Health City

Health City Cayman Islands, the medically advanced tertiary hospital located in Grand Cayman, was recently honored for its affordable, energy-efficient building design as part of the ICF Builder Awards.  The international competition, which showcases the advantages of building with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs), took place at the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas earlier this year, naming the tertiary care hospital for best in the Heavy Commercial division.

The ICF Builder Awards are given annually to projects that demonstrate outstanding innovation, quality and craftsmanship in ICF construction. The event is attended by over three hundred construction professionals from all over North America, Europe and the Caribbean.

Clark Ricks, executive director of ICF Builder Group and organizer of the competition, said “The variety and scale of projects being built with ICFs is truly astounding.  It’s time these outstanding projects received recognition, and we feel privileged to take a leading role in that.”

The award-winning building, submitted by Health City Development, used the Fox Blocks brand ICF system, chosen in part as it was locally made by CL Flowers and sons.  The general contractor on the Health City project was Clan Construction Ltd, which utilized many Caymanians and subcontractors who in turn supplied local labor to complete the ICF work and the project. Neil Armstrong, of Clan Construction Ltd, stated that the ICF product was chosen over other systems, and it proved a success.

The first known ICF hospital in the world, the Health City project was built to US standards at half the time, with total construction taking 12 months, and only 108 days for the 67,000 square foot ICF installation. The budget for the project was also significantly reduced, coming in at US$46 million. This sees completion of the first phase of an anticipated 3 million square foot ICF development project.

Gene Thompson, Project Director at Health City Cayman Islands, said “Health City is not only committed to the environment, and creating cost-saving, energy-efficient buildings, but developing these projects with local resources and labor, supporting economic growth of the Cayman Islands whenever we can.”

In presenting the award, judges cited the complexity of the design, the striking architecture and the challenges the construction team overcame to set a new standard for the entire ICF industry.

“We’re extremely proud of this achievement and we want to thank all those involved in making this design a reality.  Re-iterating what our colleagues at the awards reception had agreed, this is an amazing accomplishment for such a small island in the timeframe of 12 months. Great vision and hard work has truly paid off,” Thompson said.

Photographs and profiles of all the winning projects can be viewed on the ICF Builder Awards website, www.builderawards.com.