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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recognized a Japan Engineer District project delivery team as the 2014 PDT of the Year for Excellence at the 2014 Strategic Leaders Conference awards dinner at Fort Belvoir, Va., Aug. 7.
The 13-year project, completed in 2013, built a new U.S. Navy Hospital-Okinawa (USNH-O) at Camp Foster. The new hospital replaces the hospital at Camp Lester. The hospital, the largest overseas Naval hospital, serves a beneficiary population of 55,000 active duty personnel, family members, civilian employees, contract personnel and retirees, and provides referral services for nearly 189,000 beneficiaries throughout the western Pacific.
The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville's Medical Facilities Mandatory Center of Expertise and Standardization (MX), played a key role in the PDT’s design of the new hospital.
The Pacific Ocean Division (POD), Japan Engineer District and its Okinawa Area Office led the PDT that also included the POD Regional Technical Center, Navy Medicine West-Okinawa Detachment, USNH-O, U.S. Marine Corps Facilities Engineer, U.S. Forces Japan and the Okinawa Defense Bureau for the Government of Japan (GOJ).
Phillip Hoge, John Phillips, Jim Meade and Jeffrey Hardin from Huntsville Center's MX supported the PDT with the entire design, advisement and problem resolution during construction, an on-site inspection near facility completion, and advisement and assistance during the final building commissioning.
“We were there from day one of the design kickoff, which starts with development of a Criteria Package (CP), more or less akin to a concept level design,” said Hardin, a mechanical engineer and technical team lead.
Hardin said for nine years, the MX participated in every design meeting with the Architectural Engineer (AE) and GOJ throughout CP development and final design.
In addition to providing quality assurance oversight of all medically unique aspects of the design, Hardin said the MX found itself in the unofficial role of consulting engineers to the AE, due to GOJ and AE lack of familiarity with U.S. construction and building codes and standards.
While the project required strict adherence to U.S. life safety and fire protection regulations, including stringent U.S. Joint Commission requirements, it was also subject to Japanese laws and regulations.
Hardin explained that the Japanese AE tasked with designing the four-story, 442,827 square foot hospital had limited knowledge or experience with U.S. codes, criteria or engineering practices, so it became an MX task to teach and ensure design compliance with U.S. healthcare criteria.
“The project had to comply with host nation criteria too, and it can be extremely difficult to satisfy both,” Hardin said. “But with the considerable aid of Japanese code experts with the JED and OAO and the AE team, we were able to successfully meet both sets of criteria.”
Beyond codes and criteria, Hardin said other challenges were using an interpreter for many hundreds of hours of face-to-face discussion to reconcile differing “good engineering practices” and also the travel involved by the MX to work with the PDT.
Unique design features of the new hospital include: earthquake resistant “base isolation” foundation system; ice storage to reduce peak power demands of cooling systems; rooftop solar electrical panels and four-day, full-capacity emergency back-up of generator and fuel and potable water and sewage storage.
Other hospital complex projects included: central utility plant; helipad; switch station; back-up sewage and water tanks; hospital warehouse; hazard/flammable storage; public works and transportation facility; waste treatment facility; water supply tanks; and bachelor enlisted and officer quarters; blood Storage facility; preventive medicine and alcohol rehabilitation center; multi-purpose facility and recreation facility.
As the largest medical facility constructed under the GOJ Host Nation Program, the USNH-O represents dedication and selfless service of the hardworking team.
“Thirteen years of TDYs to Okinawa involving a 27-28 hour door-to-door journey each way were a trial,” Hardin said.
However, Hardin said all the hard work, obstacles and thousands of miles traveled paid off for the MX team and the PDT.
“It is always pleasing to be recognized for doing your job well, even when you are only part of the accomplishment,” Hardin said of the USACE award.
“The USACE team was great, and we all worked so hard on the project. The same goes for the great personnel from Navy Medicine West, and the hospital Facilities Management staff. Combined with the patience and cooperation of the GOJ and AE, the PDT made up one of the most professional and enjoyable, groups of professionals we’ve ever worked with,” Hardin said.
| Date Taken: | 08.13.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.13.2014 11:51 |
| Story ID: | 139209 |
| Location: | HUNTSVILLE, AL, US |
| Web Views: | 122 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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