As the steel rises, work will begin on the exterior walls and window systems. Steel installation will take about six weeks. They will be bolted together, with key joints welded for extra strength. The beams and columns are made mostly of recycled steel. Some 650 pieces of structural steel will form the frame of the building. “A lot of work has gone on so far, mostly out of view, preparing the site and installing the underground infrastructure for the project.

“It’s a great visual milestone to see steel rising on the site,” said John Baker, associate vice chancellor for facilities management at UMMS. The VA clinic will occupy the first two floors of the new building, with 65 exam, consultation and procedure rooms designed for patient-aligned care teams. The finished four-story building will be 117,000 square feet. Scheduled to open in the fall of 2021, the community-based outpatient clinic is a collaboration between the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System and UMass Medical School. The first column of structural steel at the medical building under construction on the UMass Medical School campus was placed last week and continuing progress is expected to be rapid.

The placement of the first piece of structural steel marks a milestone in contruction of the community-based outpatient clinic that will serve veterans.

Instaling Steelrising