Trade partners are still the odd men out during the early stages of many projects, which can make conflicts, change orders, and delays during construction more likely.
To avoid potential snafus on its new Ambulatory Health Center in Greenfield, Wis., Advocate Aurora Health and the real estate developer Cobalt Partners formed an integrated project team with the general contractor CG Schmidt, the national design firm HGA Architects and Engineers, the mechanical contractor J.F. Ahern, and the commercial electrician Staff Electric, the latter two under a Trade Management Partners (TMP) agreement.
âAdvocate Aurora Health is leading the industry in integrated project delivery,â says Cory Powers, CPD, Principal and Project Manager for HGAâs energy and infrastructure group.
TMP exemplifies collaboration. Through this arrangement, skilled contractors and supplies can engage early in the project and its design process, which helps reduce redundancies, address challenges that relate to cost and constructability, and come up with more efficient solutions.
The clientâs key goal for this five-story 146,200-sf project, located in the 40-acre 84South mixed-use development, was speed to market so it could start seeing patients as soon as possible. That objective led the team to focus on using Lean Construction Methods to accelerate the projectâs schedule.
PUSHING THE ENVELOPE ON PREFAB
Two-fifths of the work within 80 MEP racks were prefabricated.
Â
To this end, the project pushed the limits of prefabrication through the use of 80 multi-trade prefab MEP racks that included long sections of duct work in the corridors.
Forty percent of the above-ceiling MEP work was prefabricated off-site. The construction was completed in 18 months, which gave the community local access to healthcare one month earlier compared to a traditional delivery method. Zero percent rework was achieved versus 15% rework in traditional delivery methods. And there were no injuries building and installing the MEP racks.
The team members worked in tandem from a single 3D BIM model, eliminating miscommunication and the need for re-drawings. And to reduce the risk of design errors, the team relied on state-of-the-art fabrication software, with each component barcoded and shipped to the jobsite along with an installation plan.
Using their mobile devices, workers scanned the barcodes to verify the location for each installation. Once on site and verified, the prefabricated racks were lifted to each floor to be connected and attached, a task completed within an hour of each delivery.
Powers of HGA says that prefabrication emerged as a solution during the teamâs early design discussions. And the buildingâs systems âwere laid out to be modular.â Powers adds that prefab is playing an even more prominent role in the design and construction of Advocate Aurora Healthâs next two hospitals that will include bathrooms and exam rooms assembled off site.
The completed Ambulatory Health Center, which opened August 5, is valued at $55.5 million. The building is the central location for Advocate Aurora Childrenâs Health services that include pediatric cardiology, urology, allergy, dermatology, ENT, neuropsychology, and radiology. It has eight surgical suites, two pain management procedure rooms, four GI suites and two outpatient interventional radiology suites that are the first of their kind in Wisconsin.
With the Health Centerâs recent opening, Advocate Aurora Childrenâs Health can offer more comprehensive pediatric services to the area. The facility also houses Advocate Auroraâs Sports Health services, along with a pediatric sports health gym and classroom space. This space brings increased availability for outpatient orthopedic surgery to patients.
The Health Center is home to midwifery services with a variety of womenâs health services provided, ranging from general health education to family planning and obstetric care. Its outpatient center co-locates orthopedic exam, office, and imaging conveniently at the retail-inspired main entry, with surgical, recovery, and pain management services on floors above.Â
IPD âTHE PATH FORWARDâ
âThis 84South facility is actually one of the very largest outpatient ambulatory sites in all of our Wisconsin and Illinois footprint, and it will enable us to open up access for the people of the broader Greenfield community,â said Advocate Aurora Health's COO Bill Santulli, in an interview with the Milwaukee Business Journal.
When asked why integrated project delivery isnât more common, Powers says that each AEC firm and owner is at different stages of its Lean journey. âYou canât fake experience in an IPD.â Too many firms and owners âare stuck in delivery methods that are based on fearâ that they wouldnât get the same value from an IPD contract.
âBut once you go through one of these, thereâs nothing else like them,â says Powers. âWe can go pretty fast on our own. But itâs so much faster when you donât have to explain everything in the field. The team comes out of the gate drumming the same beat when youâve worked out the details months before the first dirt is broken.â
Mark Lillesand, a Vice President with CG Schmidt, thinks that integrated project design will become more prevalent as more owners become familiar with its benefits, which include âfurthering our relationships with subcontractors.â
Lillesand says his firm now âprefabricates everything we canâ especially now when the coronavirus has raised the stakes for jobsite safety. He adds that on other projects, CG Schmidt has included subs for drywall, steel construction, and enclosures into the early design discussions. âThis is the path forward for us.â
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Will Alsop to head up new RMJM studio
Will Alsop, the internationally acclaimed British architect and designer of the Glenwood Waterfront project on the Hudson River, is to turn his attention once again to the U.S. after announcing he is to create a studio called âWill Alsop at RMJM,â as part of the RMJM worldwide architectural firm.
| Aug 11, 2010
AECOM, WATG top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 75 largest hotel design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Hotel Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
YKK AP launches enerGfacade family of building envelope products
YKK AP America, the leader in manufacturing high quality architectural products, today announced enerGfacadeâ˘, its new family of energy-efficient products, as part of the YKK Groupâs 50 year anniversary in the architectural products business. The family includes several products, such as Luminanceâ˘, ThermaShadeTM and YOW350T.Â
| Aug 11, 2010
Parsons Brinckerhoff, Dewberry among nation's largest multifamily design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 75 Multifamily Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit /giants
| Aug 11, 2010
USGBCâs Greenbuild 2009 brings global ideas to local main streets
Save the planet with indigenous knowledge. Make permanent water part of your life. Dive deep water for clues to environmental success. Connect site selection to successful creative concepting. Explore the unknown with Discovery Channelâs best known guide. These are but a few of the big ideas participants can connect to at USGBCâs Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, taking place on November 11-13, 2009 in Phoenix, Ariz.
| Aug 11, 2010
Goettsch Partners wins design competition for Soochow Securities HQ in China
Goettsch Partners (GP) has been selected as the winning firm in the competition to design the Soochow Securities Headquarters, the new office and stock exchange building for Soochow Securities Co. Ltd. The 21-story, 441,300-square-foot project includes 344,400 square feet of office space, an 86,100-square-foot stock exchange, meeting rooms, classrooms, a cafeteria, and underground parking for 400 cars and 800 bicycles.
| Aug 11, 2010
New York Mayor Bloomberg opens nation's first multi-story green industrial facility and announces new green manufacturing plant at Brooklyn Navy Yard
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert C. Lieber, and Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation Chairman Alan Fishman and President Andrew H. Kimball today opened the Perry Avenue Building, the nation's first multi-story green industrial facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Mayor Bloomberg also announced the creation of Duggal Greenhouse, a 60,000-square-foot LEED Platinum certified facility.