RC117 MarApr 2025 - Magazine - Page 14
HEALTHCARE
The new Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook, NL, recently received
LEED Silver Certification, in part due to a geothermal system that eliminated cooling
towers at the hospital, saving up to two million gallons of water per year.
What are the advantages and challenges of constructing and
designing hospitals to meet environmental standards?
SYDNEY BROWNE: Environmental stewardship is a design imperative.
I think we all recognize that at the same time as there are building
standards that relate to building fabric in one sense, there’s also
greater consideration for accessibility. All these things really
contribute in a very clear way to long-term value, e昀昀ective use of
materials, resources, and energy over time. The idea in the long
run is healthier environment, alignment of purpose, alignment
of values, and better health outcomes for everyone. Of course, at
the same time, it does come with challenges. When we’re trying
to meet these standards and we’re looking for innovative ways
to address these benchmarks, it means that we are bringing in or
looking to bring in ways of building that aren’t necessarily familiar
to all the players around the table, and that can be challenging. It
takes extra e昀昀ort to move these things forward as well, and that’s
both on the design side as well as construction and operations.
KEVIN LITTLE: I think LEED has been good at pushing design for
e昀케ciencies, but there are challenges. For example, on the [new St.
Paul’s Hospital] project, we chose to have gas boilers. Part of it
is for redundancy. We could have gone 100 per cent electric, but
the substation that serves the hospital is approximately 80 years
old. So, do you want to rely 100 per cent on electricity? In that
case we would need more and larger generators to pick up that
load. I think standards are great for pushing the design, but from
a hospital point of view there are some things that don’t always 昀椀t
into the LEED bucket.
CHRIS RICK: The one thing I 昀椀nd is when a client provides energy
and carbon intensity targets, and their e昀昀ective way to incentivize
sustainability goals, they allow the right level of innovation which
allows you to balance capital and operating costs—as long as
they are within reason. Sydney and I worked on a project recently
where the original requirements were going to add $100-million
to the project. Thankfully, at the end of the day, the owner said,
“Hey, we need to be responsible from a capital perspective.” In
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RENEW CANADA – MARCH/APRIL 2025
Regardless of the delivery model, how
important is it for the construction team to
be involved early in the process with both
the owner and the design team?
CHRIS RICK: When the builder gets involved
is dependent on the delivery model.
But really, it’s a quest for the optimized design, because every
owner should be looking for that. And what does the optimized
design mean? It means it achieves all the clinical requirements.
It’s e昀케cient when it comes to building area, energy. The design
is coordinated between disciplines, it’s cost-e昀昀ective and with
proper maintenance, the facility performs for the long-term. When
it comes to achieving the optimized design, no one party has the
solution. It’s a team of people working together collaboratively
and understanding what the product looks like. That’s how you
get there, and that’s the owner, architects and clinical planners,
engineers and contractors working together. None of us can
do it on our own, but collectively, if you can create the right
environment, that’s how you get there. So in that regard, getting
contractors involved at the earliest stage as possible can absolutely
add value.
SYDNEY BROWNE: I have to agree. When we’re working on new
construction projects, the builders are great resources when we’re
having discussions about early choices for systems, for materials,
understanding what the local labor market can carry and so forth.
A good cost consultant can be a resource for a number of those
things, but ultimately, that information really does go back to
builders, to trades, and to suppliers. So, when we can shorten
that feedback loop, that’s a really useful conversation. It’s true as
well, that when we’re talking about projects that are renewals of
existing facilities, which become riskier and more complicated in
a number of ways, there are many advantages to having a builder
or construction manager as part of the team early on for advice
regarding constructability, scheduling, phasing issues for access
and integration of new work with existing work.
KEVIN LITTLE: During design development, we thought it was more
important that we provide clear and comprehensive direction of
what was required 昀椀rst, such as an indicative design with a very
tight speci昀椀cation package. Then we had the builder come in and
give us their opinion, add any value where they could, and bring
their expertise to help move forward with the design.
To watch a replay of the entire discussion, visit:
https://www.crowdcast.io/c/healthcare-facilities.
RENEWCANADA.NET
CL CONSTRUCTORS CANADA INC.
terms of the carbon intensity targets, there’s
been a lot of discussion about geothermal.
We’ve done a lot of work and we have been
successful in Newfoundland, for example
with the Western Memorial Regional
Hospital in Corner Brook where there is
no natural gas, but it’s challenging to get
geothermal to work where natural gas
is available. Things like high-e昀케ciency
equipment, heat recovery chillers, heat
wheels and adiabatic humidi昀椀cation are
technologies where we see a better payback
as compared to something like
geothermal.
