Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas - Austin, Texas

Bury prepared the civil site development plans for the $200 million Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas (DMCCT). The DMCCT is a 180-bed, 461,000-square-foot medical facility. The 32.2-acre campus has the capability to expand to 250 beds, add two medical office buildings, two research facilities and three parking structures.

The topography of the site was adjusted to allow at grade entrances to three separate levels. This minimizes the elevator usage and allows separate parking to be isolated for outpatient care, inpatient care, service and emergency care.

A particularly sustainable feature of the project is the development of an onsite combined heating power plant. (CHP) Utilizing the most efficient natural gas-fired turbine available (as compared to a coal-fired electric generation plant,) the CHP is 75% more efficient at converting primary fuel to useful energy. Because it is located onsite, there is no transmission loss. This results in a 42% savings in primary energy utilization when compared to a typical power delivery mode. The plant also creates steam as a waste by-product that has multiple benefits. The steam is distributed to the hospital and is used for heating, food service preparations and in medical equipment related processes. This steam is also used in absorption chillers to create chilled water, which is distributed throughout the hospital.

This project won the top overall award at the 2008 Austin Business Journal Real Estate Awards and won the 2007 Judge's Award for design from Texas Construction Magazine. This healthcare facility is the first in the world to receive LEED Platinum Certification and the facility has been awarded the top rating of five stars by the Austin Energy Green Building Program.