DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

MORE FIRE SAFETY CAN COST LESS.

by Louis J. Krueger and Bichard M. Patton

Reprinted From: FEBRUARY 1, 1977/VOLUME 51, NUMBER 3

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
Publisherl santmonthly by the Americon Hospital Association
John Aletander McMah.on, president

f n November 1973, construction neurosurgical intensive care units;

I began on an unusual clinical care 90 examination rooms; and 80 phy-
facility at the University of Kansas
Medical Center, Kansas City. The
Clinical building's sicians', stafr, and student offices.
The second floor (140,000 square
facility is scheduled for completion
fire safety system feet) houses the diagnostic radiol-
by October 1978. The state architect ogy department and a centralized
of Kansas had planned many of the surgical suite with adjacent recov-
innovationsin this faeility during cut construction ery rooms and surgical intensive
the design stage; u'hen the bids care units. The third floor is the
came in, however, he found that ad- cost overrun central point housing the mechan-
ditional innovations were needed to ical rooms (71,000 square feet).
offset, a 910 million cost overrun. bv $5 million, The fourth floor (100,000 square
lVith the help of project manage- feet) is connected by pedestrian
ment consultants,* he brought costs while providing bridges to visitors' areas. This floor
houses five inpatient care units and
into line- Perhaps surprisingly, he
found that the largest portion of
the cost reduction was needed in the
more extensive one medical intensive care unit. The
and fifth floor is the same in size and
fire protection contract and that configuration as the fourth floor. It
more safety can, in the long run,
effective protection houses inpatient and outpatient
cost a facility less. gynecology and obstetries facilities,
The new facility is adjacent to including the delivery suite, a gyne-
the existing clinical facility, the cologieal intensive care unit, new-
pediatrics clinic, and the power The basement level (approximate- born nurseries, and a neonatal in-
plant, and it is tied to them by en- ly 140,000 square feet) houses the tensive care unit- The completed
closed pedestrian passageways. An- eentral receiving and storage, cen- facility will have 350 beds and 850,-
other important link is an under- tral sterile processing, Iinen sup- 000 square feet of space,
ground tunnel through which the ply, pharmacy, dietary, respiratory Permanent. elements of the build-
power plant supplies oxyg€n; com- therapy, and pathology departments. ing are the basic structural frame;
pressed air; and mechanical, elec- The ground floor (approximately the exterior walls; the floors; the
trical, and plumbing services to the 120,000 square feet) contains the roof; the elevators; and the me-
new faeility. This massive, seven- emergency services, rvith 50 exam- chanical, eleetrical, and plumbing
level building is 330 feet by 360 ination rooms; the family medicine systems. The building has a concrete
feet, and its space is equivalent to department; the outpatient phar- foundation, a structural steel col-
that of a 1Z-story building. macy; 40 physicians'and business umn and truss frame, and a con-
rlsnsston-Kitch and Asmiate. l{ichita" KS. offices; the medical record and the crete floor system. It is enclosed
Alrc participating in thir Drojct were; M$- patient accounting departments ; the rvith glass and with precast con-
ahall & Brown-Sldorowicz, Kanrs Gltv, KS.
elsociate architetr; Taliaferro & Brome. Kan- employee cafeteria; and a mall with crete exterior rvalls. Heating and
sst Ciby, KS. a*goclete structurel enginem! shops for patients and visitors. air conditioning are provided by a
end Burgw. Iatimer, and }llller, Kans Clty,
M0, aasociate mech&nical entiner!, The first floor (approximately dual-duct system in which one duct
120,000 square feet) contains clin- carries heatetl air and one carries
Louis J. Krueger is director of the Divi-
sion ol Architectural Services, Stale of ical diaguostic laboratories; medi- cooled air to a mixing box where
Kansas. Richard M. Patton ls president cal and psychiatric ambulatory pa- the air is blended to meet desired
ot Patton, lnc., Design€rs, Gonsultants, tient care units, with 18 beds; the room temperature. In interstitial
Fire Protection Engineers, Columbus,
oH. surgical pathology department; 6 (Continued on page 130)

FEBRUARY 1,1977, VOL. 51 127

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
(Ctntinued frorn pd,ge 7g/)
spaces above the ceilings on all lev*
els of the building, the mechanical,
electrical, and plumbing systems
(whieh need never change) travel
horizontally. The interstitial spaces
minimize the amount of usable floor
iuea occupied by the meehanical
sysl.cms. Itr addition, a monorail
delivery system transports medica-
tions, X rays, samples, and medical
records vertically through shafts
and horizontally through the in-
ter.stitial spaces to key gtations
t.hrouchout. I hc building.
Nonpermanent elements are the
interior pnrtii,ion systems, the ceil-
inss, the equipment, and the office
furnishings. Metal stud and gypsum
board walls and acoustical tile eeil-
ings form the interior spaces. The
permanent elements, such as the 4&
foot by ?Z-foot struetural steel col-
umn bays and the interstitial spaces,
provide large, unobstructed ffoor
area.s. In these area.s, the nonper-
manent elements can be reorganized
en^sily to accommodate technological
chanFe, with minimal remodeling
costs and witi minimal interruption
to vital services.
Eeonomieal fire eafety plan
Most industries must deal with
inflation, but the construction in-
dustry must deal with "double in-
flation." First, the usual labor and
materials costs inerease. Second,
building eonstruction codes keep
changinF, and the changes cost
money. For example, during: the
past l0 yeArs, new state fire safetY
regulations have been added to new
Iocal fire safety regulations. Through
r,arious aFencies, the federal gov-
ernment ha-s imposed additional
codes. Furthermore, various eode-
making organizations that write
"voluntary consensus standards"
have been prolificallv writinS: new
fire safety rules. Consequently, iu
planning a facility, one must con-
sider the fact that the price of a
smoke detector will increase but also
that more smoke detectors must be
installed-
Consequenuy, it was no wonder
that the state architect found that
130
the S50 million medical center build- that included tbe state fire marshal,
ing was pricinS: out to about $60 the state hospital facilities planning
million. He sent a team of his own coordinator, and the state director
staff members and the consultants of soeial and rehabilitation ser-
to survey some similar facilities for vices; the university's vice+hancel'
possible eost reduction features. lor of medical administration end
Architects for two of the hospitals the facilities officer of the univer-
mentioned cost savings achieved sity's board of regents; and his own
t.hrough tf,re us€ of a new type of engineers and consultants. This
sprinkler system that uses smaller team reviewed all fire .safetY fea-
pipes.; that, therefore, costs less; tures, including smoke detectors,
and that involves some new and alarm and communicaiions sYstems,
trasic concepts of proteetion against elevator controls, fi reproofing, exits,
fire.t :rnd compartmentation, not only on
After investigating the matter, an individual basis but also as com-
the state architect hired the fire ponents of lhe tatal fire safety plan.
prevention engineering firm for two The sprinkler syslem was the key
jobs: (1) to design the flre protec- to the cost reductions. Because
tion system for the buildings, sub- sprinklers were installed through-
stituting the new sprinkler system out the entire building, fireproofln&
for conventional sprinklers, and (2) the alarm system, and other fire
to design a "Composite Fire Safety safety features could be modified.
Plan" for the building. In the com- For example, sprinklers were in-
posite plan, the sprinkler system stalled in the interstitial spaces'
g'a.s the primary fire safety tool, and thereby allowing a maior reduction
the structural fireproofing and the in the amount of above-the-ceiling'
compartmentation features were sec- spray-on fireproofing required. In
ondary aspects. Excessive fire pro- addition, the earlier bid documents
teetion costs were eliminated. More- eontained a standard sprinkler sys-
over, all local, state, and federal fire tem for the basement level onlY-
safety regulations were met. To en- This Jeature was deleted, providing
sure that the composite plan pre' a credit of $403,000. Bids were rc-
pared by Patton, Inc., met these ceived on the new sprinkler system'
regulations, the state architect set and the total amount of the contract
up a state fire safety review team for the nev" system was $431'136.
Thus, credit from the standard sys-
lTlre phnner of the sprinkler stxtm is Pet-
ton. Ine. Deirners Gonsultaats, Fi* Pmtec- tem, which was to be installed on
tlor Eagincss, Oolumbus. OH-
only one level, almost completelY
oaid for the new system, which was
installed throughout the building.
The lost thildren... The three final results of the fire
safety innovations were the follow-
help srve them ing:
r The building is safer because
Tday 500lt0l! childrm are vic- there are sprinklers throughout it.
tine of serious mental illness.
ltey are lost children-lost to r Construetion costs were reduced
tleir families, tbeir commcni- by more than $5 million.
tiee, and to themselves- About a c The composite Plan is a sensible
third of them can be helped- plan, rather than a hodgepodge of
New researcb is the only h{rp€
for the rest. The National Asso- regulations. It allows more rational
correlation between the emergency
cigtion for lf,ental Fealtb sup-
ports sucb tesearch anil provides plans and procedures and the emer-
special tf,eetrnent services and gency systems.
schooling for these children.
Save the lost chil- The fact that more than 5t) Per-
cent of the $10 million in savings
fffi
dren-
resulted frorn fire protection inno-
i#-'ffi{ry
ttF
:|11."t1
chaptar.
yorr locai
"ations
shows tbe degree to which
fire codes afrest construetion costs.
Incidentally, the state architect and
HOSPffALS, J,A.H.A.
his cmgtrrrction cmsult8nts did natiC and ;nrnerliate fre suplrtles-
achiere t&e $10 millim eost reduc" sion es its prinsry ioatnot will pro-
tion, arit the prcjeet is pme€dingt viile &e fo[owins advautages:
r Bedaced bniHins eoistruetion.
Old, ner fire eafcily cmoeptg eosls- For example, ringed anil
slprawlinSi builitings no loger sill
tlore than iOo yo"" ago, fre be necessary.
srfety speeiplists concluilerl tlat the r Greater freedsm of interior cle-
basicoonshmctim of a building was sitp. Xore open interiors Yill tF
the &ey to prrotecting huraa lives prove dcienqr, rrill rcduce oper-
during fres. Conseqnently, cudes atbg costs, ad wifl cnate more
r,egulated bniHiu desien and co- bUm1ne fiar-litigg.
stnretion materiab. A buildisg that r Reduced nabtenenee costs. An
was divided into many mall eom- excessively ffreproofeil aad conpert-
1nrtuots sag onsidercd to be en mented bruilding iuvolseg many hiil-
inherently aafe (freproof) building. den rnaiatenr'fe ccts in addition
The campartmote were intended fu to an messive iEitial capital outlay-
con*ain fire rtile reupants escapeil o "In'pliaee- pnotection for occu'
t.hmasb eneloseil exit ways- pants. A fue witl be promPtlY de-
Not futh consialered, bowwer, t€ctd aait snppreseed; occuPaots
was tbe fac* ttrat the furnishings will aot have to try to egcape-
and tlte otlrer combustible cootents - Use of esouomicel and useful
in the "iErcproof' structsres *ould construction materials. lfisguided
bum just as fuel buras io a furnace. erperts are trfring to regu}ate many
Regariiless of Lionparhnentation, of tles€ matesrids out sf use'
tbe combugtior gas€s wmld sprea4 r A possible rtnsissance in archi-
sould trap persons on the vay to tecture- Mone tbsn 60 Percent of
t}te erita, aurl would hill tbqn In building regulations deal'with fire
fires, the bunirs oontents of *6r+ safelri rreatly cmfining the desiga-
proof' buildings eontinued to kill en New construction concePts and
individuah, hrt tbe fire mde agm- solutjons till be possible.
cig wrote nore snd morne restric- fhe fautastic proliferetion of fire
tive strueturel codes- safety codes in recent Years was
Assuning that a fre usua[y predictable. The eoncepts of coo'
starts in the contents of a buildiag partmeutiar anil fireproofing were
and tiat it becoaies a ileadty fire originated by tbe fire insurance ia-
before the shucture is afiecteal, it itustry in the 19th centurY' not to
becomes clear t&at solving tbe prcb' protect tife but to linit tJre extent
len of life ssfety also will solve of proFrty loes- Cornpartmeutation
problems of strnctural safety. The never sas a good solution to saving
new sprinkler systeb and the com. lives aluring fres. Shis fact rss not
posite plan are bas€il on the follow- considered to be important as long
ing coneepts: as fire ras considerttl to be aD "Act
r The contents of e building, not of God--that ic an unavoidable
the structurg arre tbe 'major fre eatastrophe, sach as al earthquale
probleu. gtructurd regulations can- or a f,ooil, Ilowel'er, in reeent yeam,
not solve tbe interior fire problern- tbe public bas been unwillirog to
r The oaly solution to a eontents consider fre deatls to be "ural'oid-
6re is to put it oul The eonept able." Therefore, the inherent flaws
tbat a 6re can be rendered osafe' of tbe comrr-trrented freProofed
by beins "troFned" is very tlanger- buikliag bave sur{aceil fn response'
oug. Moreover, it is better to ter. the trailition orimted fire safety
minate the Sre t"han it is to try to erperts and ageacies desperstelY
escape to tle outiloors ot to "ride have been trl'ing to Pa.teh an old
ouf'tbe fre in a eomportment conc@t and -olif' buildings sith
o A eystera that terminate-s a ooB- new regutations. What reallY is
tents fre to pmteef tives also pro- needed is a new aPproach that is
tects tbe sfir'ucture. oriented directly tounrd the ba-sic
A nre sefey plan tbat bas aute problem-life safetS'. t
HOSPITALS, J.A.H.A.