The Associated General Contractors of Utah recently awarded the Healthcare Project of the Year (Under $25M) to University of Utah Health Care’s Clinical Neurosciences Center (CNC) and Jacobsen Construction.

Image courtesy of Jacobsen Construction

Weighing nine tons, the scanner was installed on a ceiling-mounted rail system, allowing it to move into the OR or the angiography room, and provide real-time MRI images during brain-related surgeries and procedures.


The AGC award, presented during its 91st annual convention, honors the creation of the CNC’s Intra-operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging System (IMRIS) Suite, which is among the first of its kind in the western United States and the first in the world to be applied to the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients.


The IMRIS Suite is comprised of three separate rooms—an MRI room, flanked by an operating room and a biplane angiogram room. The Jacobsen team constructed the suite to allow neurosurgeons, neurologists and interventional radiologists to more efficiently perform brain-related procedures with greater precision and improved outcomes.


“Taking part of an existing building and converting it into a state-of-the art operating suite is no simple process. It had to be safe and precise, not only to effectively continue the care of our patients during its construct, but also to ensure an environment where future patients receive treatment unlike any other hospital in the world,” said Edwin “Steve” Stevens, M.D., chair of the Dept. of Radiology at University of Utah Hospital. “Jacobsen has been a crucial partner in this process; it’s exciting to see this concept come to fruition, and we are excited by the life-saving potential it has, especially for stroke patients.”   


Jacobsen constructed a nearly 16,000-sq-ft space to accommodate a 3 Tesla or “3T” MRI scanner. Weighing nine tons, the scanner was installed on a ceiling-mounted rail system, allowing it to move into the OR, or the angiography room, and provide real-time MRI images during brain-related surgeries and procedures. The scope of work also included support spaces for staff, including locker rooms, a break room, offices and a new control desk.


“This was a landmark project for us, considering the intricacies of constructing a first-of-its-kind space for this state-of-art medical technology,” said Jacobsen President Doug Welling. “We’re thrilled to have taken part in a project like the IMRIS Suite, because it ultimately translates into lives changed and saved. We’re grateful to the CNC for entrusting us with this special project.”