Healthcare Construction at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland
Neurosurgery, cardiac catheterization and open-heart surgery all place particular demands on a building, and Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland offers all three, with a regional heart center and neurosciences center. We build for owners and health-system teams who need those departments to keep running while the building around them changes. The work is detailed: procedure rooms with exacting air handling, imaging suites that need shielding and structure, and mechanical systems that cannot be allowed to fail even briefly.
The hospital, at 2500 Rocky Mountain Avenue, has 187 private rooms and is a Level I trauma center operated by UCHealth. It opened on February 14, 2007 as the sister hospital of Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, built to relieve crowding there and to serve patients from beyond Fort Collins and Larimer County. A campus conceived to take pressure off another is likely to keep growing in response to the region, and we plan with that expectation, leaving room for the next wing, the next utility upgrade and the next specialty.
For health system owners, our approach is the careful sequencing of healthcare construction together with the support space around it, including medical office buildings where physicians practice close to the hospital.
Specialty departments set the rules
A cardiac catheterization lab is a different project from a patient floor in a hospital building. The room geometry, the radiation shielding, the power conditioning and the path for equipment delivery are set by the manufacturer and the clinicians, and they must be settled before the first wall is framed. We hold coordination meetings that bring the equipment vendor, the design team and the hospital staff to one table, so that conflicts are found on paper rather than in the field.
Neurosurgery brings its own requirements, including operating rooms with precise environmental control and imaging that may be integrated into the room. When we price this work, we separate the owner-furnished equipment from the contractor-installed work and show the interface points clearly. That separation avoids disputes later and gives the hospital a better view of its real cost.
A campus built to serve more than one city
Medical Center of the Rockies was designed to serve patients from outside Fort Collins and Larimer County, which gives it a regional role. That role shapes the construction in a few ways. Traffic to the campus includes ambulances, delivery trucks and patient families from a wide area, and the access roads must stay clear. Our site plans keep construction traffic apart from emergency routes and set aside areas for staging that do not cut into patient parking.
The surrounding Loveland market includes other medical users, and a campus like this often attracts clinics and specialty practices nearby. We have seen owners in Loveland weigh whether to lease or build, and we help by pricing a building concept early so that the decision has numbers behind it. That kind of early estimate takes a few weeks and can save months of indecision.
What we are asked to build
The typical requests fall into three groups. The first is interior renovation of existing departments, where the walls stay and the systems change. The second is expansion, such as a new wing, a bed tower addition or a diagnostic center. The third is medical office space, which may be on the hospital campus or across the street.
Each group carries its own risks. Renovation risks are hidden conditions behind finished walls, so we survey above ceilings and inside shafts before the price is set. Expansion risks are the connection to existing systems and the structure that must interface with the building already there. Medical office risks are tenant turnover and the variety of fit-out requests from different practices.
Long-lead equipment and shutdown windows
Hospital equipment is often the longest item in the schedule. Air handlers, generators, switchgear and imaging systems can take months to arrive, and the shutdown windows to install them are limited. We run a long-lead procurement log from preconstruction on, with each item tracked from submittal to delivery, so that the day the shutdown window opens the equipment is on site.
Where we can, we build parallel systems instead of switching over live ones. A new air handler, a temporary chiller or a second feed to a panel reduces risk and shortens the final transition. Our schedules show the shutdown dates in bold, and we ask hospital leadership to approve them before they become commitments.
Keeping patients and staff protected
Infection control is a daily practice on a hospital job. We erect barriers, keep air pressure in the work area negative to its surroundings, monitor dust and manage the traffic of workers and materials. The work area is sealed and cleaned at the end of each shift, and the supervisor walks the border with a hospital representative at agreed times.
We also protect the building's life safety systems. Sprinkler and alarm outages are brief, documented and covered with fire watches, and exit paths are checked each morning. The people who work in a hospital notice quickly when contractors are careless, and their trust is hard to rebuild once lost.
Connected work on the same campus
Hospital projects rarely stand alone. There are parking improvements, utility upgrades and landscape changes that come along with a building addition. We coordinate these as part of the same project so the owner has one team accountable, and we complete the project with a thorough commissioning and closeout phase.
For organizations that run more than one site, we also provide the planning continuity a network needs. Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins serves a similar mission, and health-system owners often benefit from a contractor who knows both campuses and can carry lessons between them, from infection control details to the best way to stage a shutdown.
Plan your next campus project with us
Tell us what department or building you are considering, and the dates you need to hold. We will start with the existing conditions and a phasing outline.
Questions Owners Ask
Can a cardiac catheterization lab be added without closing the department?
Usually yes, but not in the same room. We prepare a phasing plan that builds the new lab in adjacent space or a shell area, tests it, and then transfers service. The old lab can be renovated afterward. This approach takes longer to plan, but it avoids weeks of lost procedures.
How early should we involve a contractor in a hospital expansion?
As early as the concept stage. A contractor can price the structure, estimate the utility needs and point out the places where the existing building will constrain the design. That information shapes the program and keeps the architect from drawing something that is hard to build or too expensive to approve.
Who pays for equipment lead times?
The cost of long-lead equipment is part of the project budget, and the risk of delay is shared between the owner, the contractor and the supplier. We track each lead time from the day the order can be placed and recommend early release for items that would hold the schedule. The owner decides, but we make sure the decision is informed.
Does the hospital's Level I trauma status change how you work?
It raises the stakes on access and utilities. A trauma center cannot lose power, water or ambulance access without a plan, so our shutdowns are rehearsed and our site logistics keep emergency routes clear at all times. We also coordinate with the hospital's emergency management staff before any work that could affect the emergency department.
Do you build the medical office buildings that surround a hospital?
Yes. Medical office buildings often need a speed and budget that differ from the hospital itself, and we adapt to that. Our approach covers site work, shell, tenant finish and the coordination with imaging and lab vendors that these buildings require.