Snug Site in Newport Beach: New Tower at Hoag Hospital Just Inches From Existing Buildings

A 30-in. moat wall for the new $127 million Women's Pavilion at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian encroached upon the caisson footings of two existing buildings, which are now being supported by temporary shoring and underpinning. The project director for McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. said it's the tightest site he has encountered in his 17-year construction career.

By Greg Aragon

While doctors and nurses perform delicate surgeries inside Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, outside, architects and contractors are dealing with the touchy operation of erecting a seven-story, 320,000-sq.-ft. addition on a 59,000-sq.-ft. site.

A view of the seven-story patient tower from Balboa Island (photo by Greg Aragon).

"The tower is being built with operational buildings on three sides and hospital traffic on the other," said Hoag's Peter Foulke, executive vice president, corporate services.

Project Director Max Burcham of McCarthy Building Cos. Inc.,the general contractor, agreed.

"This site is as tight as anything I've ever done on a hospital job," said Burcham, pointing to spots where the new $127 million Women's Pavilion comes within inches of existing hospital buildings.

He said that the tower was erected inside a moat wall 30 in. wider than the outside perimeter of the building. Because the existing Physical Therapy/Joint Replacement Building and the Cath Building are so close to the new tower, their caisson footings were literally replaced by the moat wall.

"We had to support those buildings with temporary shoring and underpinning while we replaced the foundation with this moat wall," said Burcham, a 17-year McCarthy veteran.

The project broke ground in October 2002, when the first of 3,400 truckloads of dirt was hauled from the site to create a 30-ft.-deep excavation. Currently, there are about 270 tradesmen on site each day, and the job is almost 60-percent done.

The structural steel was topped out last month and the skin and windows are more than 90-percent finished.

When complete in August 2005, the Women's Pavilion will house inpatient and outpatient facilities for women's services as well as general surgical facilities for men and women.

The new birthing facilities will include a maternity unit with 49 private rooms, 18 labor-delivery-recovery suites, a 21-bassinet neonatal intensive-care unit with an overnight suite for parents, a seven-bed antepartum unit and fetal diagnostics.

Outpatient facilities include The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Hoag Breast Care and Imaging Center with diagnostic and treatment services, an osteoporosis clinic, a perimenopausal clinic and continence center.

The project also includes an 11,000-sq.-ft., two-level building with a café, gift shop and new main entrance with waiting, registration and teaching areas. The Women's Pavilion and existing towers will connect to the café building through corridors at the ground level and tunnels at the sub-basement level.

From left, Issam M. Khalaf, project director for Jacobs Facilites Inc.; Randy Regier, president of Taylor & Associates Architects; Bruce A. Rainey, director of construction facilities, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian; and Max Burcham, project director for McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. (photo by Greg Aragon).

Designed by Newport Beach-based Taylor & Associates Architects, the new Women's Pavilion is located within a Level 4 seismic zone. To prevent earthquake damage, the building's structural steel moment-frame rests on 54 base isolators, which allow the structure to move up to 30 in. laterally without damaging the building.

Sitting on the base isolators are built-up box columns that are approximately 52-ft. tall and weigh more than 60,000 lbs. each.

Architect Randy Regier, president of Taylor & Associates, said one of the biggest obstacles came in addressing the 1/16-in. construction tolerance that had to be shared between the isolator, isolator base plate, foundation and building column.

"The isolators were being fabricated in England by Silvertown UK, and the base plates were being fabricated in San Bernardino by Herrick Steel," Regier added. "To make sure the base plates and isolator plates matched, Silvertown UK fabricated steel templates and shipped them to Herrick Corp. to match up bolt locations.

"McCarthy then fabricated a template of the base plates to use while forming the isolator pads. On June 10, 2003, the first isolator was placed on the base plate and it fit together perfectly as did the remaining 53."

Burcham said "coming up with accurate templates was essential, as were accurate forms to hold the anchor bolts and the base plate exactly positioned while you poured the concrete, so that the base plate was exactly where it was supposed to be and the bolt pattern would work."