More room for research

Jackson medical center erects Guyton addition

By Mark Friedman

The University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss., was running out of research space, and the space it had didn't comply with research standards, said John Hall, the university's associate vice chancellor for research.

"We looked at the cost of renovating and it turned out to be more costly than building a new building," Hall said.

In November, Flintco Cos. Inc. of Tulsa, Okla., began construction of the 195,066-sq.-ft., $43.8 million Guyton Research Facility addition.

The seven-story building, with basements, is expected to be completed in May 2008, said Michael McDonald, project manager for Flintco.

"(The university) had been planning to do this project for a while," McDonald said.

advertisement

The addition will be attached to the existing four-story Guyton Laboratory and an existing four-story classroom building, said Joe Stevens, an associate at Eley Associates/Architects in Jackson, Miss., which worked on the project with Simmons Associates Architects of Ridgeland, Miss.

The addition will connect to all four floors of both the classroom building and the existing research facility.

"We had to match the existing floor elevations," Stevens said. "Connecting it to one existing building is problem enough; connecting it to two is much more challenging."

To begin the project, Flintco removed about 40,000 cu. yds. of dirt to build the subbasements, which were about 35 to 40 ft. deep. The dirt was hauled to a landfill about 2 or 3 mi. away.

From the floor of the subbasement, Flintco drilled 125 concrete piers with reinforced steel that descended between 30 and 40 ft. The piers range from 16 to 60 in. diameter.

"The building is pretty much taking up the whole space that we've got out there, so we had to put up a pretty elaborate shoring system that will hold >> the banks back," McDonald said.

Until the 12-in.-thick, 4,000-psi concrete walls were built in the subbasement, the existing building was exposed.

"That's where we see the most critical part of (building it) is, because you're working in the mud and down in a big deep hole," McDonald said. "So every time it rains … you've got a lot of beams and drill piers to get into the ground while it's wet and muddy."

After the subbasement walls were built, they were waterproofed and back fill was put behind them.

The construction crew also had to deal with Jackson's highly unstable Yazoo Clay. The clay expands when wet and contracts when dry.

The soil would have pushed on the building, McDonald said.

"So we put the building on cardboard boxes," he said. "They're specially designed void-formed boxes. We put four layers under the slab poured the concrete on top of that."

Over time, the 4- to 6-in. of cardboard will get wet, sag and deteriorate.

"And that leaves a void under that slab," McDonald said. "So when that earth moves up, the clay has space where it can move up in that void and can contract back down as it dries. So it's not putting the pressures on (the building.)"

Under the beams, a 2-ft.-thick layer of foam was placed.

Once the basement is done "then the structure will go up pretty quickly. Then we start bricking and putting store fronts up and finishing it out from there," McDonald said.

The concrete for the project comes from Delta Industries Inc. of Jackson, Miss., which is about half a mile from the site.

"They mix it at their batch plant and ship it straight to us," McDonald said.

The building is a cast in place concrete structure.

"It's a pan job," McDonald said. "We'll take rectangular type field pans, set them, and the gaps between the pans will make the beams.

"So we pour the slab and the beam together in one pour," he said. The floors are 5-in.-thick, 4,000 psi concrete.

Getting the materials to the site isn't a problem for now, McDonald said.

There might be some delay in getting supplies in the future because of shortages tied to Hurricane Katrina repairs, but currently the materials can be scheduled in advance to have on site as needed.

The materials are stored in an adjacent parking lot to the building.

Because it is working on a hospital campus, Flintco needed to be aware of the noise it was making.

"The noise and vibrations are big issues with a research (lab on site)," McDonald said. "Any vibrations could effect their operations."

When necessary, Flintco will begin a slab pour job early in the morning to reduce the noise and vibrations.

Phase one of the project calls for building out the first five floors of the structure. Phase two will build out the remaining three floors.

Stevens said he didn't know when phase two would start.

The subbasement will house the mechanical equipment. And the basement will hold the animals for research.

The first through fourth floors will be research labs and part of the space will be used for the physiology research and another area will be the Cardiovascular Center.

The skin of the building will be glass, brick and precast stone to match the existing buildings on the campus.

"It's going to be a state-of-the-art building for research," Hall said.

"It's going to really give us the opportunity to grow the research program at UMC and will be an attractive feature as we try to recruit top name researchers from outside the state to the university."

He added that the new building also will help the university retain its researchers.

"Space is an important priority for researchers, and this is certainly going to give us the opportunity to be competitive at least with our surrounding neighbors in the research arena," Hall said.

Useful Sources:

For more information about the Guyton facility, go to: http://www.umc.edu/information/physical_plant.html