For its Waterford, Conn., Cancer Center, a comprehensive treatment facility affiliated with Dana-Farber Community Cancer Care, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital decided to try something new: true three-party Integrated Project Delivery.
The contractual agreement covered L+M, architecture/engineering firm TRO JB, and construction manager Suffolk Construction, with programming, design, and construction all informed by Lean principles.
To further extend the collaborative theme, this three-party project management team invited three trade partners to participate in an incentive compensation layer, involving a pool consisting of at-risk potential profits.
TRO JB, Suffolk, and three handpicked HVAC/plumbing, electrical, and site work subs would participate in the ICL. If the project came in over budget or exceeded the schedule, the ICL profit pool would be tapped to pay the penalties. If the facility came in under budget or ahead of schedule, the ICL group would get the profit pool plus 50% of the savings, with the hospital pocketing the remaining savings.
Bronze Award
Project SummaryLawrence + Memorial Hospital Cancer Center
Waterford, Conn.BUILDING TEAM
Submitting firm: Suffolk Construction (GC/CM)
Owner/developer: Lawrence + Memorial Hospital
Architect, MEP/FP: TRO JB
Structural: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Civil: DiCesare-Bentley EngineersGENERAL INFORMATION
Project size: 47,000 sf
Construction cost: $24 million (IPD contract value $34.5 million)
Construction period: May 2012 to September 2013
Delivery method: Tri-party integrated project delivery
Early collaboration on the design, schedule, budget, and quality goals was a must for making the plan work. Using 3P (Production Preparation Process) Lean design and pull planning tools, the Building Team was able to make key decisions efficiently. Input from about 70 Cancer Center stakeholders—including administration, medical staff, support staff, patient advocates, and partners from Dana-Farber—was solicited in an intense three-day 3P charrette, which resulted in schematic draft floor plans.
Only minor changes were needed after this point, testifying to the effectiveness of the event. (The most significant contract alteration, requested by L+M as a value-added item, was a geothermal well field system that will pay for itself in just a few years.)
A co-location center set up in two of L+M’s hospital conference rooms was made available to the Building Team for the duration of the project. This home base proved crucial to ensuring efficient communication and also provided a convenient setting for stakeholder evaluation of mockups.
As a result of the collaborative efforts, the overall project schedule was reduced by six months, and the facility came in $1.2 million under budget. Actual construction was completed in only 10 months, meeting a “stretch goal” previously set by the client. Streamlined front-end decisions played an important role, including an RFI process that was 80% shorter than the client had previously experienced.
Building Team Awards judges were impressed with the participants’ ability to weigh wants and needs and craft a facility that achieved ambitious goals. The client has engaged Suffolk and TRO JB for a second IPD contract, this time to renovate a three-story medical office building. As with healthcare itself, new ideas about delivery are proving indispensable to positive outcomes.
Related Stories
| Dec 28, 2014
10 unglamorous things architects do
An acquaintance recently asked me about the kinds of things I did on a day-to-day basis at work, anticipating a response loaded with enviable activities. She was wrong, writes HDR's John Gresko.
| Dec 28, 2014
New trends in ceiling designs and materials [AIA course]
A broad array of new and improved ceiling products offers designers everything from superior acoustics and closed-loop, recycled content to eased integration with lighting systems, HVAC diffusers, fire sprinkler heads, and other overhead problems. This course describes how Building Teams are exploring ways to go beyond the treatment of ceilings as white, monolithic planes.
| Dec 27, 2014
7 ways to enhance workplace mobility
The open work environment has allowed owners to house more employees in smaller spaces, minimizing the required real estate and capital costs. But, what about all of their wireless devices?
| Dec 27, 2014
'Core-first' construction technique cuts costs, saves time on NYC high-rise project
When Plaza Construction first introduced the concept of "core first" in managing the construction of a major office building, the procedure of pouring concrete prior to erecting a steel frame had never been done in New York City.
| Dec 23, 2014
5 tech trends transforming BIM/VDC
From energy modeling on the fly to prefabrication of building systems, these advancements are potential game changers for AEC firms that are serious about building information modeling.
| Dec 22, 2014
What Building Teams can learn from home builders' travails
Commercial and residential construction can be as different as night and day. But as one who covered the housing industry for nearly a decade, I firmly believe AEC firms can learn some valuable lessons from the trials and tribulations that home builders experienced during the Great Recession, writes BD+C's John Caulfield.
| Dec 22, 2014
Skanska to build Miami’s Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science
Designed by Grimshaw Architects, the 250,000-sf museum will serve as an economic engine and cultural anchor for Miami’s fast-growing urban core.
| Dec 22, 2014
Studio Gang to design Chicago’s third-tallest skyscraper
The first U.S. real-estate investment by The Wanda Group, owned by China’s richest man, will be an 88-story, 1,148-ft-tall mixed-use tower designed by Jeanne Gang.
| Dec 19, 2014
Zaha Hadid unveils dune-shaped HQ for Emirati environmental management company
Zaha Hadid Architects released designs for the new headquarters of Emirati environmental management company Bee’ah, revealing a structure that references the shape and motion of a sand dune.
| Dec 19, 2014
Chicago Architecture Biennial to hold 'Lakefront Kiosk Competition'
The first Chicago Architecture Biennial will take place from October 2015-January 2016, with a theme of "The State of the Art of Architecture."
