Driving Certainty in Mission-Critical Environments

In the last 15 years, JE Dunn has completed over 60 Central Utility Plant (CUP) and Central Energy Plant (CEP) projects across the country, including new, expansion, and modernization projects. JE Dunn’s preconstruction team clarifies needs early, tests solutions against budget and schedule constraints, and leverages data-driven,   planning to deliver resilient, right-sized, and maintainable facilities. This creates a smooth, transparent experience for our clients from day one.

Piedmont Augusta’s CUP expansion and renovation project required early preconstruction and design phase services to evaluate aging infrastructure and plan upgrades that continuously support an 812-bed acute care hospital and its multi-campus system. These early efforts identified risks, predicted downtime, and created a clear roadmap for a reliable, right-sized central plant before construction ever began. For a system of this scale, reliable utilities are non-negotiable.

Aging CUPs bring real risks to patients and staff, including unplanned outages, unstable temperatures and humidity, compromised infection control, and limited electrical or mechanical backup capacity. These conditions can disrupt surgeries, imaging, sterilization, and critical patient monitoring while placing a heavy emergency-response burden on plant engineering teams. As their existing CUP aged, plant operators faced increasing pressure from equipment nearing end-of-life, reduced redundancy, and outdated infrastructure that could no longer keep pace with the clinical and operational demands of modern healthcare.

Complex Switchover

A smooth CUP switchover is planned long before construction starts. During the design phase – which entails JE Dunn providing dedicated resources at the project’s start that ensure quality design is delivered on budget and on schedule – team maps every sequence, temporary utility, isolation point, and risk scenario so the new plant can be built while the existing one stays fully operational. This gives field teams a clear, coordinated plan that protects patients, staff, and critical systems when it’s time to transition.

The design team plays a central role in shaping the switchover strategy and the resulting phasing plan. They evaluate existing capacity, seasonal heating and cooling demands, and what portions of the system can be taken offline and when. Their analysis ultimately sets the pace, allowing JE Dunn to plan around operational realities, and inform the overall schedule.

Efficient Scheduling & Procurement

Through early, disciplined scheduling and procurement along with the support of our in-house MEP services team, JE Dunn accelerated progress on Piedmont Healthcare Augusta’s CUP by securing critical equipment long before traditional timelines allow. At the time, critical components carried significant lead times:

• Generators: 52–100 weeks
• Switchgear: 38–70 weeks
• Chillers: 38–50 weeks
• Boilers: 21–26 weeks

Rather than waiting for fully developed construction documents or trade partner onboarding, our early procurement strategy intentionally starts the clock early allowing the design team time to finalize details while also providing greater budget confidence as major cost drivers are locked in upfront.

For Piedmont Augusta, we achieved cost certainty for roughly 15% of the work before construction documents were complete. This budget certainty is extremely beneficial, considering the volatility of major MEP equipment compared to more stable materials like concrete or masonry. This proactive approach reduced risk, stabilized pricing, and ensured the project stayed aligned with Piedmont Augusta’s operational budget and schedule priorities.

Image 1: This image shows gas connections for future phase 2 boilers that are overlayed on the existing condition of the laser scan.

Image 2: The conduit rack in green had to be coordinated to go between the mechanical pipe headers so the rack could be installed before the boilers are installed.

Coordination Between Old and New Buildings

For Piedmont Augusta, the coordination of the old and new buildings started with a detailed review of existing infrastructure and every system the hospital depended on to stay operational. Our preconstruction team mapped out each tie-in, shutdown, and temporary configuration, aligning structural, MEP, and life-safety needs long before construction began. By resolving conflicts early and sequencing the work around real-time hospital operations, we ensured the new facility integrated seamlessly with the existing campus while keeping patient care uninterrupted.

We worked with the design team and plant engineering to develop an enabling package, which included the testing and replacement of valves as required to rebuild redundancy into their chilled water and heating systems. The re-establishment of control within their systems allowed for the planning of equipment replacement and helped solidify a sequence to perform the work.

A three-dimensional scan of the existing plant was performed to help model what equipment and piping would be removed in each phase, and what space would be freed up for the new equipment and piping. To facilitate the connection of the new plant to the existing plant, underground investigative work was performed to find all utilities. These discovered utilities were also put into a three-dimensional model so the route for new piping that connected the two plants could be mapped out and any infrastructure modifications required could be planned.

Creating a Digital Roadmap with Laser Scanning

Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) plays a critical role in risk reduction and sequencing CUP work far in advance. In CUPs, space is limited, equipment is massive, and shutdown windows are unforgiving. Our VDC group gives the team the clarity they need to make smart, safe decisions as early as possible. For Piedmont Augusta, our modeling efforts focused on elevating an already well-coordinated design. The design team had done an excellent job accounting for existing conditions, and the renovation work fell largely within one trade partner’s scope, which was responsible for nearly 90% of the mechanical room.

Our VDC team used the model to add construction-level detail, validate the approach, and highlight a few select areas where spatial relationships or sequencing were worth a closer look. This meant there were no major surprises or drawing discrepancies . Instead, the scans reinforced confidence that the design would fit as intended. Without the model and scans, even small discrepancies could have created field conflicts, rework, or shutdown delays. Instead, the team entered the construction phase with a clear digital roadmap— one that kept risk low and the path forward predictable.

A Clear Path to Long-Term Performance

Early planning kept patient care protected at every step. The team aligned scope, sequence, and procurement to stabilize cost and schedule, and digital coordination strengthened confidence in the design. The result is a central plant ready to support Piedmont Augusta for years to come.

The post Future-Proofing Healthcare Infrastructure: A Smart Approach to Central Utility Design first appeared on JE Dunn Construction.

In states like Oklahoma —­ where the health care system ranks near the bottom nationally — the challenge is especially urgent. Families across all 77 counties often travel out of state for life-saving treatment, emphasizing the need for modern, accessible pediatric care closer to home.

Expansions and renovations of children’s hospitals play a vital role in meeting this demand. Construction of these projects can strengthen entire health systems by replacing aging infrastructure, increasing capacity, consolidating services, and creating spaces that enable cutting-edge research.

When planned and executed with care, expansion and renovation projects not only improve existing campuses, but also help healthcare professionals transform outcomes and give every child the best possible chance at care.

As a local construction management firm with over $11 billion in healthcare revenue over the last decade, JE Dunn’s healthcare experts deliver tailored solutions through high-touch, community-focused teams. Every project is founded on key best practices, ensuring project success and optimal outcomes throughout the construction journey.

Keep reading to learn some of our team’s best practices for expanding or renovating an active children’s hospital.

1. Communicate early and often to prevent disruptions to care

Major campus additions and renovations can require phased work and often-changing traffic patterns. Minimizing the impact these activities have on patient care is imperative. Early, effective communication partnered with ongoing collaboration between hospital leadership and the construction management team is key to successful hospital-centric construction planning.

When JE Dunn led the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital PICU renovation, the team partnered with staff in the surrounding units to establish highly effective, real-time communication protocols for use during emergencies, patient census changes, or in other special patient and staff considerations.

This planning and communication helped achieve buy-in, set expectations, and assured all stakeholders of the team’s dedication to patient safety, comfort, and healthy futures.

2. Prioritize patient safety and comfort

Constructing for our community’s tiniest patients means heightened consideration for patient safety and well-being is necessary — especially with patients who require extra precautions.

During the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital PICU renovation, the team posted floor plans on the floors surrounding construction and coordinated with charge nurses daily to identify and flag areas with extra sensitive patients. This approach ensured areas — and patients — requiring extra care and caution were well marked and communicated to the entire team.

Throughout the PICU renovation, JE Dunn’s healthcare experts also took extra care to reduce construction noise and vibration. In addition to utilizing vibration and sound monitoring and dampening techniques, the team also provided single-use, size-appropriate, noise-cancelling earmuffs to the hospital for use as needed with patients.

3. Advanced technology

Healthcare is evolving rapidly, especially with the emergence of AI, digital diagnostics, multi-disciplinary care teams, data-rich systems, and personalized treatment innovations.

When involved early in the conceptual design and planning process, construction managers can use forward thinking to ensure construction investments future proof the facility, setting providers up to be leaders of patient care, education, and research for decades to come.

JE Dunn’s healthcare leaders help craft flexible infrastructure plans that position facilities for adaptation of next-generation technology and future growth plans. When appropriate, we also utilize delayed medical equipment procurement strategies to allow the selection of cutting-edge equipment as late in the process as reasonably possible. Plus, the use of scalable plans helps accommodate for future patient volume and service lines shifts.

The post Best Practices for Children’s Healthcare Additions and Renovations first appeared on JE Dunn Construction.