Work and construction on the new Fulton State Hospital campus will begin this spring with the installation of boilers at the existing Missouri School for the Deaf boiler house next week.
The project's architectural design firm met with community officials last Thursday to show them what construction will look like and what possible effects it will have on the surrounding area before work begins.
Tom Brooks-Pilling, vice president of the architectural design group Parsons Brinckerhoff, gave community officials a project timeline with a construction completion date of December 2017.
"It's an aggressive schedule," Brooks-Pilling said. "We're going to try to make '17 happen."
The $2.11 million Fulton State Hospital design includes 12 living units, each with 25 beds and a treatment mall, which would house various types of treatment services. The new hospital will be one level. Stairs have been a source of multiple injuries at the current facility.
Regarding the project's tight timeline for completion, Brooks-Pilling said the current construction market "plays in their favor."
"My primary concern is the availability of properly-trained construction workers. A lot of this building is masonry, so we need a lot of bricklayers," Brooks-Pilling said.
He said they have been working with industry associations like the glass association and the masonry association.
"We are trying to develop strategies to make this project happen rapidly," Brooks-Pilling said.
Keeping the construction schedule aggressive, he added, will help reduce costs. Brooks-Pilling said everyone involved in the project is excited to have the new facilities.
"Our objective is to create this secure environment, and we want to get that done," Brooks-Pilling said. "Fulton State Hospital has been addressing their issues with safety and security for decades. And it's just been recently that the Legislature's been able to fund this project, and everyone is eager to make it happen."
For the new hospital, Brooks-Pilling said designs were approved last month and design development is on track to be completed by June with construction documents ready in December. Currently, he said, the design team is discussing exactly how the finished product will look.
"We're really into the details now on this hospital," Brooks-Pilling said.
He said they are designing a facility that will adapt to change.
"We want this facility to be flexible. We want it to be somewhat timeless, and we want it to be designed and constructed so that it's here for generations," Brooks-Pilling said.
Bids for the new hospital's construction will be issued in January 2016 and will be due in March 2016. Construction is estimated to be complete by December 2017.
Brooks-Pilling said construction will remain on campus and construction workers will use hospital parking lots for their vehicles. He added he has spoken to the Missouri Department of Transportation about potentially putting a signal on the Wood Street intersection to help with the effects of any extra traffic.
Through map images of the hospital's campus, Brooks-Pilling showed community officials Thursday what construction can be expected each month during the next 21/2 years until the project's completion.
"Maybe in September 2016, we'll start to see some steel up in the air for the new hospital and we will continue to see demolition activities as well," Brooks-Pilling told community officials Thursday as he walked them through the project.
Brooks-Pilling included other areas of the campus in his overview of the project's tentative timeline. His outline included:
• MSD boiler project complete by August 2015;
• Abatement and demolition bids due by March with a completion date of March 2016;
• Bids for boiler work at the Department of Corrections Cremer Center facility will be issued in April and the project should be complete November 2015;
• Boiler work at the Guhleman and Hearnes buildings will be bid in April with construction complete in November.
With all construction complete by December 2017, the hospital would be able to begin moving patients to the new hospital in spring 2018. Moving patients into the new facility will take a few months. After that, the Biggs Forensic Center will be demolished.
Brooks-Pilling reminded community officials and project members at Thursday's meeting to always keep the goal of the project in their minds.
"We're designing a hospital - one that is safe, secure and provides dignity for the patients," Brooks-Pilling said.