Robins & Morton partnered early with project designers, subcontractors, the client and community stakeholders to construct the Miami Cancer Institute, which includes a 305,000-sq-ft outpatient cancer center and an adjacent 140,000-sq-ft clinical research building. The facility is the only North American cancer center to house every available treatment modality under the same roof and is also home to South Florida’s first proton therapy center.

The project required construction of a 70,000-sq-ft radiation oncology department, a 350-ft pedestrian walkway connecting it to Baptist Hospital, two parking garage structures and a 15,000-sq-ft central energy plant, all built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

After the completion of construction documents, the owner handed contractors a significant challenge when it decided to add a proton therapy center. The decision prompted project team members to reconfigure the design, move buildings around, redo wind studies and change the building’s structural design and program.

The scope redesign pushed back the construction start by four months. The team had expected a full building permit in June of 2014, but did not receive it until late September. By rephasing the project and overlapping some construction activities, contractors were able to complete construction in time for Baptist Health to open the facility three months early.

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