Arizona hospital gets the job done in 16 weeks

The Havasu Regional Medical Center, a 138-bed hospital in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., reported that its newly opened 11,200-square-foot, eight-room labor and delivery wing “went from blueprints to babies” in 16 weeks using the “component construction” method.

The building was fully built in a climate-controlled warehouse, then “strategically broken into pieces” that were shipped to the hospital, reconstructed and welded to a “building pier,” according to an e-mail from a spokeswoman who noted that three babies were delivered the day the facility opened.

A time-lapse video of the construction process, with cranes lifting the 45,000- to 65,000-pound pieces into place, is available at sanderlinghealthcare.com/timelapse.htm.

The LifePoint Hospitals facility's expansion project, originally priced at $8.3 million, continues with construction now focusing on units for intensive care, pediatrics and wound care.