Project Highlights

To meet the growing needs of the expanding Charlotte region and better care for the families in the community, the Carolina’s HealthCare System embarked upon a major expansion at the Carolina’s Medical Center in Pineville (CMC-Pineville). The program is three-phased and includes a newly expanded front lobby; a 100,000 square foot medical office building that will house a Blumenthal Cancer Center satellite facility with radiation oncology therapy; and a 335,000 square foot expansion and renovation project that upon completion will provide open-heart surgery and interventional cardiology, a 30-bed Intensive Care Unit and inpatient kidney dialysis. When complete, the expansion will make CMC-Pineville the only tertiary medical center in south Charlotte. S&ME is performing construction material testing and special inspection services for the improvements program.

Campus Improvement Project

The Campus Improvement Project called for demolition of the existing parking lots and one-story office buildings, and the areas regraded for future construction of the medical office building, parking deck and surface parking lots. The improvements project included construction of a large, cast-in-place concrete retaining wall that surrounds a new permanent detention pond on the campus. Previously wooded areas were regraded for future construction of parking lots. The site conditions were such that significant undercutting of plastic clays and other unsuitable soils were necessary within the proposed parking lot areas.

S&ME personnel performed subgrade evaluations, undercutting observations, and field density testing during grading activities and retaining wall construction. In addition, laboratory testing was performed on retaining wall backfill materials to confirm design parameters. The retaining wall design was modified based on S&ME’s laboratory testing. Our services during parking lot and drive area construction included proofrolling of the recycled asphalt pavement material (RAP) used as the base course and testing of the asphalt.

Medical Office Building and Parking Deck Project

The Medical Office Building (MOB) and Parking Deck Project consisted of the construction of a four-story, steel framed building, approximately 113,310 square feet, and a six-level, precast concrete parking deck, approximately 235,458 square feet. The building is supported on conventional shallow foundations, while the parking deck is supported by shallow foundations reinforced with aggregate pier columns (Geopiers).

S&ME personnel evaluated of the foundation bearing materials, observed Geopier installation, observed reinforcing steel placement for foundations, cast-in-place concrete walls, and slab areas, sampled and tested the concrete, observed structural steel and precast concrete connections (included ultrasonic testing of moment welds), observed masonry construction and grout placement operations, and tested the sprayed-on fireproofing for thickness, density, and bond strength.

Expansions & Renovations Project

The Expansions and Renovations Project consisted of the addition of five new areas to the existing hospital structure: an expanded lobby area, central energy plant expansion, emergency room addition, maternity center addition, and surgery addition. The structures are supported on conventional shallow foundations.

S&ME’s services included subgrade evaluations, field density testing, foundation bearing material evaluations, observations of reinforcing steel placement, sampling and testing of concrete, structural steel evaluations, masonry evaluations, and sprayed-on fireproofing evaluations.