Honeywell announced it worked with Miami Dade County and City of Miami Beach leaders to help deploy the new Alternative Care Facility at the Miami Beach Convention Center (MBCC) as part of the county’s COVID-19 response and preparedness plan. Honeywell Building Solutions worked with the MBCC, the city and county, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, B&I Mechanical, construction firm Robins and Morton and others on the project.

The project converted 250,000 square feet of the MBCC into a 450-bed alternative care facility that features 50 ICU isolation rooms. The project construction and installation were completed in just two and a half weeks following a 24/7 focus on the build.

“The effort to transform the MBCC into an alternative care facility in just over two weeks’ time has truly been an awesome feat of teamwork, trust and partnership among all parties involved,” said Freddie Peterson, General Manager, Miami Beach Convention Center. “We’ve transformed a space typically used to feature some of the world’s largest events and conventions into a fully operational field hospital to support the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Honeywell focused on upgrades to the site’s building management system (BMS) to make sequence changes for desired air exchange to improve the building's circulation of fresh air and the monitoring of the HEPA filter banks. Constant outside airflow exchange was improved by the ramp up of the chiller plants and sequence of operations changes as well as modifications to exhaust fans and relief dampers to ensure negative pressurization in the occupied areas. Honeywell also made updates to the MBCC security system focused on access control to regulate access to restricted areas and updated the CCTV system.

Patient care is managed by Florida Emergency Management, Florida National Guard medical teams and private contractors at the site if the local hospitals become overwhelmed.

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