Rapid Delivery of COVID-19 Alternative Care Facilities
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team supported a FEMA mission to manage, design, engineer, and build 4 alternative care facilities (ACF) as part of a 21-day hyper-accelerated turnkey delivery period with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New York Division and Rhode Island National Guard.
This integrated design-build projects required that they be built while they were still being designed. The team leveraged resources from across the country and implemented seamless virtual processes. More than 100 design professionals and 30+ subcontractors immediately began working in two ten-hour shifts, with two-hour breaks between shifts for thorough sanitizing. At peak, more than 500 workers were onsite. The construction effort was completed in only 28 days, with the first 104 beds delivered to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 12 hours ahead of schedule, in only 9 days.
In addition to the 2,409 patient beds, the 4 ACFs also includes nurses stations with hand washing sinks, temporary bathrooms and temporary shower facilities, portable laundry facilities, portable medical gas facilities, ice machines, portable medical waste facilities and new mechanical and electrical infrastructure to support all of the patient care facilities.
LOCATION
Westbury, New York
Providence, Rhode Island
CLIENTS
Rhode Island National Guard
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
ROLE
Project management and technical advisement as part of AECOM team
AWARDS
Platinum Engineering Excellence Award for Building/Technology Systems, American Council of Engineering Companies of NY, 2021
Civilian Award recognizing significant contributions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in service to NYC, NY State and the US, Society of American Military Engineers NYC Post, 2021
New York
In March 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) engaged the team to deliver the Alternate Care Facility at SUNY College of Old Westbury as an emergency response to the global pandemic crisis. The site accommodates a mixture of COVID-19 positive, acute, and non-acute patients with a basic emergency schedule from design through readiness for occupancy achieved during a 21 day period. With the extremely rapid delivery requirements, that 1,024-bed, $120 million facility evolved to an all-hands-on-deck, design-led “build-design” project with every stakeholder – the project sponsors, the owner, the authority having jurisdiction, the design team, the construction manager, and the builder team – pulling together to achieve this essential project on time.
Rhode Island
In March 2020, the Rhode Island National Guard engaged AECOM to assess potential existing facilities and deliver temporary alternate hospital sites for treatment of COVID-19 positive patients. Three sites were found to be suitable and the team was charged with simultaneous delivery of three fully-functioning temporary hospital sites with a combined 1,385 beds for COVID-19 treatment within a 21 day period. The three ACF facilities include the Rhode Island Convention Center, a former bank call center; and a former home improvement store building. The team planned and programed the spaces, developed drawings depicting the proposed work, coordinated with stakeholders and users, provided construction management oversight, procured medical equipment as required for each of the three facilities, provided consultation for stimulus funding and as program manager served as owners representative throughout the work period.
