Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital Expansion

Mitigating Labor Shortages

With many construction projects competing for skilled labor in the area, the project team was looking for solutions to mitigate labor shortages. Prefabrication offered a strategic advantage. By shifting labor-intensive bathroom construction to an off-site facility, the team reduced on-site labor demands and associated risks. SurePods produced these pods in our Orlando facility, where our skilled craft team was readily available. This off-site approach ensured consistent progress despite local labor constraints.

Design Coordination

During the design-assist phase, SurePods partnered closely with the architect, HCM, and general contractor, Rodgers Builders, to optimize bathroom layouts for prefabrication. Given that manufacturing efficiency improves with design standardization, the team worked to reduce the number of pod types to just two. This was the design team’s first experience with prefabricated bathrooms, making SurePods’ expertise essential. Before full production, SurePods constructed mock-ups, which allowed the owner, architect, and general contractor to align on design and quality expectations.

Keeping the Active Hospital Safe

Constructing the expansion while the hospital remained fully operational required meticulous planning. Prefabrication significantly reduced on-site congestion and noise, contributing to a safer and more efficient work environment. SurePods’ on-site team consisted of just six crew members, far fewer than would be needed for traditional bathroom construction, minimizing disruption to hospital operations.

Significant coordination was needed due to tight site logistics with the active hospital with a single access point. Months prior to the first delivery, we collaborated with the project team to create a logistics and loading plan to get the pods in and our crew out. The early collaboration between the general contractor and the architect allowed us to successfully deliver all pods within 3 days.

Meeting Seismic Requirements

A unique challenge was that the project was located in a seismic zone. Leveraging experience from our California projects, SurePods incorporated several structural enhancements. This included support kickers that were added from the top to the bottom of the deck and gusset plates that were installed in the ceiling to provide additional reinforcement. We also engaged Buehler to conduct a thorough review of the design to validate the seismic requirements.

Due to structural constraints, not all floors were compatible with prefabricated bathroom pods. Because of this, some of the bathrooms on this project were built the traditional way, while the rest were built by SurePods.

Quality in the Plant for Quality finishes in the field

The prefabricated pods consistently delivered high-quality finishes with fewer punch list items compared to traditionally built bathrooms. Each pod arrived complete, including epoxy floors, allowing a faster turnover of the patient rooms. In the traditionally built bathrooms, the epoxy had to be completed prior to installing the sheet vinyl in the patient rooms, delaying the patient room schedules.

Project Outcome

SurePods successfully completed our scope on time, delivering high-quality, code-compliant bathroom pods that supported a safe, efficient, and timely hospital expansion. The project stands as a model for how prefabrication can solve labor challenges, enhance quality, and minimize disruption in complex healthcare environments.