Texas Center for Proton Therapy

OWNER

Texas Oncology and Baylor Health Enterprises

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Construction Cost

$32 million ($105 million including proton equipment)

Completion date

Spring 2015

Project Size

65,000 SF including three treatment vaults

Texas Center for Proton Therapy

Irving
Texas

The Texas Center for Proton Therapy (TCPT) is one of only 15 proton therapy centers in the United States. Its mission is to treat patients using state-of-the-art cancer-fighting technologies while providing patient-centered care in a welcoming environment. The Center uses advanced technology to treat the most challenging cancers with a precise “pencil beam” of protons delivered at 2/3 the speed of light from an accelerator located half a football field away. Pencil-beam technology uses sub-millimeter precision to deliver high-energy proton beams to distinct areas of the tumor, allowing the radiation to be delivered directly to the tumor while minimizing the dose to surrounding healthy tissue.

Prior to the TCPT’s completion, patients within the 6.5 million population of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex had to repeatedly travel an approximate 400-mile round trip to receive comparable treatment. The new facility allows patients to remain near their homes, families, jobs, and schools while they receive the typically six- to eight-week course of often life-saving treatment. 

Walter P Moore creatively overcame a number of challenges to meet the demanding and very specific criteria of this crucial new facility. First, the team developed an innovative, high-performing hybrid foundation system to support and stabilize the massive, yet delicate equipment whose operation required extreme precision. Second, the team acted as a fulcrum between the technical requirements of the physicist and equipment suppliers and the practical requirements of the builder.

Completed three months ahead of schedule in the spring of 2015, the TCPT was the first LEED®-certified stand-alone proton therapy center in the United States.