Video: Panels Were Just What the Doctor Ordered

Date Posted: May 30, 2017

Posted In: News, Projects,

by Tom Finan, Executive Director, Construction Forum STL

If daily your travels take you past the busy intersection of Hampton and I-44, but you decided to head out of town last week you missed it. A naked concrete slab was transformed in a few days into the framework of a Total Access Urgent Care (TAUC^®) center.

The  5,000 sq. ft.  Hampton clinic, constructed on the  site of what was once  a Dirt Cheap liquor and tobacco store (and years ago a electronic game arcade) will serve  the community as a low-acuity ER with digital X-Ray, trauma and patient rooms.

This week TAUC will open its 12th clinic. Plans call for the construction of a total of 22 facilities through next year, with 25 upcoming projects include: Bridgeton, O’Fallon North, and Valley Park. TAUC has plans to expand to twenty-five locations in the Greater St. Louis Region.

The panelized system for TAUC Hampton was previously employed previously on a Florissant project. Joe Godfrey, operations analyst and project manager for said that TAUC’s aggressive project schedule runs six months from land due diligence to opening. TAUC has partnered with Feeler S. Architects (FSA), Interface Construction, Optimal Engineering Solutions, and BFA Incorporated. This innovative team has utilized  panel system to decrease weather delays and dramatically reduce wall erecting time from 30 days to just over two.

[vimeo id=”219535276″ width=”620″ height=”360″]

“We were experiencing long delays – with rain and other problems on the sites,” Godfrey said. Panelization saves close to three weeks on the schedule, he said, with no difference in cost.

The panels are fabricated by Eisen Group of St. Charles, whose projects here and around the country include housing, commercial, and industrial facilities. Local projects have included everything from the mega “South 40” housing project at Washington University in St. Louis to a recently-completed Beyond Self Storage on McCausland Ave.

Dr. Matt Bruckel founded TAUC in 2008 with the intent of creating a more affordable and efficient alternative to  hospital emergency rooms.  TAUC provides many of the same diagnostic and treatment capabilities of the ER, at prices that it says are one-eighth of the cost charged by the ER. Patients also can expect to be registered, examined, tested, treated, and discharged within an hour, according to a TAUC news release.