St. Cabrini Nursing Home Renovation
New $41.6M addition and renovations to existing buildings. New mechanical systems, finishes, handicap accessibility, sprinkler, and fire alarms. Resident rooms in the existing 304- bed buildings converted from double rooms to singles. Andron provided Preconstruction, Value Engineering, and Construction Management services with a GMP.
“The challenges were monumental. The necessity to remain operational throughout the project was of prime importance to us, as was the need to always maintain a safe, sanitary, and code-compliant environment. The cooperation, attentiveness, communication, flexibility, integrity, and availability of Andron…made this project a successful outcome for all of us.”
Challenge One: Phasing
St. Cabrini Nursing Home is a fully occupied facility. It was critical to the owner that daily operations continued without disruption to ensure the patients’ physical health and the facility’s financial health.
Solution: To maintain the resident census and ensure continued revenue for the owner from patient services during construction, Andron divided what was intended as a three-phase project into 18 phases, providing for patient moves between each one from existing rooms to new or renovated ones, as well as shifting food service and administrative spaces so that there was never a gap in vital patient services.
To maintain staff and visitor parking and access, Andron similarly phased the work so that crane pick locations, staging and unloading areas for precast members, and other activities rotated around the building. With each rotation, there were new designations for parking and site access.
Challenge Two: Occupied Facility
St. Cabrini is a community of elderly residents, attended by professional staff and visited by family and friends. The owner dreaded the turmoil of a major construction project and foresaw the potential to disrupt the residents’ quality of life and diminish its revenue stream. Before work began, the owner’s concern was the need to isolate the project from the patients.
Solution: Andron saw the opportunity to involve the patients in the project. Progress talks, resident tours, and other efforts were held to involve the residents in the project. Balconies and lounges were used in the existing building as observation points for residents to view the site.
These locations were soon full of eager “superintendents” who witnessed the day-to-day progress of the work. The residents came to recognize and know workers. They watched the evolution of the site from bare ground to finished building. It became their project, and they fully embraced it.
Challenge Three: Precast Concrete
The design called for concrete foundations on piles driven to bedrock, and a precast concrete superstructure. Construction required 1,100 precast panels and 2,000 pieces of precast plank, fabricated off-site, and delivered for erection by crane. The panels and plank could not be altered after they arrived on-site. It was critical that they would fit when installed.
Solution: To ensure proper fit and installation, Andron retained an engineer to prepare 385 three-dimensional shop drawings. Our precast fabricator prepared sample panels to satisfy conformity. The fabricator then built the precast panels, stored them at the plant to ensure sufficient quantity for erection, and began shipment by 275 truckloads from the factory in Pennsylvania to the site in Westchester County.
The panels arrived in exact sequence, along with the precast plank. The erector could lift them one by one into place, each successive piece fitting into the piece before, and then proceed around the structure piece by piece until completion. Due to the slope on the west side where the new addition went in, the erector had to plan his crane moves and pick locations with precision. Even the trucks had to arrive in exact sequence, due to the limited space for access and staging.
Award Winning Design
Winner 2010 Build New York Award Associated General Contractors of New York State
Winner, excellence in design and craftsmanship 2010 Annual Visual Arts BENE Award Ministry & Liturgy Magazine
Cabrini Eldercare Andron Receives Award for St. Cabrini Nursing Home $55 Million Major Modernization Project