For a massive hospital expansion project, Emory University turned to Batchelor & Kimball as the mechanical contractor. Working with a Dallas-based engineering firm, we developed a design-assist process that created exceptional communication and coordination. This allowed Emory professionals and the general contractor to optimize the layout and function of each individual room without slowing mechanical construction and installation. It also accelerated the review and signoff of the facility by government inspection teams.
It’s more important to view it in terms of the purpose of the building. The very room you’re working in will, from now on, be a place where people receive medical care.
The sooner that happens, the better – yet you can’t rush this kind of work. You have to build a project process of coordination and communication that creates efficiency while allowing you to handle the unexpected.
Such a process was at the core of the massive Emory “J Wing” project: Nine stories, 450,000 square feet, and most important, rooms to provide care to 233 more people.
The general contractor for the project was McCarthy Construction. They set the stage for optimizing coordination by using BIM 360 Glue software, a platform that allowed us and other subcontractors to align our efforts within a clear framework. It was the first time they’d used the software, and the results were impressive.
The design-assist approach promotes accuracy, improves communication and adds efficiency. All three add up to cost savings.
In planning the details of our role, we proposed a design-assist approach in tandem with Dallas, Texas-based WSP Partners, the engineers on the project. Design-assist brings clear advantages. Each party focuses on what it does best, which promotes accuracy. It also improves communication, which makes transitions smoother – and that adds efficiency. And where you have accuracy and efficiency, you save money.
“WSP’s role centered primarily on determining air flow in rooms, designing equipment size and specifying temperature control,” says David Vepraskas, head of B&K’s healthcare practice and the project manager for the Emory J-Wing assignment. “Our role was mostly to draw up and specify low-pressure runouts, then build and install all heating and hot water branch piping to equipment.”
Developing the core and shell of the tower was the first order. But rather than build out interiors along the way, the team finished the entire facility structure to give Emory’s healthcare professionals time to look at all rooms, both individually and collectively.
“Providing excellent patient care is their first priority, and so much of that comes down to how each individual room is configured, not only for mechanical function, but also for the people inside it,” Vepraskas says.
Design-assist, he adds, kept B&K and WSP focusing their efforts on areas that had been reviewed and approved, and holding off on interiors still under review. This eliminated the need to re-draw plans while decisions were being made.
The result: Nine stories, 450,000 square feet and — most important — rooms to provide care to 233 more people.
The result: Nine stories, 450,000 square feet and — most important — rooms to provide care to 233 more people.
It brought one other key benefit: Speeding county review and inspection. Along with WSP, we sat down with DeKalb County at an early point in the project to share our detailed drawings and plans and get their feedback.
“One thing the county was very interested in was where we were planning to place the life safety dampers that limit the spread of smoke and heat in the event of a fire,” Vepraskas says. “Our design team coordinated the locations of these based on their permit set, and that greatly reduced the turnaround time for reviewing floor plans.”
The “head start” made inspection and permitting go smoothly – no surprises were found on site.
Design-assist brought one other key benefit: Speeding county review and inspection.
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