To eliminate the risk of a 500-year flood, crews raised the north end of the site by 26 ft. This required importing 250,000 cu yd of structural fill and constructing a large retaining wall near Clear Creek.

Supply chain disruptions led to material shortages and delays throughout construction. To mitigate impacts, the project team released early bid packages, erected a 4,000-sq-ft tent on site for limited prefabrication and material storage and partnered with subcontractors to rent additional storage space with suppliers. Dividing steel erection into three sequences allowed multiple crews to work simultaneously, saving the schedule an estimated 16 weeks.

Extensive prefabrication, accounting for nearly 25% of the hospital’s construction materials and components, also accelerated the timeline and reduced costs. This included modular patient headwalls, prefabricated toilet pods and premanufactured plumbing and electrical kits.

These techniques reduced labor costs by 5%, saving $6 million and shortening the project timeline by four months.

Photo courtesy Dan Schwalm © 2024 HDR

Weekly meetings with teams focused on structure and enclosure, interiors and MEP/CUP as well as the site, parking garage and prefabrication also streamlined the process.

When the team faced a significant labor shortage in the Denver area that affected subcontractor engagement and workforce availability, work scopes were packaged to align with the market, dividing the building scope between local subcontractors to ensure progress.