Emory University Hospital
Neuro Critical Care Unit

• Location:
  Atlanta, GA
• Size:
  48,000 sf Hospital Addition/Renovation
• Construction Cost:
  $16.5 million
• Status:
  Completed 2007

PerryCrabb Key Personnel:

• Electrical: Peter O. Andersen, PE

Owner Reference:

Challenge

This two-story, 20-bed ICU was located in an older portion of the hospital with insufficient and unreliable electrical infrastructure to support the needs of critically ill patients. There was no space available for new rooms to house the large electrical distribution gear needed to serve the project and future needs, and there was no path to bring more electric power from the hospital’s remote central plant to the project area. And, the existing central plant emergency power main switchgear was outdated and nearly overloaded already. These challenges combined with the fact that Emory is an extremely busy, large, densely-built, world-renowned research hospital required creative engineering solutions.

Solution

After extensive field investigation, we located two existing, low-priority spaces adjacent to the project, which Emory gave us permission to convert into electrical rooms. With some creative engineering, the space was large enough to support Emory’s present and future needs for normal and emergency power distribution. This included new transfer switches that form the basis of a new, robust three-branch emergency power system. PerryCrabb also created a CEP conduit pathway by reallocating existing load to add capacity on existing feeders that was then redirected to serve the project site. Even more challenging was upgrading the existing 480V emergency generator switch-gear with minimal disruptions to existing power distribution. Using a portable 2MW generator and temporary emergency switchgear, the team was able to temporarily serve emergency feeders until the new switchgear was tested and ready, maintaining emergency standby power to all existing hospital functions during construction work.

Results

This award-winning project garnered national attention for its innovative design, incorporating the latest thinking in evidence-based design, family-centric care and cutting-edge technology. Less noteworthy, but equally important, Emory now has a modern electrical infrastructure upon which they can build in the future.