Medical Center Now Open, Serving the Health Care Needs of the Longmont Community
June 8, 2022 – Longmont, CO — After nearly two years of design and construction, the UCHealth Longs Peak Medical Center has opened its doors to patients in the Longmont area. From bidding to close-out, the Encore Electric team gave their all to build a medical center that could withstand the complex and ever-expanding needs of the Longmont community.
Encore Electric was happy to build the project alongside general contractor McCarthy Building Companies.
Initially the project was a $3.5 million, three-story ambulatory care center and medical office building. Eventually designs evolved from the three-story building to a $5 million, four-story women’s clinic, imaging facility, and cancer treatment center. The elaborate medical center will bring important benefits to the area, expanding the health care options available to surrounding populations as they grow.
Updated project plans included complex technology, requiring the Encore Electric team to tap into their innovation and creativity. A LINAC machine for radiation treatments in the cancer treatment center was especially challenging for the team as radiation from the machines can interfere with surrounding electrical infrastructure, according to Zach Barlow, project manager.
“We worked with physicists to ensure that the radiation would be contained and channeled to where it needs to go when operational and taking care of patients,” said Barlow.
To protect the electrical work from radiation, four-foot-thick concrete walls, ceilings and doors were added to the affected rooms as well as barriers to contain and channel the radiation, so it only affects the necessary areas for treating patients.
Project teams took an unusual approach to the project, building the medical center in a top-down fashion to accommodate the technology and infrastructure necessary for the medical treatments that will take place in the center.
“We really had to switch gears and readjust,” said Encore Electric Superintendent Will Torres. “It was a huge learning experience.”
Tapping into every resource at hand to meet the high demands of the project, Encore Electric relied on our prefabrication team to build panels, transformers, steel racks and more. Thanks to these prefabrication efforts, our team was able to save labor, time, and productivity, all of which are valuable on any project especially those with such a direct impact on surrounding communities.
Throughout the many complexities of the project, the Encore Electric team collaborated with UCHealth and McCarthy Building Companies, problem solving to overcome the obstacles that highly technical healthcare projects bring.
“McCarthy is well-known for its expertise in building leading-edge healthcare facilities with minimal impacts to active campuses such as the one at UCHealth’s Longs Peak Medical Center,” said Jason Coughlin, McCarthy project director. “We welcome any opportunity we have to work with highly-qualified partners like Encore to deliver the modern, functional workspaces our owners want and need to serve their community.”
“It’s always a great experience working with UCHealth on a design-assist opportunity,” said Arnie Helsing, senior preconstruction manager. “McCarthy was able to challenge a lot of design norms with UCHealth to help them make an even more successful project.”
“It was a highlight working with the McCarthy team. They welcomed us onto the job, and it was easy to collaborate with them. We felt heard, they really listened to our feedback and input,” said Torres.
UCHealth Longs Peak Medical Center opens this spring, well equipped to provide compassionate care to patients in the Longmont community. The medical center has a number of specialty clinics such as a women’s care clinic and a cardiopulmonary rehabilitation clinic, as well as plans to expand with a behavioral health clinic to open in fall 2022. With advanced technology and skilled physicians and staff, the community will be in good hands as the medical center opens its doors.
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