Hendrick Medical Center Patient Tower

Abilene, Texas

At Hendrick Medical Center, we turned four buildings into one by wedging a 281,000 SF addition into the narrow space between three existing facilities, all of which remained fully occupied and operational during construction. One element of the project, the vertical bed tower expansion, extends over the pediatric intensive care unit and operating suites that are in constant use; structural columns for the overbuild extend downward, passing through these critical areas. Pits for the drilled piers originally specified simply could not be dug without major disruption, shutting down whole service lines on multiple floors. We worked with the design team to transition to spread footings, and we hand-dug the pits and hand-poured the concrete underneath the structure. This approach was easier for the client because it minimized disruption and reduced costs, faster and safer for us, and totally satisfied the structural engineer.