TORRANCE, CA — Large-scale utility construction is underway at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center campus, part of preparations for the replacement hospital currently in the design phase.

Health care builder Abbott Construction is leading the make-ready utility project to support the new 400,000-square-foot outpatient treatment and support building. The work goes deep underground, and includes electrical and telecommunication duct banks, domestic and fire water lines, storm system infrastructure, and other low voltage utilities. With the existing hospital active and serving patients, the construction surrounding it is highly coordinated.

"Protecting Harbor-UCLA's daily operations is our first priority," said Vice President Michael Sloane, who oversees Abbott's construction operations in Southern California. "We're phasing this work so that patients and staff can access the services they need at all times."

The 72-acre campus at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is a Level 1 Trauma Center, and one of three LA County public teaching hospitals. Abbott Construction also recently built the new Restorative Care Village, an eight-building behavioral health campus, at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center.

"Building public health facilities is some of the most meaningful work we do," said Abbott Construction President and CEO Troy Stedman. "These are the spaces where our families and neighbors receive lifesaving care. To have even a small role in that development is rewarding."