Morabito Consultants provided structural engineering and construction administration services for the expansion of the University of Maryland Medical Center Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. The project included a nine-story-plus-basement structural concrete expansion to support expanded trauma, critical care, emergency medicine, and surgical services for one of the region’s most recognized medical facilities. Morabito Consultants initially performed a value engineering review of the proposed structure, evaluating alternate concrete and steel framing systems to improve constructability, schedule, and overall project efficiency.
Following the success of the value engineering effort, Morabito Consultants was retained to complete base building structural contract documents, medical equipment tenant fit-out coordination, and construction administration services. The building’s structural system consisted of a concrete frame with specialized long-span floor extensions over Penn Street. The 25-foot extension beyond the building footprint required innovative structural solutions, including post-tensioned concrete truss elements and temporary support strategies that allowed the extended floor areas to be constructed with the balance of the floor framing.
The project required extensive construction coordination within a dense urban medical campus, including temporary foundation and shoring considerations near existing infrastructure. The project documents specifically noted temporary foundation design for columns A1 through E1 and the potential need to accommodate post-tensioned beams, diagonal braces, or other unique shoring systems to support construction requirements. Additional structural services included framing design for electrical feeder protection on the existing Shock Trauma roof, an alternate ambulance bay lift-out panel detail, and review of structural framing associated with relocated Hybrid OR equipment.
Morabito Consultants’ work supported a fast-track, technically complex healthcare expansion that required advanced structural coordination, vibration-sensitive design, and creative construction-phase problem solving. The completed expansion strengthens the emergency and trauma care capabilities of the University of Maryland Medical Center while maintaining the structural performance required for a critical healthcare facility.