Alabama’s own Robins & Morton finished its two-week odyssey April 20 in Miami, turning the Miami Beach Convention Center into a 450-bed field hospital with a day to spare.
Florida officials granted the project April 6, anticipating the need for emergency beds before the anticipated peak of COVID-19 in South Florida. The temporary hospital is a state and federal partnership in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Army Corps of Engineers selected Robins & Morton of Birmingham for the project, which called for 400 acute care patient rooms, 50 isolation rooms, nurses’ stations and support areas.
Crews had to install medical gas lines, duct work, plumbing, electrical and data wiring and patient-room headwalls with patient communication, equipment and oxygen connections.
At an April 8 press conference with Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County officials, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the hospital needed to be ready to receive patients by April 21.
The company engaged more than 20 trade contractors from South Florida and picked RLF Architects of Orlando for project design and engineering. More than 250 people worked on the project in two shifts around the clock.
“Everybody had a sense of purpose,” said Robins & Morton Senior Project Manager Johnathan Peavy. “It was pure synergy. We hit the ground running, and everything just clicked with the team.”
