Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center
The Sisters of Charity required a new skilled nursing facility to continue caring for the community: the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center. Andron provided preconstruction, value engineering, construction management, and HUD-approved performance and payment bonds for the full contract amount. The building is now certified LEED-Gold. All materials were selected for ease of maintenance and environmental sustainability.
“The Andron team suggested schedule and cost savings alternatives that we agreed to improve the job and keep to our schedule. Andron’s attention to both the ‘big picture’ and the myriad of details is executed through a ‘high tech’ coordination of the job…Andron has a complete quality control program and commitment to safety.”
Scope of Work
The project included constructing a $78.8 million new facility providing special rehabilitative and palliative healthcare for children with complex clinical conditions and disabilities. The 4-story 165,000 SF facility houses a 137-bed inpatient center and a 15-classroom school for the resident children.
Challenge One: Building on a Strict Schedule
For over 100 years, the Sisters of Charity had cared for frail and disabled children at their skilled-care facility in Manhattan. When they learned that their lease would terminate, they began to plan a new facility in Yonkers. After financing and approval delays, they were left with 21 months to build a 24-month project.
Solution: Normally, the construction of this new pediatric nursing home would have proceeded over the entire building footprint one level at a time. To build a 24-month project in only 21 months, Andron developed an innovative phasing plan for the site. Creating a sequence that divided the building footprint into four quadrants, work proceeded quadrant by quadrant rather than floor by floor. Three months were shaved from the schedule, and the new facility was completed on time and within budget.
Challenge Two: Safety
Slip-and-falls are a leading cause of injury in construction, and the safety challenge on this project was to pour concrete, erect steel, and apply spray fireproofing during the winter of 2010-2011, one of the coldest on record, with nearly continuous slippery conditions of snow and ice. The work could not wait until spring.
Solution: Everyone took a safety role, from Andron’s senior managers down to the trade workers. Everyone knew that the relentless ice and snow conditions were dangerous. If anyone saw an unsafe condition, it was reported and addressed with sand, salt, caution signs, removal—whatever was necessary. There were no slip-and-fall incidents or lost workdays to injury on this project. There were no lost days due to weather, despite the record snowfalls.
Challenge Three: High-Quality Complex Build
This was a complicated building with the complex MEP systems required for the skilled care of sick children. To be occupied and fully commissioned, it needed to pass the strict New York State Department of Health inspections. The DOH final inspection and approval process takes typically 90 days from completion of construction to occupancy by the patients.
Solution: Andron understood that a high-quality construction job done right would expedite the approval process. For this project, just 30 days elapsed from completion to when the Sisters moved in with the children. Achieving occupancy quickly meant that the construction quality and craftsmanship, like the teamwork, was extraordinary.
Accelerated construction is often associated with loss of quality. That was not the case here. Division of the work areas into quadrants meant that the subcontractors could focus their efforts on smaller spaces with greater supervision of select crews. Thanks to this effort, the rooftop HVAC units, the above-ceiling ductwork, and the complex electrical and mechanical systems were fabricated and installed with no conflicts. For the general trades, the project team used mock-ups to preview the final result and provide a benchmark for the workers to follow.
Award Winning Design
Best Project—Healthcare ENR New York Best of 2012 ENR / McGraw Hill
Advance for Nurses 2012 A New Home and Green Environment for Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center
AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust Celebrating Construction of the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center 2010