UT Southwest Curtain Wall Hazard Survey

The Clements University Hospital is a fully-operational, 12-story healthcare facility constructed in 2014. After experiencing ineffective repair attempts to stop mullion face caps from falling during wind events, UT Southwestern hired Walter P Moore to provide a forensic analysis and rapid-response, full-building façade survey via rope access. We performed a peer review of the construction documents to identify possible causes of failure, as well as a visual survey to identify additional falling hazards.

Our Challenging Access Team (CAT) mobilized personnel from four different offices within a week of notice to conduct an on-site visual assessment of 100% of the tower curtain wall system by rope access. Based on the findings, UT Southwestern asked the original contractor to design repairs for the curtain wall system. UT Southwestern then hired Walter P Moore to provide a third-party review of the proposed repairs and perform construction administration during repair installation. We provided quality control during construction of the repairs by raising appropriate questions, performing hands-on observations during the repairs, and examining the installed repairs via borescope while on site.

Several Walter P Moore offices collaborated for this project to ensure the repair solutions would mitigate future falling hazards, as well as reduce the risk for the owner and building patrons.