FM project round-up
March 6, 2024
A summary of a few recent projects completed by FM teams
Facilities Management teams supported several planned improvement projects over the past few months. Here's a round-up of a few of the projects.
HSPP supports garage murals
A team of Health System Physical Plant employees supported a recent project to paint murals on the walls of the garages serving UVA Health.
The murals — a UVA Health Spark Innovation Competition winning project — came from an employee idea to paint murals in two UVA Health parking garages to help make it easier for patients to navigate as well as lift their spirits.
The Facilities Management team — led by Kevin Fox, director of Facilities Planning and Capital Development for UVA Medical Center — provided support on all phases of the project, from power washing the walls to briefly dimming garage lights in the parking garage after hours to allow for a projector screen to be used for the outline of the murals, according to the UVA Connect story.
“Our Facilities team members were the operational backbone to making this idea a reality,” Hannah Spencer Fitzhugh, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer's Special Initiatives Lead, told UVA Connect.
Mother/baby unit expansion
UVA Health recently expanded its mother/baby unit on the 8th floor of the University Hospital following a renovation completed by the Health System Physical Plant Renovations team.
The 8 West unit opened on Feb. 14 as a 15-bed unit for mother/baby care to help serve an increase in antepartum patients. This unit will mirror the patient population and care provided on 8 Central.
The HSPP team reworked the patient rooms, installing new flooring in the bathrooms and electronic patient lifts for bariatric patients. The team also installed new electrical and data wiring for the expanded nurses' station.
“The team followed all ICRA regulations, which are especially important to us,” said HSPP Construction Project Associate Otis Hackett. “The area had to be completely sealed off from the nearby stem cell unit because the patients in that area have compromised immune systems and cannot be exposed to anything such as dust from construction.”
Following the opening of the mother/baby unit, the HSPP Renovations team started work on 8 North to construct a 12-bed NICU unit.
McCormick Rd. masonry project
The Construction & Renovation Services masonry team were highly effective in completing a significant portion of the McCormick Road West Corridor Improvements brick paving as well as a masonry veneer wall patch at Gilmer Hall last summer.
Due to the tight timeline of the project, both the modern masonry team and the historic masonry team were called in to assist the contractor to ensure on time completion. Both teams worked in intense heat and throughout the weekends to get this project completed on time.
“The project team is very grateful to have a group of such skilled masons on our FM internal staff and appreciate their responsiveness in working well with both our project team and with an outside contractor,” a project team representative wrote in a Rewards & Recognition nomination.
The crew involved with the project included the following employees pictured in the photo above, front row from left, Lance Rothgeb, Larry Rothgeb, Albert Augusto, Oscar Barden, Aaron Morris, Mike Canellas and James Watkins; and back row from left, Marvin Campbell, Robbie Kolb, Judson Malone, Brent Ryder, Cooper Cole, Travis Eubanks, Scott Switzer, James Pace, Glenn Tolbert and Mark McGhee. (Matt Proffitt was unavailable for the photo.)
Jane Centofante
Communications senior generalist
UVA Facilities Management
(434) 982-5846
janecentofante@virginia.edu