Infill Hospital In Nashville Requires Patience For Patients
Every 15 to 20 minutes at the site of a 328,779-sq-ft addition-renovation for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the hum of the tower crane engine is replaced by the “hum” of a helicopter taking off from or landing on the roof of the neighboring operating hospital, just 102 ft away from the crane. The silencing of the crane is the most noticeable work disruption at the 10-level infill project, hemmed in on three sides by the existing hospital and restricted below by a one-level emergency department. The contractors also have to share the street in front of the site with ambulances and public traffic. And they have to muffle noise and control dust because the $234-million Critical Care Tower development, 41% complete, is not only snug up against occupied patient rooms and active surgery suites, it invades the existing hospital so the two buildings will function as one.
“If you have a decision to make regarding how to do the work, you make it as though your wife, husband, child or parent was the patient we’re taking care of,” he says.