Lee Mechanical was proud to work with Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital on their two-story vertical expansion of the main Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital building. With over 40 years of MEP experience, Lee was the obvious choice for the Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital’s Outpatient Surgery Center. After demonstrating expertise in project management and a team-focused atmosphere, Froedtert South contracted with Lee for their new outpatient surgery center.

Riley Construction of Kenosha was the General Contractor for the new construction, which involved up to 20 Lee electricians at one point in the project, along with 14 plumbing specialists. Electricians overcame two larger challenges, one of them involving the relocation of a 24.kV Medium Voltage Electrical service and the Tower Pendant light fixtures for the ASC surgical wing expansion.

As Chris Dorr, project foreman explained, “Two unique challenges involved changing from an existing electrical service to a brand new one while keeping the entire facility’s electrical power source in place and in operation. We had to re-energize the building so they could place the new addition where it now sits. The other challenge involved the 14 pendant light fixtures that hang at different lengths in the front tower.”

On the plumbing side, maintaining service of the plumbing systems while making tie-ins for new services also required careful maneuvering.

The systems included:

• Domestic cold water
• Domestic hot water
• Domestic hot water return
• Medical gas

The timing of Lee’s tasks for this project was also atypical. Mike Wagner, Project Manager, stated, “This was a phased project. We didn’t turn the whole building over at one time like a traditional construction project. We had to have our systems complete to virtually every area of the building in order to meet the scheduled occupancy dates.” The Lee team continued to use Building Integrated Modeling (BIM), cutting edge technology that provides a 3D view of the mechanicals that need to be installed on each floor. BIM allows electricians to have a better understanding of building layouts and spatial constraints. They can then pre-plan their projects offsite, making the entire process more efficient and nimble.