The city of Maringa in the Brazilian state of Parana was faced with a unique challenge when the COVID-19 pandemic placed its already overcrowded hospitals on the brink of collapse. After urgent collaborations between the state of Parana, the Brazilian federal government, and the World Family Organization (WFO), the braintrust determined that a new children’s hospital was needed in Maringa within a year.
When the WFO–an international organization that fosters global economic, social, cultural, political, and sustainable developments–began researching solutions to Maringa’s complex problem, its efforts led to one provider: Allied Steel Buildings.
Due to the urgency of the situation, the braintrust required much more of Allied than a steel building. In addition to engineering and manufacturing the structural steel, Allied was tasked with importing insulated metal panels from Spain and providing all of the doors, windows, drywall, studs, sinks, and toilets for the facility. The braintrust also needed all of these components to fit on a single ocean liner for delivery.
Given their experience in leveraging the benefits of structural steel construction, Allied proved to be the perfect partner for the project. They rented a warehouse where all steel, panels, and accessories were prefabricated for convenient packing. From there, the company hired a container ship to store and load all of the packed components. Although it ended up taking nearly 200 cargo containers in all, everything that the hospitable needed was able to fit on a single vessel for delivery.
Upon arrival at Maringa, the prefabricated components were erected into a 310,000 square foot hospital made up of 13 structures connected by a central corridor. Among the facilities included in the sprawling facility are a pediatric intensive care unit, a surgery center with four operating rooms, a teaching and research center for rare diseases, laboratories, imaging centers, a dialysis center, pharmacy, and more. In total, the hospital provides 160 patient beds for children in the area.
Through Allied’s commitment to customer service and bringing client visions to life, they were able to use their expertise in high-quality steel construction to touch the lives of thousands of people in a resource-strapped area. And they were able to coordinate all of this, from start to finish, in less than six months.
