For the new five-story, ground-up construction of the Children’s Hospital Colorado in Colorado Springs, Colorado, MTech Mechanical prefabricated the supply air riser duct on the ground and hoisted it in place via tower crane.  

“Hoisting the duct risers with the tower crane was approximately 70 percent more efficient than installing piece by piece at each floor,” explains MTech Mechanical field manager Jason Marsh. “It also allowed the other trades to start the work sooner in the schedule with the ductwork already installed.”   

With increasingly cinched construction schedules, the MTech prefabricates whenever it can to minimize time and maximize the use of labor onsite.

“The actual picks of the risers was a very smooth process. The planning process is very important to not overlook any details of the pick,” says Marsh. “The supports for the riser duct need to be welded into place prior to the hoist as well all of the duct stiffeners installed to keep the duct straight and square. It was important to review the entire riser section to make sure all connections had appropriate cleats, bolts and sealer applied prior to the hoist.” 

The 294,000-square-foot facility is a highly anticipated addition to the region, and it will serve as southern Colorado’s first pediatric-only hospital. MTech’s scope of work included chilled and heated water systems, steam and steam condensate, custom air handlers and specialty exhaust.

The project really challenged us to be creative with our opportunities and efficiencies of our install,” says MTech Mechanical field manager Jason Marsh. He explains that the project is the first integrated project delivery job completed by the firm. “Installing the duct risers in a single crane pick was one example of these efficiencies that promoted labor savings as well as schedule savings to the overall project. The riser shown is one of six duct riser shafts that were installed on the project.”

GE Construction served as general contractor and Cator Ruma & Associates as project engineer.

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This story originally appeared in the March 2020 issue of SNIPS magazine.