ICT was selected as the engineer of record for a major patient tower expansion to HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital’s campus.  The campus is located less than two miles to the east of the Gulf of Mexico in north/central Florida. The position and orientation of the new tower landed in a location that put the finished first floor level three feet below the storm surge plane during a Category 3 storm event. The building and associated MEP infrastructure would need to be designed to allow for patients and staff to “defend in place” during a storm surge event.  This required a very extensive coordination effort on behalf of the architect and engineering teams. 

The location of all exterior hose bibbs and electrical outlets were coordinated to keep these items above the water proofing line and the elevation of all mechanical louvers were considered to not only keep these systems functional but to align with the architectural aesthetics of the building.  All under-slab sanitary and roof drainage systems were installed between the finished floor slab and a waterproofing membrane to ensure the slab was not subjected to buoyant forces during an extreme weather event. The new tower is fed remotely from the existing Central Utility Plant (CUP) with all new services routed underground. All electrical power to the new building was fed from an electrical room located on the second floor of the CUP. To ensure medical gas services are not interrupted, a dedicated backup oxygen supply was provided along with a dedicated medical vacuum pump and medical air compressor. The facility’s fire pump was relocated to the new tower in a water-tight room.  The existing facility was back fed from this new pump to ensure fire protection services would be provided for the entire campus during a storm event. Other major infrastructure located within the new tower’s waterproofed footprint included the emergency domestic water supply (including water filtration, booster pump, and water heaters), and new hydronic heating hot water equipment. Access to the building’s Energy Management System (EMS) was also provided within the tower to ensure that facility staff had access to the control of all major MPE equipment from the new tower as they defend in place.

While the new tower was the only portion of the hospital designed to withstand a Category 3 storm surge event, the majority of the new infrastructure installed within the hardened areas was designed to back feed the existing facility, minimizing the time that the facility can become operational immediately following a significant weather event.