Blackhawk Technical College Health Sciences

The Health Sciences renovation project, located at the Blackhawk Technical College Central Campus in Janesville, was a 50,000 square foot health care training facility which gave the program more than double the previous space.

However, it was more than just space; the remodel created a more realistic workplace setting with classrooms designed to better help teachers teach and students learn. There are also simulation classrooms, patient waiting rooms with front desks, locker rooms, and hospital simulation suites set up identical to real-world hospital rooms. Each suite is also equipped to use a mannequin patient simulator including a pregnant woman, an adult male, a six-year-old child, and an infant.

Blackhawk Technical College is an institution of higher education which provides a future for the community through excellence in technical education – specifically Health Sciences for this project. This was achieved by offering comprehensive occupational skills training which enables students to be able to participate in the working world. Students now have access to a state-of-the-art facility, hands-on training and some of the best technology in the state.

An aggressive schedule to complete the project in eight months.

We self-performed 24.7% of the work for this project. The majority was mass demolition of the existing interior space that needed to be complete before the renovation project could begin. Structural steel overhead joists needed reinforcing, specifically in one of the training rooms to support the patient lift structure. Interior blocking was performed to support mounting items to the walls to simulate a real-life patient room for nursing students. We also self-performed casework carpentry installations and demolished and replaced a large portion of the concrete floor in Building H.

By self-performing a portion of the work it allowed us to accelerate demolition and case work installation which cut two weeks off of the schedule. This gave the Health Sciences Department ample time to successfully move in, set up a large amount of equipment, and prepare for students to be operational.