Saint Joseph Medical Center Maximizes Safety and Efficiency

Ensuring patient safety at new medical center

A new, world-class hospital builds in quality from the ground up. With its bold design rising above the New Edison Lakes Medical Campus in Indiana, the Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center is designed for operational efficiencies. Safety and efficiency were top-of-mind in the facility’s innovative construction, starting from the ground up with each of the hospital’s seven steel decks.

Tackling Time, cost, and safety concerns

“Welded wire reinforcement is never in the right spot,” said Andrew Gayer of HOK, the project’s engineer. “People step on it, it moves, or it doesn’t do what it’s really intended to do.” There are many time, cost, and safety concerns associated with welded wire mesh reinforcement for commercial buildings.

That’s why rather than traditional concrete deck construction using welded wire mesh, Gayer specified STRUX® 90/40 synthetic macro fibers. STRUX® not only met the specification values of commercial building construction, but also was the first approved synthetic macro fiber reinforcement that met the 2-hour UL listing requirement for steel decks.

“Using fibers is safer and eliminates the slips and trips caused by wire mesh,” said Joel Gonzales of Mortenson/Tonn & Blank. 

Finding the ideal choice for composite decks

GCP worked closely with the general contractor, Mortenson/Tonn & Blank, to design a mix using STRUX® synthetic macro fibers for approximately 780,000 square feet of concrete for the hospital’s seven composite decks, topping slabs, and the basement’s slab on grade.

The STRUX® pumped easily, with 300 cubic yard pours and ramped up to 600 cubic yard pours with the same size commercial building crew and pump. Larry Riddle of Transit Mix, Inc was pleased that that the placement went smoothly. “While pumping up to seven floors, then horizontally up to 400 feet at 100 yards per hour, there was no balling or plugging,” Riddle explained.

From the commercial building safety advantages to the cost savings, the ease of placement, crack control, and the smooth burnished finish, STRUX® delivered optimal performance. It led to a state-of-the-art floor for a new hospital that’s designing with quality in mind at every level.

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