Health Care

South End Community Health Center
Location: Boston, MA
Client: Schochet Associates, Inc.

Nitsch Engineering provided civil engineering and permitting services for development of the state-of-the-art South End Community Health Center, which includes 118 underground parking spaces, retail space, community gardens, and 39 residential condominiums. The main building is located on Washington Street, and 17 of the residential condominiums were constructed along Cumston Street at the rear of the site. By working closely with the owners to meet their changing needs, Nitsch Engineering kept the project on schedule. We designed the site grading and utilities to fit within a narrow right-of-way and redesigned Cumston Street. We also prepared City of Boston PIC plans for street widening, relocation, and vertical discontinuance; a Boston Water and Sewer Commission Site Plan; and a Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Sewer Connection Permit. All approvals were obtained.

Nursing Home Addition
Location: Quincy, MA
Client: William B. Rice Eventide Home

Responding to an increase in demand for beds, this nursing home selected Nitsch Engineering to do the site design for an addition. Because the site was located within the 100-year floodplain, which included the Furnace Brook floodway, and abutted the historic Quincy Adams House and MDC land, permitting and designing such an addition would be challenging. For permit approvals from the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Conservation Commission, Nitsch Engineering conducted research at FEMA to detail the floodplain and floodway; using that information, we balanced site grading and designed the site to accommodate an addition that posed no adverse impacts to those areas. FEMA reviewed our plans and confirmed that our depictions of the floodway and floodplain were correct. Another potentially challenging part of the project was in designing the site sewer. The existing sewer line, located directly below the addition, was too high and had to be lowered. Nitsch Engineering had to design the connections so that the nursing home could maintain their sewer connection during construction.