MEP Project at a San Diego Medical Center

Calculating the weight of existing systems for a structural retrofit

This San Diego medical center needed a structural retrofit, and the engineering team had to calculate the exact weight of the MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) systems above the ceiling. The clinical setting, with its strict biosafety protocols, made data capture a real challenge. To get it done, we set up joint work protocols with the hospital's maintenance team and used advanced Scan to BIM modeling techniques to accurately document every existing system, even in the hardest-to-reach areas.

Complex elements and hard-to-reach areas

The client needed exact data on the weight and layout of the existing systems in the corridors and the mechanical room, both to size the structural retrofit and to plan a future expansion affecting the chiller room. We were working in a busy, highly sensitive hospital environment. For biosafety, every time we pulled a ceiling tile to scan, we had to set up temporary containment to keep dust and particles that could carry bacteria from spreading, which added significant time to the job.

On top of that, access was extremely tight thanks to densely packed systems and poor lighting. That made full coverage with the LiDAR scanner difficult, limited what we could see in the point cloud and made modeling a challenge.

Redefining what's possible

To overcome the challenges of modeling from point clouds, especially in low-visibility areas, we brought in a specialized MEP team that worked from 360° video captured on site. That mix of technical expertise and visual references let us read the connections and routing of every system in confined spaces, ensuring the accuracy of the final as-built model.