In 1921, J. Douglas Berwick received Electric Contractor License Number 11 from the state of Colorado, and Berwick Electric Company was born. After 94 years of outstanding service, you could say that the personnel at Berwick Electric are bonafide veterans in the electrical contracting business.
Not long ago, however, we were able to do some significant work on behalf of another group of veterans to whom our country owes a great debt. The Veterans Affairs Clinic, located at the corner of Centennial Boulevard and Fillmore Street in Colorado Springs, Colorado, offers care to many veterans in the Pikes Peak region.
Now, thanks to a new 96,000 square-foot, 1,322-occupancy clinic, U.S. military veterans can expect state-of-the-art medical care set against awe-inspiring views of Pikes Peak (you can see the Peak reflected in the glass of the building’s lobby in the photo here).
We were delighted to be involved in installing a wide variety of electrical, data communications, life safety and security systems required for the new clinic. Those who have given so much for our country now have access to radiology/biomedical, counseling, behavioral health, rehabilitation, physical therapy, optometry, audiology, dental and pharmaceutical services.
To help meet the diverse client needs, we needed to install six kiosk units in the main lobby, so that visitors could check in and then be directed to the appropriate services area within the facility. Berwick Electric was also responsible for the installation of the fire alarm system, as well as the integration of the sophisticated smoke evacuation system.
All of this activity is supported by a 3,000 amp, 277/480-volt electrical service requiring nine electrical rooms, an emergency generator for the smoke evacuation system, mechanical equipment and a sophisticated lighting control system, as well as other electrically-related items. The electrical service also supports the radiology suite, which includes three x- ray rooms, MRI, CT and mammography equipment and site lighting.
The Colorado Springs VA Clinic project required a tremendous amount of upfront and ongoing engineering to provide systems that would integrate with the primary head-end system located at the Denver VA facility. That means Berwick needed to coordinate the much-needed customer meetings to flesh out the details of the installation to provide optimum system integrity.
One of the unique challenges of this project was that there were quite a number of additions to the scope of the project, and yet we were able to finish on time with no delays.
We look forward to the benefits that the VA Clinic will provide for the community. Those who have served and sacrificed so much for our country deserve the best!
