Altru hospital project: 65 acres of drywall, 10,000 gallons of paint and 1.5 million hours without an injury
May 24—GRAND FORK — The ongoing work on the new Altru Health System hospital has now seen more than 1.5 million worker hours without a recordable injury. For context, Altru Director of Strategy and Communications Annie Bonzer notes, that equates to a person working 40 hours a week for 721 years.
"To celebrate, all workers on site were welcomed to a lunch and program to express the gratitude for their unwavering commitment to safety and excellence," Bonzer said, specifically pointing out the efforts of the numerous employees of the project's contractors "who continue to bring our new hospital from vision to reality."
The milestone was officially marked earlier this month.
"That's a huge deal for construction and shows the quality of safety and craftsmanship that's going into the physical building itself," Altru President Dr. Joshua Deere said. "I just want to thank all the various partners that we have that are doing the building."
At the peak of construction — sometime last summer — there were 450 workers on site daily.
The safety announcement is among the latest news from the construction site, which continues to see progress as the $470 million project rises from what in 2019 was a blank spot next to the current hospital building but now looks and, to a great extent, feels like an actual hospital. The project is more than 94% complete and on schedule for an official opening early next year. Technically speaking, the building itself is expected to be complete in the fall, but the first patients won't be admitted until at least January.
"It's on schedule. We have always talked about substantial completion by October and then first patients in January," Altru CEO Todd Forkel told the Herald in mid-May. "I believe we will hit all of those targets."
He then clarified: "On time, not on budget."
Due to pandemic-related delays — the project was halted during the height of COVID's presence in the community — the hospital's cost is approximately 25% more than projected, Forkel said. That comes to roughly $100 million beyond the original budget. A subsidiary building project — one that will see a new Altru behavioral health center — brings the entire two-pronged project to approximately $510 million.
"It's very expensive to build hospitals these days," said principal architect Josh Kehrwald, of JLG Architects.
Forkel said despite the additional cost, he's still pleased, since Altru leaders have not succumbed to financial instincts to reduce costs.
"One of the things I'm most proud of is when we had kind of an intense pressure to cost-cut, we were able to manage it well enough that the project, in essence, is still in its original impetus," Forkel said. "Yes, it will cost roughly $100 million more, but we get the end product that we wanted."
And that end product, according to Forkel, Deere and others, is beginning to stir excitement among staff at Altru.
The building was generally enclosed sometime early this year, starting the finishing process — paint, hallway tiles and the like.
"All of a sudden, you walked in and things were enclosed," said Altru Director of Plant and Facilities Chris Arnold. "You go upstairs now and walk those floors and it's ready. It's just missing the patients and the beds."
The seven-floor building has 552,000 square feet, slightly larger but decidedly more modern than the current six-floor, 544,000-square-foot facility. After substantial completion occurs sometime around Oct. 1, the fitting-out process will begin and continue until early 2025. According to Altru, that will include installation of technology, medical equipment and furniture; at the same time, training and team education will be underway.
According to a fact sheet provided by Altru, the new hospital includes:
* More than 2,000 doors and more than 250 window openings;
* 1 million feet of electrical conduit;
* 2.8 million square feet of drywall, which equates to roughly 65 acres;
* and more than 10,000 gallons of paint for interior walls.
During a recent tour of the building, Deere and others pointed out the painted walls, tiled floors and rows upon rows of windows. Deere said the finishes inside the building elicit a sense of pride.
"What the community sees from the exterior, I think they will be equally impressed by the interior," he said.
There are still gaps inside where plenty of work remains. For instance, the hospital's main entry area still shows signs of ongoing construction and during a recent visit in May, workers were just beginning the process of curb-and-gutter work on the building's north and western sides.
A milestone of sorts occurred in April: New Altru signage was placed high on the building, if not officially then at least figuratively signifying that the end of construction is finally in sight.
"It feels pretty good. This project has been a bumpy road for sure," said Kehrwald. "I will say that as an architect you get into this industry wanting to improve the spaces you participate in and the spaces your family members and community members live in. I don't know if there is a better way to do that than building a community hospital."
He added: "Seeing that all come together and getting to the point where we are legitimately talking about what it's going to be like to have patients in here on Day 1, it's an incredible feeling."
