Tuesday, June 02, 2009
What: Presbyterian Hospital and Rodgers Builders will celebrate the addition of the final puzzle piece to the structure of the future 90-bed F-Wing with a topping out ceremony this Thursday.
The F-Wing expansion is an 110,373 sq. ft. four-story vertical expansion, which will include a new security department with a total campus video monitoring system and additional educational classroom space, as well as new patient facilities, 19 cardiac triage rooms and renovated critical care beds.
Employees of Presbyterian Hospital and Rodgers Builders will have an opportunity to sign the final steel beam before this last piece completes the frame of the F-Wing at the topping out ceremony. Presbyterian leaders will offer congratulatory words to construction crew members, and refreshments will follow the ceremony.
Why: The ritual of “topping out” to commemorate the completion of a structure is one whose roots reach back for centuries. The Scandinavians, who revered evergreens, marked the completion of structures by hoisting an evergreen tree to the top. Other experts attribute the tradition to the Teutonic tribes of Europe who placed fir trees on their structures in an attempt to appease the spirits for destruction of timber used in the building.
Today this tradition continues as a proud celebration by all the project team and their guests, and the evergreen tree hoisted by the crane represents our safe and successful attainment of the highest point.
Who: Presbyterian Hospital leaders and employees and Rodgers Builders
When: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thurs., June 4
Where: Presbyterian Hospital, 200 Hawthorne Ln., Charlotte
