Christus Spohn Health . Regional Laboratory & Materials Management Warehouse

Christus Spohn Health leased and renovated this 58,000 SF single-story office and warehouse building to consolidate its materials management and clinical pathology for the region. The existing warehouse was partitioned to provide a sub-leasable tenant warehouse space and to expand the existing business area for the laboratory. The material management area was converted from an unconditioned industrial warehouse to a mechanically tempered space with added insulation, improved lighting, low-pile dense shelving, data connectivity, and a fire-rated enclosure to safely store and secure flammable liquids. In addition to office and support areas, the pathology laboratory included space for point-of-care training, tissue processing, grossing, histology, tissue storage, and microbiology, including a Biosafety Level 3 area for air-borne pathogens. To accommodate the extensive HVAC requirements of the lab and minimize structural modifications to the roof, the design utilized equipment platforms in the warehouse and ground-mounted exterior condensing units. An emergency generator was added to supply backup power for the entire lab and portions of the warehouse. Due to crime in the vicinity, long-spanning automatic sliding gates at the loading dock and vehicle entries were installed. Access control devices at the doors also added the efficiency of shared common areas and paths of egress between the departments while keeping unauthorized personnel out of restricted areas. Initially a single project, CLK coordinated splitting the warehouse and laboratory renovations into two separately bid projects and administered the construction contracts concurrently allowing materials management operations to begin prior to the completion of the lab.