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Thursday, June 18, 2020

Twin Hospitals Built in 4 Weeks in Georgia out of Shipping Containers

China had built a speciality hospital in 10 days, and the brits did it in two weeks. It seems, America is not far behind either. And they took an ingenious approach to build the hospital.

There is a coronavirus hotspot in Albany, Georgia in the united States. And they needed a speciality hospital for the hordes of COVID-19 patients and they needed it fast. So, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) was the first to reach out to BMarko Structures about the hospital design

Antony Kountouris, CEO, BMarko Structures, started his company almost six years ago. He believes the off-site modular construction would eventually dominate the industry. “With modular construction, you're able to do work in conjunction with your peers and your coatings while you're building the box for delivery to the site,” he said.

And in the case of this 4-week-deadline hospital building, Kountouris was able to deliver a plan within days of asking, using a special strategy: shipping containers! Shipping containers are plentiful, affordable, and useful. With 14-ga. walls that are 2 mm thick, the containers provided a solid option for a company looking for quick construction that could deliver on functionality. Over the years the container method of construction proved itself worthwhile. 

Kountouris recognized that the shipping containers might be a good way to deliver much-needed medical space to communities seeing their hospitals overrun with COVID-19 cases. “The containers made sense for the COVID-19 response,” said Kountouris, ensuring that they were immediately available for construction. He added, “The containers are ready-made. You have to build them up, but you don’t have to start from the ground up like you would with a steel or wood module.”

The goal was quite daunting. Each hospital comprises 21 containers, which has 24 patient rooms and auxiliary rooms dedicated to oxygen management; electrical distribution; data management; air exchange; and vacuum functions, which are necessary for each of the 24 head walls that are a part of the patient rooms.

However, at first Kountouris asked for eight weeks of time for a hospital. When GEMA told him they can give him four weeks only for two facilities, it pretty much quadrupled his work. Unfazed, he replied, “I guess I’ll need more space and more people, but I’ll find them.”

Georgia out of Shipping Containers

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co
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