PROJECT PROFILE
Medical Education and Training Campus (METC)
Challenge
The Department of Defense’s 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) directives ordered the consolidation of all medical technical training facilities for the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force into a single base at Fort Sam Houston in Texas.
Not only was the new facility to be massive — a staggering 275,000 square feet — but the military also needed it to be able to safely accommodate modern medical technologies. Knowing that a large percentage of the rooms in this campus would house medical X-ray technology or X-ray viewing areas, many of the doors, locks and windows had to be lead-lined to prevent radiation from escaping the rooms.
Solution
American Direct, which was hired to provide doors, hardware, toilet accessories and partitions, fire extinguishers and cabinets, used its extensive network of cutting-edge product providers to identify items that would meet the stringent requirements for the X-ray areas.
American Direct’s affiliated company American Construction Services also oversaw the installation of all the specialty products, assuring they met the needs of the military in both design and function.
“From our perspective, we had multiple users and varied hardware and key requirements. The working relationship between Zachry, URS, American Direct and ACS was outstanding. To work the complexities of the job and make sure we were asking the right questions and getting the right answers from the end users and owner to meet their requirements was difficult but it was a very positive outcome for a construction project.”
— Eric Wilbur, Director of Operations, Zachry Construction