Working 24/7, the team supported by the Greater Boston Building Trades designed and built the emergency 1,000-bed hospital for COVID-19 patients inside the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in four days. To keep up with rapidly evolving design, a web-based document management system kept the team abreast of modifications in real time. The team determined modularized walls would provide greater safety benefits for patients and staff over conventional fabric dividers. Taking advantage of the efficiency, quality and safety benefits of offsite prefabrication processes, drywall partitions were built and coated in anti-bacterial paint at two rented warehouses in New Hampshire, then shipped to the jobsite for assembly. A thermal imaging camera system screened workers entering the site. Live-feed video cameras also allowed offsite team members to continually monitor progress and act immediately on project needs.

Within two days after construction began, the hospital was ready to begin serving patients, with facilities such as six fully enclosed “crash rooms” for people in need of immediate intubation and ventilation, an X-ray room, a mental health/therapeutic room and a physical rehabilitation area. Project team members remained available afterward to support requests for additional bathrooms, signage and other facility enhancements. The project was completed below budget and ahead of schedule, with no recordable safety incidents.

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