Health City Cayman Islands (HCCI), the medically advanced tertiary hospital in the Caribbean operated by Ascension and Narayana Health of India, recently was honored for its affordable, energy-efficient building design as part of the ICF Builder Awards.
The international competition, which showcases the advantages of building with insulated concrete forms (ICFs), took place at the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas earlier this year. HCCI was named best in the Heavy Commercial division.
ICFs are similar to Lego blocks, stacking on top of each other and eliminating the need for concrete formwork, which saves time on construction projects. Unlike traditional concrete formwork, insulation is incorporated into the units, creating a more uniform building exterior and better energy performance.
Use of ICF has been limited in the construction of healthcare settings. The first known ICF hospital in the world, the Health City project was built to U.S. standards in half the usual time, with total construction taking 12 months, and only 108 days for the 67,000-square-foot ICF installation. The budget for the project was also significantly reduced from the usual for this type of facility.
“Building a state-of-the-art tertiary care hospital in a previously undeveloped area of Grand Cayman in just one year, in a country with no real natural building resources of its own – and for approximately half the cost per bed of a facility in the U.S. – was a tremendous accomplishment for our partnership and the site development team,” said John Doyle, Executive Vice President, Ascension. “Besides meeting unmet healthcare needs for those living in the Caribbean region and beyond, another goal for our involvement in HCCI and [Narayana Health Chairman] Dr. Devi Shetty and his team is to learn new approaches that may be applicable to our efforts in the U.S. We are determining how best to apply the learnings from the design and construction of HCCI to our U.S. construction projects.”
“HCCI’s techniques show promising potential for use in other healthcare construction applications,” said Jen Cayton, Manager of Design, Ascension Facilities Resource Group. “As healthcare providers respond to the value-based market changes and retail-driven needs of health and wellness we are building more ambulatory care sites across the communities we serve. ICFs could be an option to decrease construction schedules for these ambulatory care sites when building a new building from the ground up.”
“Health City is not only committed to the environment, and creating cost-saving, energy-efficient buildings, but developing these projects with local resources and labor, supporting economic growth of the Cayman Islands whenever we can,” said Gene Thompson, Project Director at Health City Cayman Islands.
In presenting the award, judges cited the complexity of the design, the striking architecture and the challenges the construction team overcame to set a new standard for the ICF industry.
“We’re extremely proud of this achievement and we want to thank all those involved in making this design a reality. Reiterating what our colleagues at the awards reception had agreed, this is an amazing accomplishment for such a small island in the timeframe of 12 months. Great vision and hard work have truly paid off,” Gene said.
The ICF Builder Awards are given annually to projects that demonstrate outstanding innovation, quality and craftsmanship in ICF construction. The event is attended by more than 300 construction professionals from all over North America, Europe and the Caribbean
