Concrete towers rise next to Natchitoches hospital

Project adds new outpatient facility, creates office space

By Sam Barnes

Four concrete towers that provide the focal points of a new outpatient facility are taking shape in Natchitoches.

Skip Converse Inc. of Alexandria began forming and pouring the elevator and stairwell towers last spring on each side of a new two-story facility that is being built adjacent to the seven-story Natchitoches Parish Hospital.

The contractor broke ground at the site for the 65,000-sq.-ft. facility late last year. The project also includes approximately 35,000 sq. ft. of renovations to the existing hospital.

The new outpatient facility will physically connect to the hospital's first and second floors, although the tie-ins won't take place until the project's renovation phase. Baton Rouge architect Bradley-Blewster & Associates designed the new addition, with assistance from Natchitoches architect George Minturn.

Randy Deloache, project manager with Skip Converse, said the tallest of the concrete towers will house twin elevator shafts at the hospital's entrance, and measures 60 ft. tall. Another tower will be 45 ft. tall and house a stairwell and elevator shaft, and the remaining two 30-ft. towers will house emergency exit stairwells.

"They're all being built with poured-in-place concrete using a Symons form system," he said. "We're either placing the concrete with a pump, or by crane and bucket." Each tower wall measures about 8 in. thick and is reinforced with a double matting of reinforcing steel.

Deloache said structural steel erection will begin once the towers are completed this summer. Concrete slab construction will soon follow.

"To be able to accept the structural steel, the towers need to be in place," he added. "We expect the steel erection to begin in August, and we'll top out about two months after that."

Carl Riche, vice president of Skip Converse, said site demolition, including the removal of existing parking areas, began last fall, and was followed by the installation of 300, 40-ft. deep, 18- to 24-in.-diameter auger cast piles by L. G. Barcus & Sons Inc. of Kansas City, Kan. The shafts were completed in March.

"There was an existing parking area that we completely removed prior to constructing the shafts," Riche said.

Weather proved problematic during the project's early stages, particularly the "extremely wet" months of January and February.

"We still managed to get the shafts in rather quickly," Riche said. "The auger cast foundation system is a relatively fast and easy method of foundation construction."

About four to five auger piles were constructed for each pile cap. The slab pours, which began this summer, consist of a 5-in.-thick ground floor slab with reinforcing steel and a 4-in.-thick second floor slab poured on metal decking. The second-floor slab is made of lightweight concrete and will be poured in September.

About 2,500 cu. yds. of concrete, all supplied by Builders Supply Co. Inc. of Shreveport, is necessary for the entire addition.

Deloache said both the fabrication and erection of the 1,000 tons of structural steel necessary for the building structure will be performed by Confab Engineering & Welding Inc. of Shreveport.

Connecting to some of the steel members on top of the building will be a new aluminum heliport installed by Heliport Systems Inc. of Morristown, N.J. The heliport will have access to the existing hospital through a nearby elevator tower.

"The structural steel actually comes up through the roof system to accept the attachments of the heliport's aluminum framing," Deloache said.

A "heavy mechanical" phase inside the building will require the installation of new medical gas piping, as well as conventional HVAC duct. Republic Contractors Inc., Shreveport, is performing the work, which also includes the installation of a new chiller within the existing hospital's mechanical room.

River City Electric Co. of Monroe is performing the electrical installation.

Other inside work includes the installation of metal stud and gypboard walls, acoustical ceilings and various types of resilient flooring and carpet.

"The exterior of the building will match the existing hospital and will include an EIFS system, glass and glazing," said architect George Minturn.

"There's some brick veneer in certain areas, but for the most part it's EIFS and glass, which matches the exterior of the hospital as it is now."

A drive-up canopy will support an oval drive at the outpatient facility's entrance. Portions of the drive will actually run beneath the structure of the second floor.

Other work outside the facility included the construction of about 50,000 sq. ft. of new concrete parking lot, all of which was completed prior to construction to accommodate patients and workers.

Once the outpatient facility is finished in April, extensive renovations of the existing hospital's medical records area will begin.

Gene Spillman, construction administrator with the hospital, said the first floor renovations will convert the existing medical records area into offices and various storage rooms.

"An area covering about 35,000 sq. ft. is being completely gutted, re-designed and reconstructed," Spillman said. "The renovations will also convert areas that had previously served as outpatient services into expansions of existing departments."

A significant amount of interior demolition will occur during the process, with renovations complete by the end of 2004.

Upon completion, the new 65,000-sq.-ft. addition will support several operating rooms, some procedure rooms, several treatment rooms and an Intensive Care Unit. Radiation treatment rooms will be encased with lead-lined sheet rock.

"We'll probably average anywhere from 50 to 80 crewmen throughout much of the project," Riche said.