RC104 JanFeb2023 - Magazine - Page 26
TOP100 PROJECTS
Pandemic planning
The triple threat of the pandemic, wildfires
and flooding impacted not only workers
getting to the site, but also construction
materials.
At the onset of COVID-19, teams from EllisDon and Interior Health sat down to come
up with a plan. The options were to deal with
things as they came up and adapt deadlines
accordingly or keep to the original completion
deadline by any means necessary.
Both partners went with the latter,
“which allowed us to do a lot of things outside the box to keep the project moving,”
says Highton.
“And we just really made a commitment
between us and them that we needed to
do basically whatever we reasonably could
to make sure we brought this project in on
schedule and within budget,” adds Morton.
“We worked with [EllisDon] on an ongoing basis to support them in making sure
they could get the materials and the labour
and everything that they needed to keep to
the schedule.”
That included early procurement, says
Highton. “We procured major mechanical
equipment and electrical devices very early
on in the project, and we brokered offsite
storage agreements.”
These arrangements were atypical, according to Highton.
“We had all these things in place where
26 RENEW CANADA — JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023
we could accept this material well ahead of
installation and have it at the ready, which
isn’t typical. Very few owners or very few
partners will agree to offsite storage, but IH
really stepped up to the plate and were a
partner in every sense of the word to help us
make this project a success.”
Offsite mock-ups
Another unique component of the project
was the use of full-scale mock-ups of a number of the rooms in the tower’s design—including a single-patient room, an operating
room and a birthing room—constructed in a
rented warehouse in Kamloops.
The mock-ups were fully finished and
included functioning lights and security
systems, according to Highton.
The main benefit of this process was to
allow user groups such as the clinical and
care teams to interact in the rooms with the
design, construction and IH teams present.
“The main thing is to be able to physically
bring these teams in and physically stand
in the space, wheel equipment around,
run through scenarios and make sure that
physically, those rooms, the way they’re configured is going to meet their needs,” says
Morton. “And to try and catch things that
potentially are going to be an issue in the
real build before the design is complete.”
And it was not just the nurses and physicians, says Morton. “We brought all of the
support groups through there, including
housekeeping, food services, logistics, all of
those groups to make sure that the room was
going to work for everyone. And we solicit
all that input and then that goes into the
finalized design.”
Being able to take proof of concept to
actual construction and execution prior to
beginning construction saved time, explains
Highton.
“It really allowed us to create a benchmark
for quality assurance and quality control as
well as this is everything that we expect. We
expect all these joints calked, we expect this
level of paint finished, we expect this level
of floor finished. And all those benchmarks
were set prior to construction, which really
streamlined the turnover process.”
Now that the patient care tower is open,
Phase 2 has begun, which will include
renovation and expansion to the emergency
department at the hospital as well as enhancements to pediatrics, the morgue, public
concourse, daycare surgery, and the post-anesthetic recovery department.
According to Morton, those renovations
are underway now. “We started them shortly
after the tower opened and they run until
2026 because it’s a multi-phased renovation
to keep the emergency department open. It’s
called Phase 2 of the project, but ultimately it
is part of the main project that is the Patient
Care Tower.”
RENEWCANADA.NET
B.C. MINISTRY OF HEALTH
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix (centre) and Andrea Gaglardi pose for a group photo with the key to Royal Inland Hospital’s new patient care tower.
