2018 - Award of Excellence - Medical Office - 7580 Buckingham Boulevard

The first of three Class-A office buildings to be constructed at Merritt’s mixed-use development Buckingham, 7580 Buckingham Boulevard is a two-story, 52,420-square-foot steel building with a brick masonry façade.

Chesapeake Urology signed on as the building’s first tenant nearly two months before a building permit was issued, allowing only 10 months to build the core and shell, as well as complete the tenant fit-out. In order to meet the required October 2016 occupancy, construction began in December 2015. To create a stable pad to work through the winter, the project team decided to modify the soil with a calcium/lime cement mixture to reduce the potential weather impact to schedule and budget posed by winter construction.

The early acquisition of Chesapeake Urology as an 18,955-square-foot anchor tenant provided an opportunity to design the building to accommodate not only office tenants, but medical professionals as well. As such, the building utilized a composite beam steel structure with a lightweight concrete deck. This allowed for increased live loads and reduced vibrations for increased comfort. By using a composite beam structure, careful attention had to be paid to MEP design and construction in order to reduce challenges between various trades working in the same space. With trades and flexibility in mind, plumbing wet-stacks were located at each column to reduce the need for long horizontal sewer runs, providing flexibility for future tenants while reducing impacts to current tenants. Furthermore, the HVAC system is comprised of four gas-fired rooftop units with energy recovery, and two units serve each floor to provide redundancy and reduce duct sizes in order to minimize plenum depths.  

Once the shell was under roof, subcontractors were required to work out of typical sequencing, and phasing was adjusted to prioritize Chesapeake Urology’s build-out on the first floor. Specifically, Merritt expedited MEP contractors, medical gas, additional electric and low voltage wiring to support surgery requirements in four procedure rooms.

Chesapeake Urology’s dual-functional space was uniquely constructed so exam rooms and offices were separate from the tenant’s surgery center and out-patient facility. Equipped with high-end finishes, custom light fixtures and integrated office furniture, surgery rooms have leaded walls to shield radiation. In addition, fiber-reinforced walls and seamless floors reduce the potential for bacterial growth.

LEED Silver certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, additional design requirements were prioritized with the commitment to reduce energy consumption by over 14% annually.