VA Medical Center, Pittsburgh Healthcare System PM and CM Services

VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System retained AFG Group to provide project and construction management for the plumbing upgrade and mapping projects for the University Drive and Heinz Campus facilities. The scope included a total of 21 buildings, totaling over 1.6M square feet.

The Plumbing Upgrade: project was performed at both sites to comply with the VHA Directive for Domestic Hot Water Temperature Limits for Legionella. Hot water temperatures exceeding 130 degrees F are necessary to eliminate the presence and growth of Legionella. Fifty new hot water lines were installed as a part of the upgrade to increase the discharge temperature of the domestic hot water distribution system. Additionally 2,800 specialized mixing valves that reduced discharge temperatures to 120 degrees were installed to eliminate the risk of scalding to patients, staff, employees, and visitors, at all of the fixtures heads.

The Mapping Project: was also performed on both campuses, and consisted of surveying 21 buildings of their existing piping conditions, identifying all dead legs values and sections of piping which were missing insulation. The resulting product was a comprehensive set of as-built drawing of the existing plumbing piping system.

As part of our management process, AFG provided claims mitigation, including task such as preparing necessary reports, and participating in meetings and negotiations with the plumbing contractor. We provided schedule and forensic cost data and assessed and analyzed each part of a claim submitted from the contractor.