S2N Install at INOVA Schar Cancer Institute Needed Over 32 Enterprise IT Rooms

INOVA Schar Cancer Institute (ISCI) is a state-of-the-art cancer treatment center, serving Northern Virginia and the greater Washington, DC area. This facility will provide complete multi-disciplinary, patient-centric cancer care in the over 438,000-square-foot building, which was built as a concurrent 3-phase project.

The first phase, Building B and Tower 2, is a 10-story renovation that houses several cancer treatment clinics and the ISCI leadership team. The second phase, A-Pavilion, is a 4-story new construction project that connects directly to Phase 1 via a bridge on two floors.

The building houses additional clinic space and specialty treatment rooms (Cyberknife, LINAC, HDR, MRI, CT, etc.). The third phase, the Proton Therapy Clinic, is a 2-story new construction project and is connected directly to A-Pavilion.

The Tech Decision at INOVA Schar Cancer Institute

S2N has a long-standing relationship with INOVA, having completed several projects of varying sizes at multiple campuses, such as the INOVA Women’s Hospital INOVA CHildren’s Hospital, Professional Services Building, Security Command Center upgrades etc.

S2N’s early activation of technology systems and successful completion of these projects led to INOVA’s award of the ISCI project to S2N.

S2N’s implementation scope, as a subcontractor to Clark Construction Group (S2N is a subsidiary of Clark Construction) was initially for the Phase 1 scope of work with Phases 2 and 3 added via change order once the design for each Phase was sufficiently developed.

The S2N-Clark relationship was key to the successful completion of the project, and executing brilliantly for INOVA.

In addition to this implementation contract with Clark, S2N also held a Technology Systems design, consulting, and construction administration services contract directly with INOVA for Phases 1 and 2.

This contract included validating and finalizing the Technology systems design and proposed alternatives for the Technology systems under our purview. Throughout the project, S2N met with various stakeholders to capture technology systems design elements, ensuring the finished product closely aligned with their expectations.

The S2N Solution

The directive from INOVA Schar Cancer Institute was to integrate as much technology as possible, and S2N was able to provide insight early in the design process into which systems were candidates for integration.

Ultimately, S2N facilitated the build out of more than 32 enterprise IT Rooms and outside vendor Low Voltage Rooms to accommodate the integrated systems throughout the buildings.

ISCI had a vision for a flexible digital signage package for both internal and external communication, and S2N worked closely with ISCI Leadership, INOVA IT, and the AV Integrator to deploy more than 25 digital signage points throughout the facility to meet this objective.

The focal piece of the digital signage package is a 19-foot by 10-foot video wall installed in the main lobby of the ISCI Buildings. The early installation of the video wall afforded INOVA the opportunity to utilize the wall for special events leading up to the grand opening of ISCI’s flagship location.

S2N began working on the INOVA Schar Cancer Institute campus on December 1st, 2015, managing the install of OSP fiber. S2N was then brought in to support early feasibility studies in 2014, and continued through to a small contract supporting the interior demolition of the existing building.

In Spring of 2017, S2N was brought on as the Technology Systems Integrator,and by Summer 2017, S2N was responsible for completing the Technology Systems design. Substantial completion of the final phase of the project was in December 2018.

In total, S2N installed structured cabling, 871 nurse call devices, 5 background music systems, 65 conference rooms, 251 access control security doors, 317 video monitoring security cameras, a 19-foot by 10-foot video wall, and 29 digital signage displays located throughout the Phase 1, 2, and 3 buildings.

The three phases and subsequent deliverables of the ISCI overlapped considerably over two years, which created a unique challenge to scheduling.

Additionally, the Proton Therapy equipment vendor (PTEV) had a hard deadline for when their install needed to start, which closely coincided with the substantial completion of Phase 2.

For S2N this meant constant, close coordination with two general contractor teams, and load balancing priorities with the low-voltage subcontractors that had responsibility on both projects.

The Proton Therapy Center, Phase 3, included two completely different structured cabling networks with different requirements completion date priorities; S2N coordinated with our subcontracting partners to identify cable pathways through radiation protection and thick concrete walls in order to install the networks for the equipment vendor and for enterprise network connections.

Through this coordination and hard work from the structured cabling team, both networks were complete and ready for use before the established deadline.

This early delivery provided added value to the owner by allowing the PTEV team to connect their network to multiple office locations and increase their install velocity.

The Impact

When the INOVA team started out the project with the goal to design and build a comprehensive care cancer center, INOVA knew technology was a big component of the project and it was important to select partners that could make it a reality.

By selecting S2N as the INOVA Schar Cancer Institute technology partner, INOVA definitely chose a team that complimented the group.

“Their ability to be a partner since design and be able to integrate the different systems into the Inova network enterprise was instrumental to the successful completion of the project,” says Roberta L. Via, Project Manager at INOVA Health System.

“S2N’s responsibility ranged from designing and building several systems: security, audio, video, network capability, CCTV, nurse call, distributed antenna systems, digital signage and the integration of the different medical equipment modalities. It showed the wide range of services and understanding of the healthcare technology industry.”

As a design integrator partner and builder S2N met the needs of INOVA to ensure the work performed was completed per specifications developed with user requests and it was completed on time.

With the upcoming opening of the INOVA Schar Cancer Institute this spring, INOVA is excited for the successful partnership and completion of an outstanding project, and looks forward to providing the community a state-of-the-art treatment center.

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