By HFT Staff

The University of Central Florida (UCF) Lake Nona Medical Center is a partnership hospital between HCA Healthcare’s North Florida Division and UCF Academic Health. The exterior prefabricated panels for the ground-up patient tower project were awarded to Wal-Mark Contracting Group in Tampa, FL.  

Working in close collaboration, Wal-Mark prefab personnel assisted the design team, refining the prefab details and scope of work, allowing other trades to tie in seamlessly with the prefab exterior wall panels, ensuring both quality and time savings in the field.  

With the on-going threat of hurricanes and tropical storms in Central Florida, new healthcare construction projects must be built to meet stringent wind-load and impact requirements, including the exterior façade. With a late contract release date and a firm completion date in place, schedule certainty was paramount. 

To complicate matters, much of the exterior consisted of curtain wall and glazed openings that would be required to complete the building envelope dry-in alongside of the exterior wall panels being erected. Add in an extensive number of underground utilities limiting site access, this project was shaping up to be difficult to access.  

A combination of StoPanel Impact ci and StoPanel Classic NExT ci panels were the solution chosen to meet Florida’s stringent wind load and impact rated requirements. The precision and repeatability of the panels allowed the glazing contractor to pre-order their required materials in a timely manner to meet the dry-in schedule.  

Despite the short production window, the StoPanel prefabrication process allowed Wal-Mark Contracting to manufacture and install the panels within the aggressive timeline with added benefits of enhanced jobsite safety due to reduced manpower needed onsite. A small team of 8 panel installation experts replaced the estimated 30-40 workers that would have been required for traditional field installation. The small on-site crew was able to install 136 panels in only 11 days, avoiding underground utilities and exceeding schedule expectations on this challenging project.