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.”

The post Framing system saves time and money for OHSU appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

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.

The post OHSU children’s eye clinic project tops out appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A proposal for a five-story clinic building at Oregon Health & Science University got an enthusiastic thumbs-up from the Portland Design Commission on Thursday.

Commissioners voted unanimously to approve plans for the $30 million, 65,000-square-foot Elks Children’s Eye Clinic, including an eco-roof, a sensory garden, dichroic glass and other innovative features designed to make the facility user-friendly for the visually impaired. The building’s design also drew praise for the way it will fit into the OHSU campus atop Marquam Hill.

“I love the fact the institute itself is connected organically to the other existing building,” Commissioner Tad Savinar said. “Yet the sky-bridge and parking court and garden – you take that little adjustment and it focuses this energy on the entrance, which is fantastic.

It even improves how it’s nestled into this little valley, and that’s extraordinary.”

Seattle-based NBBJ designed the new clinic. Its ground floor will include an entry lobby, an optical shop, a staff lounge and conference room, and a café. The upper four stories will be devoted to clinic space, while the roof will support a mechanical penthouse.

A sky-bridge at the clinic’s third level will connect to the adjacent Casey Eye Institute.

A new plaza and sensory garden will sit between the clinic building and Southwest Campus Drive to its south, while a new outdoor courtyard will sit between the new building and an existing parking garage to the east.

For context, the new clinic will be built on the site of the former OHSU School of Dentistry building, which is being demolished. It’s a slow process, because that building is, in effect, acting as a retaining wall for a portion of Southwest Campus Drive.

“I like every aspect of this building,” Commissioner Andrew Clarke said of the proposed eye clinic. “It’s a very awesome, clear presentation and it shows the building and the mission you guys are moving forward with as well, so I support this project.”

One change from earlier proposed configurations for the clinic comes at the rooftop level. An eco-roof was initially  intended for storm water detention. But because the roof area was not sufficient to serve this function, it was instead incorporated into the landscape design. The eco-roof was initially included as a recommended condition of approval by city staff but commissioners agreed to eliminate this feature.

“It fits with the purity of form of the building, and with managing what is always an anomaly on the roof – the mechanical stuff,” city planner Arthur Graves said. “In a different topographical environment you may not notice the roof as much as here, being on a hillside.”

David Wilson, chairman of OHSU’s ophthalmology department, told the commission the dichroic glass and other design elements were devised with the aim of making patients’ visits to the new clinic easier both physically and mentally.

“Many of the patients we see are visually impaired or legally blind, and sometimes those conditions make them sensitive to light,” he said. “That played into some of the design elements from patient comfort, but also from patient safety. This building really is complementary to the other building that is adjacent to it.”

A driving concept behind the project was the notion of creating “a site for the senses,” NBBJ senior associate Brian Uyesugi said. Thus, the sensory garden with native plants, a new courtyard, landscaping and other visual elements were an overriding focal point.

“We were trying to strike a balance between a building that is very professional and research-driven, and the sense-of-wonder aspect of a pediatric entry,” he said.

The post Clinic’s design passes with flying colors appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.