Transcript for:
Hospital Construction Tour: Week 89 Highlights

[male narrator] Hello and welcome to the Hospital Construction Channel This is week 89 of my coverage of the construction of this hospital and this is a very special week, because on Tuesday of this week we were granted permission to take a tour of the site! So we're about to go down inside the site and take a look around inside Before we begin, I want to thank the people at the construction company for arranging this, I greatly appreciate it Okay, that's us down there on the street. It is a little hard to see, but that's us down there. So, c'mon let's go on down there and get started. Okay, first thing, to get into this high tech construction site I have to scan my helmet before it will let me in I'm imagining, probably in some office, somewhere there are these alarms going off "Intruder alert!" "Intruder alert!" But, actually, I put my helmet right in front of the sensor, blocking my view of the green light So at first I couldn't even tell that I was allowed in, but eventually I figured it out, and we're in! We're going to enter the building through what will be one of the entrances to the underground parking garage on Post Street and that's our tour guide, Bud, up ahead on the left I want to think Bud for the tour — he was an excellent tour guide and I do mean that seriously, he was great! [guide] This is a unique area right here, this is the drive-through Far as I know, this is the only hospital that has a drive through the building You'll be able to drive all the way through this thing That was one of the compromises they made as far as the traffic [male camera man - same person as the narrator, recorded at different times] The ambulance entrance is up that way, right? [guide] Yeah I don't know how much you know about construction, but there's a structural column, and the stuff that's on them is fireproofing. [camera man] I did know that, yeah [guide] One of the first things you'll find about a large construction column or beam is a very low tolerance towards heat They'll handle earthquakes, movement, different stuff, a lot of weight but when the heat gets to about 1200 degrees fahrenheit, bam! they start twisting up and busting that's what this does — keeps that from happening [general construction noise] [camera man] So, this is all parking here, right? [guide] No. Let me tell you how... Slick floor — not parking. Got the swirl finish on — parking. [camera man] Ah, gotcha [guide] Now this is the driveway, they'll drive up and drive into that… [overlapping conversations] How do they get in... Are they going to come in this way... [narrator] Where we're standing right now is going to be the entrance to the parking garage Up there were the light is coming in, cars will be coming in off the street make a turn and come down this way into the garage. Now, if you're like me, you're looking at that and you're wondering... How can this be? There's a big drop-off there. Well, turns out they're going to build a ramp down from there but it won't be a solid concrete ramp because that would be too much weight So, it is going to be a ramp made out of steel, apparently with some layers of styrofoam in-between So, interestingly, when you drive into this garage at this first part here, anyway, you're going to be driving over styrofoam, sort of. So isn't that interesting? [guide] To compensate for some of the weight instead of filling this whole thing with concrete you'll put styrofoam in [camera man] Oh, that's interesting! [inaudible] [guide] on top of it... and then you'll get another slab of concrete [camera man] So you'll be driving on top of styrofoam [guide] We could fill it all up with concrete, but that's not the way it is designed — they want to minimize the weight some So in-between the two layers you'll get a real dense foam and then you'll get another slab and steel mat The slab will be big enough to carry everything itself and then the foam is just a filler [camera man] On a typical day, how many people are at this site, do you know? [guide to unseen man] What do we have, like 300 now? 400? [response not audible] [guide] And this is parking [camera man] This is parking, yeah [guide] These walls... behind this, you've probably seen the lagging [camera man] Yes [guide] the big wood and the steel beams [narrator] Behind the concrete wall that we're looking at right now is the retaining wall that we saw them building in the early days of the construction This is a view from way back in Week 31 You can see the retaining wall's all there and they're putting in layers for insulation and drainage And that yellow map pin there indicates approximately where we're standing right now Not being an expert in construction myself, by any means at the time I wondered, why is this wood? Wood doesn't last forever. But the reason that retaining wall is there is only to protect the site during construction. So now that this part of the building is complete that wall doesn't really serve any structural purpose any more and that retaining wall could completely go away and it wouldn't affect the structural integrity of the building [camera man] That's something I wondered... That wood is only temporary? It can rot and go away? [guide] Right. It is pressure-treated, though, it'll take 100 years to rot [camera man] But even if it does... [guide] If it's not there, it won't matter [camera man] That's what I thought [guide] The structure is designed to take all the load It was just there to protect the opening [construction noise, two-way radio chatter] See the swirl pattern? [camera man] I saw the guys down there on their knees... [guide] Still needs to be cleaned [camera man] That looked like some job, doing this [drowned out by construction noise] [guide] Got to do this all by hand [drowned out by construction noise] [guide] Fire sprinkler lines Drain lines for rain or water on the tires [camera man] Are these temporary lights or... ? [guide] Temporary. All that's put in just for working. It will all come out. [camera man] So it will be different lighting [guide] Remember the ramp that you came down When I take people on tours I'd have them get a picture on the ramp somewhere they can come back to and know I was right here on the bottom of this We're on level "P2" right now. One more level below, "P3" parking. [camera man] I think when it is all done, I'm going to drive through here with a camera and try and get shots and relate them to the shots I have of it being built. We'll see how successful I am. [guide] See these big lines, copper? [camera man] Copper is water supply? [guide] Yeah, that'll probably be water supply to the building [camera man] And obviously these are drains [guide] That's a drain [camera man] Or sprinkler [guide] That's fire sprinkler stuff [camera man] And then we've got some duct work... a lot of duct work Down here it's all exhaust, I assume [guide] Yeah, gotta get the air out... [camera man] because there's no heating or anything down here, right, yeah [guide] Everything's gotta be designed to keep your overhead heights People will be driving four-wheel drives and everything You gotta keep a minimum of 6'8" or something like that by code I don't know what our minimum is We're at the very bottom now, you can't get any deeper This wall here, I think is like 85 feet to the top, up to Franklin and then we go to 45, 65 feet down here at Van Ness You know, you've been watching this thing grow and... [camera man, interrupting] Have these been painted? [guide] Yes, those have been painted That's a concrete cover around the columns Down here you also want to protect them from any damage from vehicle traffic [narrator] Well, as you heard, the beams down here in the parking area are encased in concrete And that's basically for two reasons: Number one, to protect them when people run into them with their cars and I guess inevitably that is going to happen and number two, as fire protection. Here's a video from back in Week 42 where they're actually putting up one of these bottom beams the ironworkers at work I'm pretty sure it's one of the beams we're looking at I didn't identify which specific beam it is, but I'm pretty sure it's one of these very beams we're standing next to right now being put up, by the ironworkers, back in Week 42. [no audio] [guide] ... they have concrete... it also provides fire protection but also for vehicle damage. [camera man] How many cars do you think they can hold, do you know? [guide] Gee, I've forgotten, do you know about the parking? [unseen man] My guess would be 200-some-odd parking stalls on this side [unseen man] 200-some on that side I think the number is like, 460 altogether [camera man] Oh really, the same on both? Even though that's a smaller site? [unseen man] That's going to be deeper, they're going down 6 levels over there and the bulk of the parking is going to be on that side I think the city asked to scale back parking on this side [guide] ...temporary power, power to run different things in the hospital temporary lighting, all that All this stuff is hung just for the operations it will all get removed, all cleaned up, and all that [general construction noise, pounding, etc.] [narrator] Here we have reached the underground pedestrian tunnel This is a tunnel that goes underneath Van Ness Avenue and connects the hospital with a Medical Office Building being built across the street We've been watching activity related to the construction of this tunnel for many weeks and now we finally actually get to see the tunnel, at least from the hospital end Here's some video from Week 43 showing the start of the construction of the tunnel Here they're putting a temporary roof over where the tunnel is going to be so that traffic can still travel over it while they're digging the tunnel. [no audio] And here's some more video, also from Week 43 The yellow map pin show approximately where we're standing now This is before any of the structural steel was put into place, obviously and the gap in the rebar there is where the tunnel entrance will be which is where we're standing right now. [camera man] Aha! There it is. That's the tunnel. [guide] That slab was just poured last week They're cleaning this all out and getting all the rebar built These all wrap all the way around and the form will go in Spread out to the right thickness [narrator] Right now they're getting ready to pour the concrete for the last section of the tunnel there That big yellow, rectangular piece in the background is the form for the concrete. They slide that forward into place and then pour the concrete from above around it. You can see that they're putting the rebar in where the concrete will be And then that yellow piece will slide forward towards us when it is time to pour the concrete. [guide] See the white stuff? That's the waterproofing. [camera man] So the concrete will come in from the top, through a hose, I guess [guide] Yes, from the top... all the way up to the thickness of the top [camera man] All right, so they slide that in and then pour the concrete down [guide] And where they marry together, there's a thing called an expansion joint, a waterproof expansion joint that gets installed and that keeps... lets the two... the tunnel's essentially a building... and the hospital... they work independently of each other So that big piece of rubber waterproofing will collapse and expand as the building moves, in-between, so they can still keep water out. Fire pump rooms back in here They'll have big fire pumps to run the fire sprinkler system [camera man] Really? [guide] To keep the pressure up [camera man] Oh, to keep the pressure up So those will run off the backup generator, I assume? [guide] Yes, we'll have a backup generator up top Down there's fuel tanks built into the building [camera man] I saw them lower the tanks... are they visible, can we see them? [guide] Yeah [guide] You know, the hard part about building any job, especially in the city, is there's not much storage facility It takes a lot of coordination to make the different storage areas... [camera man] Oh, there's the tanks [guide] You can see all the duct work is sealed to keep it clean [camera man] I assume you guys must have a pretty complicated schedule about what arrives when and all that [unseen man] Oh yeah [guide] Stuff sometimes, because of the activities that happen, will get put somewhere and then has to get relocated don't make people happy, but that's what happens [camera man] So, these are the tanks, right, I remember these I remember when they lowered these in. [narrator] Here are some views from back in Week 41. This is when the fuel tanks for the emergency generators were delivered and lifted into place. They put them into place before any of the structure was built and then they built the structure around them This is obviously way easier than trying to put them in after the structure was built. So, that makes sense I assume these tanks will last a really long time before they would ever have to be replaced. I believe that where we're standing now is right about where that yellow map pin is there and you can see, in this video, which is also from Week 41 that one of the tanks has been put into place. [camera man] Those are big tanks [camera man] That'll be diesel or gas? [guide] Diesel [unseen man] So, Bud, the buildout on this is not going to be that extensive? The rooms are kind of what they are and most of it's going to be painting and striping for the parking [reply inaudible] [guide] Watch your step, watch this cord [camera man] Okay [various construction and machinery noises] [narrator] We've emerged from the parking levels and we're back at ground level and we're actually at the corner of Van Ness and Geary Streets right where the main lobby will be. and right in front of us is that pink building that we've seen in so many videos because it is right in front of where our cameras are. We're now behind that building, on the other side from our cameras. That pink building contained pumps for pumping the fireproofing coating that they spray on the beams. [guide] It comes down these lines, to different places in the building... [inaudible] [background conversations] [guide] Alright guys, we'll go back outside, and then we'll go get on a lift and go up top These are some of the interior early rooms By code, we can't have any plain drywall go in place until the building's wrapped up and the roof's on — sealed up — no water So what we've done to get an early start we've used waterproof gypsum board, the green stuff It's a lot more expensive but it's coated on both sides to keep it water resistant [camera man] I've seen that used in bathrooms and stuff [guide] Now, you can't submerge it under water or it'll eventually run, but it's water resistant We can still comply with the requirements of what's called an "alternate means of compliance", an "A.M.C." we present it to the regulatory and inspection agencies It's an alternate means of compliance, and we keep it as dry as we can we keep it so far back from the exterior walls and we plug all the holes from up above to keep water... [saw noise] and that allows us to progress with the early rooms. This is the edge of the tunnel where we were That's right about at this level [inaudible] walk on top [narrator] Now we've now emerged from the building and we're outside, along Van Ness Avenue what I would call the front of the building and we're right over top of the pedestrian tunnel. [guide] Now this is the emergency Fire Department connection If there was ever a fire or anything in the building They come, there's a break-away fence, they can access this hook up their pump truck and pump water throughout the building What's called a dry standpipe and that's accessible up along the stairs all the way up they can get in and pump water, hook a hose, pump water throughout the building if they needed to. They park in different places, to locate the pump We'll go up where this concrete's being pumped Here's the pump truck They move the location around to minimize the length of the pumping [very loud pump and truck engine noises] [camera man] Ah, there we go! [worker] Got about one minute, we got a truck backing up [camera man] Okay, alright [worker] I don't want anybody to get hurt [worker] Beautiful-looking mud [camera man] It is! [Very loud pump and truck engine noises, truck horn beeps] [inaudible talking] [camera man] That's good [Truck, traffic, and construction noise, indistinct conversations] [camera man] Hello! How's everybody doing? [unseen worker] Well [guide, to operator] We're going to go to six, again, please. [man lift operator] Six for you? Okay. [rumbling of man lift] [traffic and distant construction noise] [operator] Watch your step here, there's a little gap in this. [camera man] Thank you. [operator] You're welcome. [guide] Okay, now here you've got to be very careful We're going to walk straight across over here and get onto the concrete [guide] We can't really walk out over here [camera man] Okay [camera man] This is like a test! Like a field sobriety test [general construction noise, men talking and shouting] [narrator] Now we're up on level 6. They're pouring concrete on this level today So we've go to walk across some rebar where they haven't poured the concrete yet It can be a little tricky to walk across the rebar But a passer-by gave me some advice to step where the rebar crosses because those are the most stable points and, sure enough, that did work the best and I quickly got the hang of it, if I do say so myself and I got across without incident. [camera man] All right... let's see... walk on the crosses [passer-by] Walk on the crosses, then you'll have better balance [camera man] Yep, you're right [general construction noise, men talking and shouting] [guide] This is a platform for them to test the slump of the concrete Remember I told you about moisture content and how stiff the concrete has to be down there? They take a cone and you fill it up and you rod it and you pull this off and you measure from the top of this cone to there, and that's how far it spreads out and that tells you what the slump is how thick it is, or viscous, basically. [camera man] Interesting. [guide] So, that has to be tested. If it's not to the level it's supposed to be, it goes back. [camera man] It goes back. [narrator] Now, here we have an example of what's called a "ride on trowel" for smoothing concrete We've seen these in quite a few of the past videos and as I've said in many of them, I sure would like to try one out some time Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to try one out during this tour but who knows, maybe someday I'll get to try one. They look like fun, but I imagine there's probably actually some hard work involved I don't know, but I'd sure like to try one some day! [camera man] I've seem 'em riding these, I've always wanted to ride on one [guide] That's one of the riding trowels. Obviously the wheels come off. Now, when we pump things up... initially we have to put something in that big pump to slick it up. So they'll put either wet concrete or wet concrete and slurry That's what these swimming pools are for You have to get it to the proper thickness... the amount... You get the wet stuff out, that's in the line, to get it moving and then, once you cut that off, you test it and when you meet the testing criteria you can place it. There's a really high level of floor flatness required in a hospital or really in any building, but specifically in a hospital So, the different techniques we're using here to finish this You see the floats that they're using... has to be done perpendicular, and then two ways diagonally helps minimize the humps and bumps. So, you gotta get it flat before you put the finishing machines on because if you don't have it flat, you're just riding the humps and bumps. So, there's a big program here, and immediately after this hardens tomorrow morning there will be a crew up here testing flatness to make sure we meet the flatness regulations [general loud construction noise, men talking and shouting] [narrator] Those of you who are regular viewers, and have been paying attention, know what these are These are "Viscous Wall Dampers". They're a new technique, used here for the first time in the United States, I believe. They dampen movement of the building during earthquakes. You can search online for "Viscous Wall Damper" and you'll find various stuff about them. Basically, it's a narrow tank, which is attached to the lower floor and that's filled with a very thick or viscous fluid inside and the upper floor is attached to a blade that goes down into that tank. So that blade being in the viscous fluid in the tank dampens the relative movement of the two floors. At least, that's my understanding of how it works, anyway. Here's some video from Week 66 showing a viscous wall damper being installed. In fact, I think, I'm not 100% sure, but I think this very Viscous Wall Damper that we're standing next to right now is being installed in this video, from Week 66. [no audio] [general construction noise, men talking and shouting] [guide] ...have two ways down. We have two emergency ways, if the power went out, whatever, you can't go down the man lift So, basically, to this level and above, we have four I forgot how high that one goes [inaudible] [Sound of man lift arriving, door opening, two-way radio chatter] [guide] Coming out? [worker] Yes, sir! [Two-way radio chatter] [guide to operator] We're going to go to the top and take a look, so he can take some photos [Sound of man lift whirring and rumbling] [guide to worker] Is that salami and cheese? [camera man] So this is like a dead man's switch — if he lets off, it stops? [guide] Yep [camera man] Okay, there's no button-pushing, and automatically go [guide] no. Man lift only, requires an operator. [camera man] Okay. I assume it's not going to shoot off the top if he keep holding on though? [guide] Every once in a while he tries, he cranks it wide open but something up here keeps stopping it [people laughing and chuckling] [worker] Full throttle, Tom, full throttle! [camera man] Ah, here we are! [guide] Okay, we can't really go anywhere, for you, we're right here This area isn't released But I wanted you to get to the top and see what the city looks like here [camera man] This is going to be a nice view I wouldn't mind being sick in this hospital, actually That is quite a view [guide] Talk about stairs? There they're sitting. [camera man] Oh yeah, there they are. [inaudible] [guide] ...that's gotta get done before they can go in [camera man] Lighting's not good [guide] You notice the stairwell over here [narrator] Well, up here on the 12th floor we get a pretty good view of the top of Tower Crane number 1 at least that's what I call it, I don't know what they call it. I call it number 1 because it was the first one that went up. From our camera's perspective these days it is mostly blocked by the building so we don't actually see a lot of Tower Crane number 1 any more just the very tippy top. My understanding is that this crane is going to eventually go just a little bit higher So, apparently there's one more boost coming some time in the future So look forward to that. Also up here on the 12th floor we can see that the special white beam from the "Topping Out" ceremony is still here so it's good to confirm that. We saw the Topping Out ceremony back in Week 76. The white beam is signed by lots of people workers and basically everyone associated with the project, who wants to sign it, I guess And then as part of the ceremony it is raised to the top to designate that the building has reached it's highest point. There are various theories about the origin of Topping Out ceremonies. If you search online you can find various articles about where this ceremony got started and how it came about. And, of course if you want to see some of the Topping Out Ceremony then go back and look at Week 76's weekly time-lapse video. [no audio] [camera man] How long will these be here? When do they come down? A long way off? [guide] It'll be a ways, we gotta put the whole exterior skin on [camera man] Oh, okay, so not until the whole exterior's on do these come down. [guide] Yep, that's what's going to lift all the pieces into place. [camera man] Oh, I see. So they're here for a while. [guide] You know, I forget, working here, I've been on big projects for 30 years When I do have tours or bring people up It's fascinating to them because it's not something they do every day and sometimes I think we take it for granted how much fun or how spectacular it is [camera man] Yeah [guide] Because we're here every day [camera man] I'm sure it's probably not all fun, though [guide] No [camera man] Probably a little bit of work involved, sometimes [chuckling] [guide] You know, there's a lot of stressfulness, sometimes, keeping schedules and things, you know, building something this big... [to operator] thank you very much Something this big and complicated, there's always going to be things that gotta be fixed or altered and the process to get something altered is real time consuming [whirl of man lift operating] [guide] So, we have to go through so many steps and in hospital work you have to be a patient person it teaches you patience, you can't just run through everything, you have to stop... [inaudible above the noise of the man lift] One of the reasons it's so expensive is because this building has to be perfect It has to be able to function in an emergency If we have an earthquake here and all these other buildings fall and you've got a million wounded or dying people they've got to be able to come somewhere where they can get triage and treatment. If this is down, they have nowhere. [man lift whirring winds down and stops, door opens] [guide to operator] Thank you, sir, we appreciate it. [woman to operator] Thank you. [traffic noise, light construction noise, indistinct conversations] [guide] This will be the loading dock, you've seen it, now The trucks will be backing in and the hospital will be supplied from here They'll come in and back up into this, and everything will be... the hospital will operate out of this, I mean people don't realize how important the loading area is, man all your food, your supplies, your medicines, everything will come right through here this is the hub of the whole deal [camera man] Yeah [guide] Well, I will turn you over to this young lady [camera man] All right, thank you very much! [guide] Thank you for the trip. [camera man] I appreciate it! [narrator] Well, we've reached the end of our tour of the site. Once again I've got to scan my helmet to get out so they don't send in a search party looking for me. I hope you enjoyed the tour, I certainly enjoyed it very much and once again I want to thank the people who made it possible. This was a one-time, special deal. Unfortunately there probably won't be any future tours This was it, although I guess you never know. However, the weekly time-lapses will of course continue! This video is from Week 89, and there are many weeks to come so I hope you'll join me for those! If you're a subscriber, thank you very much for being a subscriber, I do appreciate it. And thank you for all the comments, I always enjoy conversing with everyone. Now, if you're not a subscriber, then, why the heck not? Click on that button and subscribe! because you do not want to miss any of these videos, right? There are many more construction videos to come, so stay tuned!