By Craig Glenn, Project Executive
Who is impacted by healthcare? At some point in our lives, we all are. That’s the main reason I am so passionate about building in the healthcare and life science sectors — because of the sheer quantity of lives we can actually impact with the buildings that our teams, our partners, and our clients construct. Here in Houston, we have an incredible opportunity to make an impact in not just the healthcare sector with new hospitals and treatment centers but also help construct life science and research facilities that support and lead healthcare innovation.
One of the things that I’ve learned over the course of my tenure in the healthcare/live science market space is that there is a direct correlation between clinical care and research similar to the swing of a pendulum. As research innovation advances new treatments and new technologies, those migrate over into the healthcare clinical space where hospital systems implement them. This implementation on the clinical care side drives the need for renovations and new facilities. As healthcare builders, we have the opportunity to build the spaces that help keep this incredible cycle of advancement and treatment going.
Of course, whether you’re looking at improving research capabilities or implementing new technologies into healthcare facilities, speed to market is absolutely critical. The challenge is maintaining the schedule while allowing for procurement times, safety, infection control, and flexible work hours that are required to work in and around active healthcare campuses. I’ve been working in the healthcare construction industry for nearly 40 years, and here’s what I consider the top 3 most important criteria a healthcare builder must manage to deliver healthcare projects on time, with exceptional attention to detail.
Begin With A Builder’s Mindset
This statement on the surface might sound obvious. If you’re hiring a builder, shouldn’t they obviously have a builder’s mindset? The short answer, in my experience, is that they don’t always. This is something that I think is special about our healthcare construction teams. We are all true builders that started our careers either in the field or entry level project management. As we’ve grown in our careers, so has our construction experience and knowledge. We approach every project with the mind of a builder applying our deep technical experience and knowledge. What that looks like in action – is preconstruction meetings where we are already are looking at the existing space or the designs for new construction and thinking through every phase from a constructability and actual execution standpoint. We can lead conversations, execution strategies and coordination early, that adds value to our clients and design partners to make early decisions and achieve that crucial speed to market.
Be A Preconstruction Perfectionist
If we start with a builder’s mindset, the natural next step for us is to apply it through a rigorous and exhaustive preconstruction process. We want to engage with our design team as early as possible, so we can provide guidance and constructability advice while the designs evolve. If it’s a renovation facility, we conduct a forensics level investigation of existing conditions and existing systems to help the client understand potential impacts and challenges. This early investigation gives us the opportunity to identify and overcome issues early so that when actual construction commences, the execution more efficient and streamlined.
For any type of project, we are studying current market conditions and providing cost data, materials suggestions and procurement lead times, so that project budgets and schedules are REAL and aren’t overly inflated or extended by materials and equipment costs and lead times. Our preconstruction teams are thinking through every scenario and conducting pull planning exercises, so the design is on budget, on schedule, and set up to be successfully implemented in the field. Another key element that we leverage is the engagement of key construction team members, the team that will execute the project, into the preconstruction process so as to eliminate the loss of key information through hand-off or turnover meetings. Our goal is to identify as many of the issues and create/develop solutions before construction begins. This is especially vital in healthcare construction, where we want our work to be swift and minimally impactful to patients, healthcare providers, and the community.
Don’t Be Afraid of Change
I think that our rigid processes and discipline on the front end of a project, is how we’re able to be flexible on the back end — which is vital in healthcare construction. One of the challenging aspects of building in this sector is the technical, highly specialized systems we have to coordinate, install and commission. Further exacerbating these challenges is the fact that these systems are always evolving. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen, over the course of a project, where a new technology or a new system has emerged and our clients want it incorporated in the project. It’s only natural for healthcare clients to want to the latest technologies and capabilities for absolute best treatments for their patients. Our continuous engagement throughout the project life cycle with the client and design team ensures we are able to react quickly and work diligently to incorporate changes into the delivery of the project with a focus on efficiency to minimize cost and schedule impacts.
I believe healthcare construction is incredibly rewarding by seeing the real impact on lives that we play an integral part of providing. Our teams take pride in the fact we’re building facilities that will impact the lives of people for years to come — buildings our own friend, families or colleagues may visit to seek treatment providing quality of life, extending time to share with our loved ones or welcoming new lives to our friends and families. These real world local and global affects are why we approach every project with an unrelenting tenacity to ensure successful delivery the exact facility our client and community wants and needs.
