The HCA Centennial Medical Center Tower Addition is a 90,000-sq-ft, three-story vertical hospital expansion to the Centennial Medical Plaza. The expansion includes four new operating rooms and a post-anesthesia care unit, along with an emergency department lobby and exam rooms to the first floor, 16 patient rooms and four ICU rooms on the second floor. The project also provides for future flexibility with a third-floor shell space that allows build-out of another 20 patient rooms and sets the stage for future vertical expansions.  

Built in 1986, the facility housed the area’s first freestanding emergency room with outpatient services and multispecialty physician care. This expansion allows the hospital to become the area’s only full-service hospital, making it a one-stop shop for patients with varying medical needs. 

Photo by Frank Ooms

The owner added an additional floor of shell space after steel erection had already begun, and the team worked closely with the steel firms to modify the project without compromising quality or safety. With the addition of the extra floor, other adjustments also had to be made, such as temporary roofs and weather protection. 

Photo by Frank Ooms

Pandemic restrictions reduced the number of daily workers from 250 to 50, but team members still had to be mindful of one another to remain socially distant. They worked outdoors in the warmer months, completing exterior activities such as parking lots and utilities while some of the interior activities were put on hold. A third-party company was hired to support daily onsite COVID-19 checks. Each person entering the site was required to fill out a daily questionnaire and have their temperatures checked. Additionally, different color wristbands for each day of the week were provided so that it was apparent if someone had not gone through the screening process for that day.