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Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center Van Ness Campus Hospital Project Wins 2019 ENR California best project award

SACRAMENTO, CA (Oct. 14, 2019)–Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) Van Ness Campus (VNC) Hospital Project, a $2.1B, 274-bed hospital in San Francisco, has won a 2019 Engineering News-Record (ENR) Northern California Best Project Award in the Health Care category and is a finalist for the project of the year. The award recognizes project teams for excellence in teamwork, safety, innovation, contribution to the industry and community, construction quality and overall function and design.  

Occupying an entire city block in the second-most densely populated city in the U.S, VNC is Sutter Health’s largest project and the first new hospital in the heart of San Francisco in more than 25 years. The 13-story facility, located at the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Geary Blvd., is home to nearly 1 million sq. ft. of acute care program space including two levels of below-grade parking and is designed to provide advanced health care such as cardiac, transplant and orthopedic surgeries, adult and neonatal intensive care, labor and delivery and emergency services. This new state of art hospital is connected to a 9-story medical office building via a tunnel below Van Ness Avenue (Business Route US Highway 101). 

“This project is hugely significant to the city of San Francisco,” said Panos Lampsas, regional director of capital projects for Sutter Health. “Top-quality medical care and an elevated patient experience will serve the community for years to come. The execution of a project of this scale on schedule and under budget set a benchmark for the industry, and I’m honored to be a part of the exceptional team that brought it to fruition.” 

The project benefited from a broad range of innovations, including some industry-firsts. 

Innovations included:  

  • VNC Hospital was the first building in the nation to implement Viscous Wall Dampers (VWS), a seismic dampening system that is designed to absorb nearly 90 percent of an earthquake’s energy. 
  • The hospital can remain fully functional for 72 hours without outside help after an earthquake. 
    • The hospital houses an emergency command center for Sutter’s local disaster response teams. 
    • Three diesel-powered rooftop generators can power the hospital in 10 seconds during a power outage and they contain enough fuel storage to run for three days at full capacity.
    • Storage tanks located below the structure are large enough to store a three days’ supply of potable water and wastewater storage.
  • Surrounded on four sides by major city arterial streets, the project required complex site logistics for loading, off-haul, lifting, and pedestrian and traffic safety. All materials were delivered just-in-time from an 80,000 sq. ft. mass prefabrication and storage facility on Treasure Island seven miles away.
  • The building is designed to achieve LEED-Silver – making it one of the largest LEED-certified hospitals in the world. VNC has five rooftop gardens that capture and filter rainwater, saving up to 180,000 gallons of drinking water annually.
  • The team collaborated closely with California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to implement one of the first electronic review and approval processes for a hospital. 

“This landmark project is the culmination of a 10-year vision demonstrating Sutter’s deep commitment to San Francisco,” said Mark Herrero, president and chief executive officer of Herrero Builders. “I’m extremely proud of the truly collaborative team whose creativity and focus on continuous improvement brought this project to life.”

The project also won a 2019 ENR Northern California Excellence in Safety Award of Merit for its overall safety program, OSHA recordable incident rate, lost time accident rate and total man hours on the job. 

“The results of the safety culture on this project, with 5.4 million worker hours logged, are a true testament to the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) team’s dedication to trust, teamwork and constant encouragement,” said Dave Kievet, chief operating officer of The Boldt Company. 

Sutter Health used an IPD method for the project. The IPD team consisted of the owner, architect (SmithGroup), and general contractor (HerreroBoldt) as well as 14 additional risk and reward members (California Drywall, Custom Engineered Openings, Degenkolb Engineers, GFE Norcal, Harrison Drywall, ISEC, Pankow, RLH Fire Protection, Rosendin Electric, RTKL Associates, Silverman & Light, Southland Industries, Ted Jacob Engineering Group and Vantage Technology Consulting). 

The project was celebrated during the Best Projects Awards event Tuesday, October 8th at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco. 

About The Boldt Company
The Boldt Company (Boldt) is a leading professional construction services firm with customers across the United States and is a subsidiary of The Boldt Group. Founded in 1889, Boldt is a fourth-generation family and employee-owned firm headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin. Focused on innovation, continuous improvement, and Lean principles, Boldt is recognized as a pioneer in Lean construction and in the industrialized construction space. Boldt operates 18 offices across the U.S. that serve customers in healthcare, power, industrial, education, automotive and commercial markets.