Delivering a project as complex as the $697-million Walter Tower at Houston Methodist Hospital required extensive pre-construction planning.

The 22-story, 957,000-sq-ft facility will offer advanced treatments and includes 366 beds, 18 operating rooms and six floors dedicated to acute care.

Given the project’s scope, the project team had to involve manufacturers and subcontractors in the planning process, along with traditional participants.

A single BIM model structure was used throughout design and construction to “design it once” and avoid costly changes.

Located at the center of the Houston Medical Center, the tower is surrounded by active hospitals. Because this was a dense urban site, no onsite storage was available, and many construction elements had to be prefabricated off site and delivered after hours.

To allow for construction, the team needed to demolish existing buildings that Houston Methodist had acquired from other hospitals. One eight-story building was wedged between existing buildings like a puzzle piece, creating major hurdles for demolition.

To solve this challenge, the team used a remote control concrete demolition system to remove one floor at a time by creating a large hole through the core of the building and dropping debris through it.

And because the hospital wanted to make sure it had the most up-to-date technology and equipment, the project team identified zones above equipment locations where utilities could not be installed until the latest equipment could be put in place.

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