCarthy Management Committee. “The Balfour Beatty | McCarthy team is excited to bring our extensive experience with this delivery method to work for the Government on such a prestigious project.”
“From the start, our goal was to have a fully integrated team approach on this project. We selected our team members based on their healthcare expertise as well as their experience working with us on similar projects. We brought that expertise, team approach and lessons learned to benefit this project. Over the last few months, through partnering, project kick-off sessions and design charrettes, we further solidified the integrated team approach with USACE, HFPA and MEDCOM, and created a strong foundation that will help us ensure the new medical center is a world-class facility,” said Billy Bryan, director of operations for Balfour Beatty Construction.
The new medical center is being designed to meet USGBC LEED Gold certification requirements. Key sustainable measures include more than 30% reduction in energy use over ASHRAE Standard 90.1, utility use reduction of 55% over the existing hospital, 50% water reduction for irrigation use and 30% decrease in water usage for plumbing systems. In addition, the new facility will utilize a 100% dedicated outside air system, which will improve overall indoor air quality and eliminate recirculation of air within patient care areas.
The formal notice to proceed was authorized on November 8, 2010, and construction is scheduled to complete in May 2014.
Source: http://www.balfourbeatty.com/