IMI Promotes Masonry Options for Growing Healthcare Market

JOURNAL: ISSUE 3 - 2014

New technology and a growing population are bringing about dramatic changes in the delivery of healthcare and creating demand for new and updated hospitals, outpatient clinics, and specialty doctor’s offices. This demand for new facilities makes healthcare a major market of interest for BAC and the International Masonry Institute (IMI).

What is IMI doing about the healthcare market? 

Owners, architects, engineers, and construction managers are increasingly depending on client partnerships to reinforce the healthcare design team’s commitment to delivering a high quality project with great efficiency. Key to a client partnership is the awareness that healthcare environments need to be constructed with minimal disturbance to their community of patients. This means that consideration is given to identify 1) building systems and finishes that meet healthcare standards for infection control, 2) details that provide long-term performance, and 3) installers who can safely and effectively address construction schedules.

Collaboration between members of Locals 5, 16 and 36 Ohio and various BAC signatory contractors resulted in the delivery of a high performing exterior and interior solution for the campus of the Ahuja Medical Center in Cleveland, OH.

IMI’s programs and services such as tailored project planning meetings, technical design assistance, pre-construction quality control, safety training and compliance, supervisor and foreman training programs, craftworker upgrade programs, and partnerships with new material suppliers holistically address these stakeholder needs.

Healthcare building designs are uniquely tailored to meet building function together with the health needs of the community it serves. IMI has chosen to mirror this tailored approach through its Healthcare Initiative, a program that is focused on a strategy that identifies masonry systems with requirements found within the healthcare industry: clean (facilities that support infection control and overall patient health), green (energy efficient), and lean (balancing capital costs with patient support costs).

What are the three categories of healthcare buildings?

Product Application Value Proposition chart for August 2014 healthcare article.pdf

Hospital buildings are found in the most complex of the categories. These buildings are designed to rigorous codes and approvals, are open 24 hours a day, provide emergency care and are costly to staff and operate. Hospital buildings range from regional medical centers to academic medical centers and include VA hospitals and specialty services. By their very nature, hospital buildings are critically concerned with infection control and a healthy patient environment. Masonry interiors play a big role in hospital buildings by providing vertical and horizontal surfaces that are easy to clean, and address long-term performance.

Ambulatory Care Centers (ACC) are specialty centers that offer medical care often performed in a hospital. ACCs may offer surgical services to limited numbers of patients without complex medical histories. Though ACCs follow construction codes and guidelines similar to those found in hospitals, the ability of patients to walk in and walk out on their own reduces the staffing and operational costs seen by hospitals. Image, durability and infection control are important concerns for ambulatory care centers. Masonry enclosure systems add to the unique branding that is often the case for an ACC. Whether as a more traditional modular unit, or as a newer rain screen material, masonry enclosures address an ACC’s need for performance and energy savings.

Medical office buildings make up the third category of healthcare buildings. These buildings offer patient conveniences and are generally built to a lower level of lifetime service. Medical office buildings more closely resemble a general office building than a hospital setting. The lower lifetime service requirement often means that medical office buildings must go up quickly and must come at a minimal first-cost. Medical office buildings offer opportunities for masonry structural systems to compete on a scheduling advantage. On the interior, tile materials serve to support medical office buildings’ need for environmental friendliness at a lower maintenance cost.

Why training makes a difference?

Masonry systems address infection control concerns by delivering a variety of building enclosures that address moisture management and air infiltration. These same enclosure systems are energy efficient, contribute to sustainable building rating requirements such as LEED, and are available through various delivery models. Interior systems of tile, stone, and terrazzo support requirements for clean air quality and infection control by eliminating opportunities for the growth of bacteria. Key to the performance quality of these beneficial healthcare attributes is the hand of the installer – the trained craftworker.

IMI addresses the welfare of BAC members through safety and OSHA training.  OSHA training additionally supports the safety of the patients and staff during the course of construction on existing facilities. Pre-job and apprenticeship programs assure that BAC craftworkers meet the more rigorous standards of a healthcare construction project. Flashing upgrade programs provide the knowledge for the completion of high performing enclosures, and grouting certification addresses the quality assurance required for structural masonry systems. IMI’s newest training programs in tile, Advanced Certification of Tile Installers (ACT) and in restoration, Historic Masonry Certification Program, help our industry deliver specialists with skills to assure that tile installations support interior air quality requirements and that existing buildings can successfully be retrofitted to service as medical office buildings. IMI’s Sustainable Masonry Certification Program (SMCP) and Green craftworker training continue to educate craftworkers and contractors on sustainability requirements related to masonry construction. Finally, supervisor certification programs focus on the critical concerns related to smooth operation during construction.