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Community Corner

Construction of Medical Facility in Historic Rural Missouri Area Brings State-of-the-Art Healthcare Close to Home

Contractor to be honored at international CONEXPO-CON/AGG equipment exposition for improving community’s quality of life

By Jeff Winke

Thanks to a newly constructed medical facility, the residents of rural Ste. Genevieve County are enjoying greater quality of life with expanded access to specialists, quality healthcare services, and convenient clinic and pharmacy hours.

One medical services provider, Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital, worked hard to provide county residents with access to more medical and healthcare services close to home – helped by the efforts of local and area construction companies.

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They faced a fast-track job on a challenging site, but the end result was the new $5 million, 20,000-square foot Bloomsdale Medical Centre, which opened October 28, 2012, and whose promotional tagline proudly proclaims, “Healthcare that’s miles ahead, not miles away.”

The facility also offers a dramatic addition to women’s diagnostic and healthcare services for the region. It is the home of Metis Breast Center and houses an extensive array of women’s health services, including obstetrics, gynecology, surgical services, digital mammography with stereotactic procedures, ultrasound, community health programs and more.

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Local Contractor Handles Site Prep, Utility and Concrete Work

CE Contracting was chosen to handle site prep on the three-acre site, as well as utility and concrete work. The company especially wanted to do a good job. The Bloomsdale Medical Centre site is literally just a few miles away from CE Contracting’s headquarters.

“While we often work many hours away in other parts of the state, because this was right here in our hometown, we really felt it was important for us to do this job,” explained Derek Drury, president of CE Contracting.

“In October 2011, we started the site work, which included excavation, cut and fill, and compaction,” said Ben Weiler, PE and vice president, CE Contracting. “We were also responsible for utilities, such as water lines, sanitary sewer lines, storm sewer lines, and catch basins, and pipe to the ditch area.

“Plus, we had 20,000 square yards of concrete paving, which includes an offsite street about 1,000 feet long coming into the site, and then the concrete paving around the building footprint.”

Fast-track Schedule Helped by Missouri DOT’s Positioning Technology Service

The new healthcare facility was on a fast-track schedule, with the ribbon cutting set for November 2012. “We had to complete the site prep quickly and accurately since so many contractors were waiting for us,” said Drury. “We knew from the start that we’d be using advanced positioning technologies for machine control, site positioning needs, and for creating a 3D site plan.”

CE Contracting used the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) VRS (Virtual Reference Station) Network for much of the project. The Network provides high-accuracy, real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS positioning and serves the entire state of Missouri.

Drury estimates that positioning technology has yielded tangible benefits on this project in terms of “20 percent cost savings and 20 percent time savings.” Both of these benefits were considered crucial by Drury “in light of the tight timetable we faced.”

Work Site Presented Construction Challenges

Although the Bloomsdale site was small compared to most of CE Contracting’s projects, there were challenges other than time constraints.

The site sits on a natural hillside, with the structure and parking lot sitting below the street entrance. The entry drive is narrow and splits two adjoining pieces of property. The elevation drop that the road needed to descend to the parking had to be finessed in a way that respected the adjacent property.

“It would have been significantly more time consuming to create the entrance and grade the descent without the benefit of machine control,” states Weiler. “I wouldn’t want to consider doing it without the technology.”

Another challenge CE Contracting faced was soil condition. There were approximately 1,000 cubic yards of high-plastic clay that needed to be remediated for the structural site.

“We were able to obtain low-plastic replacement soil from a nearby property and supplement the quantity shortfall with crushed stone from a local quarry,” Weiler says. “Local sourcing helped us stay on deadline.”

Contractor Proud to Contribute to Hometown Quality of Life

“Both Ben and I live in Bloomsdale, so there’s a sense of community pride in making sure our job is done right,” Drury said. “Plus, I’ve got family history in the city. My dad worked for my grandfather who founded a construction company in 1946.

“Growing up when driving around Bloomsdale, my father would point out various landmarks and say, ‘you know, I put in that sewer, or we graded that site for that building,’ and there’s a lot of pride in being a part of that.

“So yes, I’m looking forward to driving past that the Bloomsdale site and being able to say to my kids, ‘CE Contracting did all that grading for that health center. We poured that concrete.’ There’s a lot of pride there in being able to do that in your hometown.”

For contributions to our quality of life, CE Contracting will be recognized at North America’s largest construction equipment trade show, CONEXPO-CON/AGG. A company representative and one guest will receive a free trip to the show in Las Vegas in March 2014.

At CONEXPO-CON/AGG, they will see all the innovative new equipment that will continue to support their work for better living brought to you by the men and women of the construction industries.

CONEXPO-CON/AGG is the international gathering place in North America for the construction industries. The event features exhibits of the latest technologies and innovations in equipment, products and services plus extensive industry-targeted education. The next CONEXPO-CON/AGG is March 4-8, 2014 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, USA. More than 100,000 attendees are expected. For more information about CONEXPO-CON/AGG, visit www.conexpoconagg.com.

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