Flush & Purge @ Memorial Hermann’s $650 Million Texas Medical Center Renovation and Expansion Project
Memorial Hermann broke ground in 2015 on the $650 million expansion and renovation of its Texas Medical Center (TMC) Campus. As the Houston region’s only full-service health system, this expansion will enable Memorial Hermann to stay ahead of the fast-growing advances in medicine, keep pace with the extraordinary growth of the city and, most importantly, meet the health needs of the community for years to come.
The expansion will provide: 160 additional beds (plus 71 replacement beds); 24 operating rooms (19 replacement and five new); 16 additional emergency room bays; 750 new parking spaces; and a 335-seat café.
The 15-story patient care tower will also house the Memorial Hermann Texas Trauma Institute and Memorial Hermann Life Flight®, including the John S. Dunn Helistop and the dispatch center, as well as the John S. Dunn Burn Center – the only comprehensive burn center in Houston verified by the American Burn Association – which will expand to 20 beds. In addition, seven shelled floors and six shelled operating rooms will be constructed to accommodate future growth with the potential of adding 264 beds. (MH Website)
Flush Facts ……….
• Professional and Engineer Approved Flush Plan
• New Chilled and Heating Piping cleaned
• 14 manifolded frac tanks
• 210,000 gallons of stored water
• 105,000 gallons of dumping capacity storage
• TECO District Plant Connected
• 9000 GPM pumping capabilities
• 3 separate flushes including high rise
• Limited Space, Restricted Make-up water and discharge
• Accident Free
• Flushed On-Schedule & On-Budget
Once again, great planning and hard work with a super team has paid off in a successful multi-phased large-scale mechanical piping flush. To meet the specs, we had to have a lot of water available and a place to dump it quickly. To accomplish this, we placed 14 frac tanks underneath the hospital. This was interesting to say the least, but we made it work! Working in the greatest medical facility in the world can present challenges. The water pressure in the area can vary greatly and working space is a premium, so creativity is a must to work here.
We had a lot of interesting things happen on this flush, and one took place during our first step for the Phase 1 clear water flush procedure. For this step, some on site thought it might take days, some thought maybe 12 hours, but we actually flushed it in 23 minutes! Over 200,000 gallons when through that section. A lot more details went into each step such as balancing flow, maintaining blow downs, and monitoring chemical make-up of the water, but they went smoothly. The total process for all three flushes took about 4 weeks.
Congratulations to Memorial Hermann on such a fine new facility and we are grateful to have worked on part of their future. Thanks also to the folks at Vaughn Construction, TD Industries, TECO, and Chemtreat for working as a cohesive group to accomplish this critical task.