Baptist Medical Center Tower Rises Above Tricky Site
The team building the $108-million, 12-story J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver Tower at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla., had to overcome tricky underground issues, a cramped site and late design changes to get this health care facility up and running. Built in five phases over 32 months, the 338,000-sq-ft tower includes 156 patient rooms, surgery suites and a neuroscience institute for adults.
A key challenge lay in a site that was hemmed in by buildings on three sides. Avoiding an underground tunnel housing water and power lines that ran the length of the tight site was another. Instead of rerouting this existing infrastructure, contractors reinforced the tunnel with soil nails before installing the project's 88 caissons—which measured between 2 ft and 8 ft in diameter—around the underground structure.