Updating a Washington D.C. Hospital With 3D Laser Scanning Services

The new MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., will open in 2023 with the latest medical and technological innovations. They will be using 3D laser scanning services to complete this project. 

In addition to 31 operating rooms, the 477,213-square-foot medical and surgical complex will have 156 patient rooms and 32 exam rooms. There will be interconnecting the diagnostic and operating rooms; an intraoperative MRI system will deliver the MRI magnet straight to the patient. Six acres of fresh green space and a 600-car underground parking structure round out the project. 

The site is the former Kober-Cogan Building, which closed in May 2010 due to mold contamination and housed the hospital’s psychiatry department. Using 3D scanning services, they can go into the hospital and detect the contaminated areas before ever starting this project. 

The project team, directed by Clark Construction of Bethesda, Maryland, had unusual hurdles, but all of them can be helped with 3D laser scanning services. Miles of undocumented water utility connections immediately fed both MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and Georgetown University campus buildings under the new pavilion. To start the project, the team had to move these utilities outside the building’s footprint.

Bradley Hunter, project executive at Clark Construction Group, says his team developed and engineered a 250-foot-long utility bridge to supply chilled water and electrical services to the existing MedStar Georgetown Hospital. This required tight collaboration with mechanical and electrical contractors who put utilities on prefabricated racks and draped them from 60-foot steel beams to allow excavation below.

Clark Construction created a BIM model of the existing utilities with HKS and Shalom Baranes Associates. Most of this work and creation can be done with 3D laser scanning services. There is no denying that this technology saved time and helped the team overcome the challenges of renovating this space. 

This first stage helped the Clark team refine the cost model for deep foundations and revise the excavation plan. Clark recorded the actual soil, and utility conditions encountered with each pile in real-time and inputted the information into the BIM model. Clark was able to amend and resequence the excavation plan ahead of the field personnel, said Hunter.

The on-site team uses technology and 3D laser scanning services

Clark conducted a preliminary survey using typical survey instruments, including the Leica MS50, which combines total station, GNSS, digital imaging, and 3D laser scanning services. In addition to slab edges, 3D technology checked joints and floor flatness. The technology also connects existing structures to the façade.

The survey crew employed Leica MultiWorx, a Civil 3D add-on. Use the scan data to create existing conditions and as-built drawings. 3D laser scanning services let the team look at the building in a new way while also managing several other hospital areas. 

Managing a crowd with 3D laser scanning services

Due to its proximity to a university and a hospital, the Clark team had to develop ways to manage student, patient, and visitor movement, especially early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

To do so, the crew created a temporary pedestrian bridge along the job site’s east side. A concrete batch plant on-site reduced traffic congestion by minimizing deliveries to the project site. Lavelle estimates that the plant saved 3,500 trucks from the road and improved concrete quality on site.