Reconfigure Inpatient HVAC for Pandemic Flexibility

To support the pandemic flexibility of the Iowa City Health Care System, GBA Builders installed exhausted ductwork to allow for negatively zoned rooms on multiple floors to be separated from the main Building 1. Other construction scopes included demolition, ICRA, roofing, drywall, painting, ACT, VAC, plumbing, electrical and communications.

All construction work was performed while the facility remained fully occupied and operational. Each phase of construction was isolated from the occupants by fire rated/clean room construction barriers and a negative air environment to preclude any airborne contaminants/particulate matter, micro-organisms and dust from infiltrating into the occupied and clean room spaces. Shift-work and temporary acoustic barriers were implemented when appropriate to minimize the effects of noise and vibration-making activities.

Coordination of phasing and operations with the client and staff was critical and weekly meetings between contractor and owner were utilized for frequent and optimum communication. Infectious Control Risk Assessment measures were implemented for this project, and partnered with the owner to phase construction, accelerate the construction schedule and work diligently with client to ensure the budget was maintained.