Published: November 21, 2008 12:47 am      

Final beam installed at UHC

BRIDGEPORT — It was not difficult to distinguish the final steel beam to be placed on top of the structure Thursday morning that in about 18 months will be the new United Hospital Center.

That would have been the one holding a broom, a small evergreen tree, an American flag and a couple of banners.

The broom signifies that no workers died during the erecting of the steel beams that will support the $300 million, 300-single-patient room facility due to open in July 2010 off the Jerry Dove Drive exit of Interstate 79.

According to Scandinavian tradition, the evergreen appeases tree-dwelling spirits because of their ancestors who had been displaced.

One banner featured the name of the hospital construction company — Balfour Beatty — performing the work; while a second one, unfurled in spite of high winds once the beam was set into place, was adorned with a photograph of the new hospital, signed by UHC employees.

And the entire process signifies a new stage of construction, one that will entail wrapping the structure and setting up two 4.5 million-British thermal unit and three 750,000-Btu heaters that will allow workers to continue pouring concrete at the correct temperature as what appears to be a snowy winter sets in.

“They’ll arrive next week and we should have them up and running in about three days,” said Butch Hastings, general superintendent for the construction project. “With the heater system we have designed, it should pretty much keep the building between 50 and 55 degrees.”

Bruce Carter, the hospital’s CEO, along with Jackie Brumage, who is planning the process that should result in a smooth move from UHC’s current location at the south end of Clarksburg, and Geoffrey W. Marshall, the vice president of support services who serves as the liaison between the hospital and the construction site, were among the small group of people who watched the “topping out” ceremony.

Meeting the target date of July 2010 should not be a problem, Marshall said.

“In some areas, construction is behind and in some they are way ahead, so I believe it will even out,” he said.

Brumage has been coordinating the move, which is expected to take three weeks. Patients will be moved in a day, but administrative and human resource offices and other employees that do not deal directly with patients will be moved sooner, Brumage said.

“Some departments will be moved in stages, such as the lab,” she said.

Hospital administrators and construction staff have held monthly meetings to get updates and discuss problems, Carter said.

“We just had one this morning,” Carter said. “That’s where we hash out issues and coordinate a lot of things they have to do and a lot of things we have to do.”

About 50 workers were on the steel erection crew, Hastings said, while the entire construction crew consists of about 400 workers.

The cold and windy day did not hamper the placement of the last steel beam too much, although Hastings noted that the workers — tethered on top of the structure — struggled a bit getting it positioned in place.

“If it gets too windy, the crane will shut itself down,” he said.

That did not happen, and once they got the beam into place, they connected it with temporary bolts that will be replaced later with permanent ones by the same workers who will make sure the building is plumb and level.

The ceremony did not include any speeches, but Hastings said a topping out celebration would be held next month that would include more formal proceedings.

“We’ll have a party and salutations then,” he said.

E-mail Mary Wade Burnside at mwburnside@timeswv.com.