Phased Construction on Occupied Campuses and Buildings
Somebody is always using the building next door. At Poudre Valley Hospital, which opened in 1925 as Larimer County Hospital and is now part of UCHealth, the Health Service District of Northern Larimer County still owns the land and buildings and leases them to the operator, so construction has to respect both an owner and a tenant with a mission to keep going. Colorado State University is the largest employer in Fort Collins with 8,850 employees, and a university campus does not stop for a renovation.
Phased construction is the discipline of building in pieces so that the rest of the site keeps working. It is slower and more expensive per square foot than an empty-site project, and it is worth it whenever the cost of an interruption is higher. We approach it as a planning problem first and a construction problem second.
Planning the Phases Before Planning the Work
We begin with the occupants. Who uses the space, when and for what? Which operations cannot tolerate dust, vibration or noise? What shutdown windows are available for electrical, fire alarm and mechanical tie-ins? The answers shape the phase boundaries, the temporary partitions, the work hours and the sequence of moves. Without them, a phasing plan is a diagram without a job to do.
We then test the plan with the people who will live through it. Facilities directors, department heads, safety officers and sometimes tenants review the logistics, and the plan changes accordingly. By the time the first wall comes down, the occupants know what to expect each week, and our superintendent has a direct line to a named contact on the owner's side.
Infection Control, Life Safety and Site Access
In a hospital or clinical setting, construction requires an infection control risk assessment, negative air containment, dust monitoring and strict routes for debris removal and worker travel. Life safety is similarly carried through: egress paths stay clear, fire alarms are kept active or covered by fire watch, and sprinkler impairments are scheduled and communicated.
Campus and office occupancies have their own versions. We maintain accessible routes, keep fire lanes open and adopt site rules for contractors that include badge, parking and delivery protocols. The owner can look at one coordinated plan covering all of this, and the crews on site are trained to work to it. Our work with healthcare systems informs how we write and enforce these controls.
The Work That Makes Phasing Possible
Phased projects depend on preparatory scopes: temporary partitions, dust barriers, protected corridors, relocated utilities, temporary power and lighting, and temporary fire protection. These are not glamorous, but they determine whether the occupied side stays comfortable and functional. They must be inspected and maintained daily.
Phased scopes also need careful turnover. Each completed phase is tested, inspected and accepted before the occupant moves in, and the next phase begins only when the previous one is stable. We use renovation and adaptive reuse methods for existing finishes and systems, and follow the same disciplines when a building's renovation is staged over several years.
Office Buildings That Stay Leased
Office owners face a different version of the challenge. A 179,688 square foot, three-story building on Harmony Road, built in 1997 and sold in 2019 with national tech tenants in place, is the type of asset that gets refreshed while tenants stay. Lobby upgrades, restroom renovations and mechanical replacements all need to happen without driving tenants away.
For such work we favor off-hours work for noisy operations, advance notice to tenants and quick restoration of common areas. We also coordinate with property management firms, who know the lease obligations and the tenant sensitivities better than anyone. A short weekly note to tenants describing what is happening that week prevents most complaints before they start.
Making Time Where There Is None
Occupied-site work usually has narrow windows: nights, weekends, summer breaks and scheduled shutdowns. We design the schedule around those windows, prefabricate where possible to reduce time in the occupied space, and stage materials so they can be moved in quickly. Noisy or disruptive tasks are done first thing or at night, and quiet finishing tasks fill the rest.
A university campus offers one of the most predictable calendars, since breaks are known a year ahead. We use those breaks for work that must be done with a vacated building, such as utility tie-ins and large equipment replacement. For teaching spaces that need to be ready for the start of a term, the same logic drives the project's milestone dates, and we pair it with tenant improvements expertise for finish work on a short fuse.
What Phasing Costs and What It Saves
Phasing adds cost in three places: protection and temporary work, extended general conditions from a longer schedule, and premium labor for off-hours tasks. It saves cost in places that are harder to see, such as avoided relocation of occupants, uninterrupted revenue or instruction and fewer complaints. We show both sides in our estimates so that owners can compare a phased plan with a fully vacated one.
For education institutions and clinics, the fully vacated option is often impossible, which makes the choice about how many phases to use. Fewer, larger phases cost less but disrupt more; more, smaller phases cost more but keep operations steady. A medical office that sees patients daily will usually accept a longer schedule to keep exam rooms open.
Keep the Building Working While We Build
Describe the occupants and the operating hours, and we will sketch a phasing approach with realistic windows and costs.
Questions Owners Ask
How do you keep dust and noise from affecting occupants?
We use sealed containment, negative air machines where required, sticky mats at exits and daily cleaning. Noisy work is scheduled for hours when the occupants are least affected. Where the owner has a monitoring program, we support it with data.
Will phasing add significantly to the cost?
Usually yes, because of temporary protection, premium-time work and a longer duration. The extra cost buys the continuity of operations, which for most occupied owners is worth far more. We price the phasing explicitly so the owner can see it and compare options.
How do you handle utility shutdowns?
We schedule them in advance with the owner, prepare the work so that the outage is as short as possible and have a written plan, including a rollback, for each. The people affected are notified, and the work is done at the least disruptive time.
Can the building owner stay in the loop without attending every meeting?
Yes. We publish a short weekly look-ahead describing the phase, the disruptions to expect and any decisions needed. A single point of contact answers questions between meetings.
How do you keep tenants informed in a leased building?
We send a short weekly notice that names the work area, the hours and any planned outages. Property management distributes it, and our superintendent is available to answer questions in person. People tolerate disruption better when they know when it will end.