It’s no secret that one of the best ways to save money on a construction project is by finding efficiencies to shorten the schedule. The team building the new Oregon Elks Children’s Eye Clinic on Oregon Health & Science University‘s Marquam Hill campus did just that.

Skanska USA Building is serving as general contractor for the project to erect a new five-story, 60,000-square-foot structure designed by Seattle-based NBBJ.

Carr Construction ironworkers placed the final steel beam atop the sixth-level mechanical penthouse last month, marking completion of the building’s structural framework. Use of a new steel moment frame system designed by Mission Viejo, California-based SidePlate Systems and fabricated by L&M, an Oregon based division of SteelFab, has accelerated construction significantly.

“I think schedule was the biggest driver,” said Ron Lai, the project manager for OHSU. “When we went through the A3 process of really discussing the concept in depth, the advantages in schedule really came out and were very, very apparent. Once we started I think we saved close to four months of time, we estimated, and that’s something that nobody thought we would have.”

SidePlate Systems uses bolted connections to secure the structural steel components. But the manner in which oversized beams and columns fit together neatly eliminates the need for brace frames and shear walls, and cuts the amount of required welding to a minimum.

Extra room is built into the connections to allow the steel moment frame to shift in the event of a seismic event. The bolted connections also make possible the replacement of damaged components in a way that welded connections do not.

“You purchase a licensing fee and they help you with the design,” explained Nik Heagy, a senior project manager with Skanska USA Building. “That allows you to have longer, bigger spans. The steel is quite large for the size of building that it is, so we have pretty wide spans in the building and pretty limited columns.”

It’s not only the lack of welding that saves time, but also the elimination of the need to schedule full-penetration welds, which require time-consuming preheating of steel components during cold weather. That even benefits patients at the existing Casey Eye Institute adjacent to the project site. Normally, welding activities would need to be carefully shielded from view with darkened, opaque screens. But because of the extensive use of bolted connections, that kind of precaution is largely not required here.

“It was a little bit of a risk because it’s fairly new technology,” Lai said. “But there was a lot of confidence from (structural engineering firm) MKA and also from Carr and Skanska about this system. So we had a lot of confidence going in. Needless to say it has turned out very well.”

The new technology is starting to gain in popularity. Fortis Construction used SidePlate components in the Providence Newberg medical office building project now under construction, and Skanska is using it on the massive Terminal E expansion at Portland International Airport.

Crews broke ground on the eye clinic project in November 2018. Substantial completion is expected by mid-July 2020. Then roughly three months will be spent transferring new and existing programs and staff into the new building, which in addition to the children’s eye clinic will hold a new macular degeneration center, an ophthalmic genetics center and a clinical trials center.

Structural steel is complete and fireproofed up through the fifth floor. The sixth-level mechanical penthouse is expected to be enclosed soon, Heagy said. Then the dry-in process will proceed on other floors.

“We’ll go west (side) to north to east and then on the south it’s all curtain wall,” he said.

The steel connections to a fourth-level sky-bridge connecting the new building with the existing Casey Eye Institute, are also complete. On the inside, metal framing is completed through two floors, with mechanical, electrical and plumbing rough-in proceeding.

“We have had so many discussions with people around campus commenting on how it seemed like the building just sprouted up overnight,” Lai said. “And it literally has because of this technology.”

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Oregon Health & Science University this week celebrated the topping out of a new five-story building at its Marquam Hill campus.

The Elks Children’s Eye Clinic is a 64,000-square-foot structure that will be connected directly to the existing Casey Eye Institute via a sky-bridge. The project was designed by Seattle-based NBBJ and is being built by general contractor Skanska USA Building.

On Monday, union ironworkers with Carr Construction placed the final structural steel beam atop the roof level as a crowd watched from the street below.

The clinic is being built on the site of the former OHSU School of Dentistry, which was demolished last year following a two-year process that required shoring up an abutting hillside. A 14-story hospital expansion project is also planned at the site.

The new clinic will feature an 11,500-square-foot children’s eye clinic and space dedicated to macular degeneration, ophthalmic genetics and clinical trials.

Outside, there will be a multi-sensory garden with seating, pathways and a café courtyard. Completion of the project is expected by July 2020.

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Samaritan Health Services is on a coastal building spree.

Over the past year, significant progress has been made on a pair of large hospital construction projects – one in Newport and another in Lincoln City. Crews at the former site recently completed the first of two major phases of work, while crews at the latter site are tackling rough-in, framing and mechanical, electrical and plumbing work. That new, 52,000-square-foot building will replace an existing wood-framed hospital.

The $42 million Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital project is on schedule to finish in October, within the planned budget, according to spokeswoman Mary Jo Kerlin. Following a switchover of personnel and other resources from the old building, the new hospital is set to open to the public in February 2020. The Lincoln City project was designed by HGA Architects. Skanska USA Building is serving as construction manager/general contractor.

Recently, Skanska’s crews of carpenters, laborers and cement masons were busy finishing sections of the single-story building’s roof slab, while Anning-Johnson carpenters were installing both interior and exterior metal framing. McKinstry has been tasked with MEP work, while Carr Construction performed the steel erection work. Knottworks Construction, one of the few Lincoln City-based contractors involved, carried out civil work and site concrete; later, it will perform additional concrete landscaping.

“The construction of our replacement hospital building has been a wonderful experience, largely due to the skill and professionalism of our design-build team,” said Dr. Lesley Ogden, CEO of both Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital and Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport. “I had the opportunity to be part of this project from the beginning, so I saw how our staff and community members were encouraged to provide valuable input and insight. This allowed the architects to design a building unique to our special needs in Lincoln City.”

In addition to constructing a new primary hospital, crews will remodel the existing Health Professions Education Center building to provide administrative space and physical rehabilitation services. The project also includes demolition of the existing hospital building, creation of a new main parking lot, half-street improvements on the campus’ west and south sides, as well as smaller campus improvements.

Both the front and back portions of the new hospital will have offer greater operational efficiency than those in the existing building. This will improve workflow and patients’ privacy, Ogden said.

“The number of dedicated patient rooms will be fewer than what we have currently, but the number of flexible-use spaces is greater,” she said. “The overall effect is more clinical space for better patient care.”

The new hospital is being built with sufficient seismic strength to allow immediate occupancy following a major earthquake. This is standard today for a critical care facility, according to Todd Predmore, a Skanska USA Building vice president and account manager.

In Newport, meanwhile, a $57 million project is under way for Samaritan Health Services. The team of Colorado design-build firm Neenan Archistruction and Corvallis-based T. Gerding Construction is carrying out a rebuild of Pacific Communities Hospital.

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