University of Maryland Medical Center – Infrastructure Upgrades

The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is the heart of the University of Maryland Medical System’s downtown campus. The hospital provides comprehensive care for the West Baltimore community and tertiary care for Maryland and the surrounding area. The hospital has more intensive care beds than any other hospital in Maryland.

Founded in 1823 as the Baltimore Infirmary, the University of Maryland Medical Center is one of the nation’s oldest academic medical centers. Patients admitted to the University of Maryland Medical Center benefit from the talent and experience of the very finest physicians, nurses, researchers and other health care providers. Here, health care professionals from many disciplines work together as a team to cure illness, conquer disease, and assure the needed support for patient and family alike.

The constantly changing demands of services and technology produce a continual process of upgrade and improvement in all systems in the University complex. While patient services are the most visible aspect of this process, the core mechanical/electrical infrastructure makes similar advances; just out of the public eye.

As part of their 10 year plan for infrastructure upgrades, UMMC has begun to improve and modify the mechanical and electrical systems to support the planned growth of the facility.

Native Sons has participated in several of the preliminary phases of this process. The major projects include the North Tower Cooling Tower Replacements, the South Tower Cooling Tower Replacements, South Tower Utility Shaft and the North Tower AHU Replacement. These projects included required modifications and upgrades to handle the increased load on a 20 year old distribution system. New MCC’s and variable speed drives were added and existing distribution switchgear was upgraded.

Each of these projects involved extreme care and intensive scheduling so that patient care was not compromised in the 24/7 facility. All of the effected systems were required to remain on-line, since they supported critical areas of the hospital. Work around patient areas required ICRA controls for hazard and pathogen containment. Extreme logistic control was crucial to successful project completion.

The Owner is the University of MD Medical Systems, John Baldwin, Facilities Manager. The General Contractor was Green Contracting Co., Roger Kouhi and Len Swiger, Project Managers. Native Sons project manager was Michael T. Oles, General Manager