"The population growth is occurring in central and southwest Salt Lake Valley," Gomez said. "You're seeing health-care facilities being located in places that are convenient and accessible to those growing communities. We believe Intermountain Medical Center, which will replace LDS Hospital as a trauma one center, will significantly decrease the times that it takes to get trauma patients from the scene of an accident to the hospital."

Okland points to a health-care construction boom that occurred in Utah during the 1970s and early 1980s. Now, 25 years later, those medical buildings need major renovation or replacement to keep up with the rapid advancements in technology and modernization.

"In the last four or five years there has been a real boom in health care," Okland said. "One of the projects that we built was the Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George. The day that opened it was up to capacity. We were almost ready to expand it, and that's because of the number of people retiring and moving to areas like St. George."

Like Okland Construction, other Utah firms also are seeing a rise in health-care revenues.

In 1998, Layton Construction took in $3.2 million in health-care construction revenues. Those revenues jumped to nearly $22 million in 2001. By 2004, health-care revenues for the company exceeded $84 million. In 2005, Layton will exceed $100 million in health-care revenues.

"I do nothing but health care," said McDonough, who oversees a health-care team for Layton. "I have project managers and superintendents who focus their careers solely on health-care construction."

There is nothing more complex than building health-care facilities, according to McDonough, who said such projects entail complex emergency distribution systems, stringent earthquake building codes and myriad safety regulations governing infection controls.

"Renovating a functioning health-care facility is a lot like remodeling your kitchen at Thanksgiving time," said David Layton, president of Layton Construction. "Dinner must go on though the tools are in the way. In the real world of health care, renovations are inevitable during all seasons. Shutting down an operating health-care facility is out of the question."

Recently, Layton Construction has done major work to the Salt Lake Regional Medical Center in downtown Salt Lake City. The company also added a 20,000-square-foot emergency room to Pioneer Valley Hospital in West Valley City, which has one of the busiest emergency rooms in the state. Layton is currently working on a $42 million new facility for the Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah's medical campus.

In addition, McDonough said a fair share of Layton's health-care projects are located out of state, particularly in Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. Layton has recently built new hospitals in Durango, Colo.; Las Vegas; and Phoenix.

About 20 percent of Layton's health-care work involves installing the latest technology into facilities, like imaging technologies used for cancer patients, which require significant electrical requirements and a one-inch layer of lead installed in the walls, floors and ceilings.

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com