Roofing for health

• Photo courtesy of Warren Roofing & Insulating Co., Cleveland.
• Photo courtesy of Warren Roofing & Insulating Co., Cleveland.
• Photo courtesy of Warren Roofing & Insulating Co., Cleveland.
• Photo courtesy of Warren Roofing & Insulating Co., Cleveland.
• Photo courtesy of Warren Roofing & Insulating Co., Cleveland.

Considered by many to be the U.S.' medical capital, the northeast Ohio region is home to nationally recognized health care systems such as the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, MetroHealth and Sisters of Charity Health System, as well as more than 700 bioscience companies and other leading medical institutions.

In October 2013, the Global Center for Health Innovation, also known as the Medical Mart, opened in downtown Cleveland to serve as a permanent showroom of medical, surgical and hospital goods, along with a new convention center.

The $465 million project is a joint venture by Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., a division of Vornado Realty Trust, Chicago, to serve health care innovation, technology, education and commerce through state-of-the-art spaces, programs and virtual offerings. The facility boasts being the only facility in the world to display the future of health and health care.

The concept is modeled after Chicago's Merchandise Mart and is 235,000 square feet, of which 100,000 square feet is permanent showroom space for tenants, such as GE Health Care and Siemens, and has four themed floors: Health and Home; People, Patients and Caregivers; Clinical Spaces; and Health Care Information Technology.

Construction of the medical mart and convention center began in January 2011. Warren Roofing & Insulating Co., Cleveland, was selected to install the Global Center for Health Innovation's roof system.

Building a medical mart

In May 2012, Warren Roofing began its work by building a barricade system clamped to the building's parapet wall for worker safety. Two crews of six to eight workers then adhered three layers of insulation to the 45,000-square-foot steel deck and 10,000-square-foot poured-in-place concrete deck.

On the steel deck, an initial layer of 2-inch-thick CertainTeed Corp. FlintBoard™ ISO Polyisocyanurate Roof Insulation was mechanically fastened. A second layer of 1 1/2-inch-thick FlintBoard ISO Polyisocyanurate Roof Insulation and a top layer of 1/2-inch-thick high-density fiberboard insulation were adhered with hot asphalt.

For the concrete deck, an initial layer of 2-inch-thick CertainTeed Corp. FlintBoard™ ISO Polyisocyanurate Roof Insulation was adhered using hot asphalt followed by a second layer of 1 1/2-inch-thick FlintBoard ISO Polyisocyanurate Roof Insulation and a top layer of 1/2-inch-thick high-density fiberboard insulation also adhered with hot asphalt. To ensure proper drainage, 1/4-inch-thick per foot tapered roof insulation also was installed as needed.

Once the insulation was in place, Warren Roofing installed a CertainTeed Flintastic® SBS polymer-modified bitumen roof system consisting of an Ultra Poly GLASBASE™ Base Sheet and FLINTASTIC Premium FR-P Field Membrane cap sheet with Coolstar granules chosen for reflectivity. FM Global guidelines, a project requirement, stated the base sheet was to be adhered with hot asphalt; the membrane was torch-applied using a MACADEN® machine.

Warren Roofing's sheet metal foreman, Paul Cordell, custom-fabricated and installed 22-gauge stainless-steel cap flashings for a majority of the building's perimeter. At siding locations, a two-piece 0.04-inch-thick aluminum flashing was installed.

Challenges

Because of ongoing convention center construction and the project's downtown location, coordinating material shipments and production was challenging. A single staging area was shared by all trades, requiring constant communication between Warren Roofing's project foreman, Tim Piwinski, other trades and the general contractor.

Also challenging was transporting roofing material and equipment to various roof levels. A crane hoisted materials to the main roof, and then a hydraulic hoist was used to lower material and equipment to other roof levels. Transporting 500 F hot asphalt was maneuvered in the same manner and required significant coordination and planning to keep the asphalt hot and workers safe.

"The toughest challenge was getting material and equipment to all the different levels and the time it would take to do so," Piwinski says. "We just put our heads together and always came up with an efficient plan."

Fit for completion

Despite challenges, Warren Roofing completed its work on time in September 2012. The Global Center for Health Innovation achieved a U.S. Green Building Council LEED® Silver certification, of which Warren Roofing played an integral role.

"I was told this was the largest construction project ever in the city of Cleveland," Piwinski says. "It was rewarding to be a part of this unique building."

Chrystine Elle Hanus is Professional Roofing's associate editor and NRCA's director of communications.

Project name: Global Center for Health Innovation
Project location: Cleveland
Project duration: May 2012-September 2012
Roof system type: Polymer-modified bitumen
Roofing contractor: Warren Roofing & Insulating Co., Cleveland
Product manufacturer: CertainTeed Corp., Valley Forge, Pa.