Healthcare Design - April 2015 - 44

C CONSTRUCTION | 04.15
Building smart
New technologies, from virtual reality to drones and 3-D printing, are optimizing
healthcare construction sites, helping teams rein in costs and speed up schedules
By Jason Seaburg
Embarking on a new healthcare construction project or retrofitting an existing facility is,
in a word, complex. There's simply no room
for error. And yet, thanks to new trends in
healthcare-the shift to outpatient services,
an aging population in need of greater care,
limited funding, etc.-project owners are issuing
new demands to contractors and designers.
In order to meet their shareholder and patient
requirements, they're asking that projects
be completed faster, that retrofits be finished
while buildings are still operational, that staff
be consulted on design decisions, and that
patients continue to experience a consistent
quality of care despite ongoing construction.
It's complex, remember?
Luckily, there's a solution to alleviate some of
these challenges: technology.
It goes without saying that communication,
documentation, proper training, and education are all essential in constructing a quality
healthcare building. Those are mainstays of
the construction industry and will continue to
be for many years. And while the "what" isn't
changing, the "how" is. What was once done
on paper or sticky notes is now done via cloud
collaboration tools and iPads on the job site.
And where once project teams were dispersed
and disconnected, they're now using Lean principles, such as collocation and pull planning, to
ensure that project teams are connected and
working toward delivering a project that's on
time and on budget.
It's an interesting transformation and one
that has allowed us to engage the workforce in
new ways while helping to simplify processes,
streamline collaboration, and increase efficiencies and cost savings.
One of the biggest benefits of increased collaboration and communication is that it allows
firms to simplify their processes and, ideally,
take (some of) the complexity out of the day-today management of a project. This is critical,
because simplification also opens the door for
technological transformation. When teams are
optimized, they're more likely to test and implement new technologies, such as virtual reality
tools, drones, and so on. It's important to iden44

HCDmagazine.com 04.15

tify how these technologies can be implemented
in the right way to help firms build smarter. Here
are a few worth considering.
BIM
The benefits of building information modeling
(BIM) and 3-D modeling have been discussed
extensively in recent years, and for good reason.
These models are the crux of technology and
innovation within the construction industry. Why?
Because they enable new ways of approaching
the "how" referenced earlier.
BIM allows contractors, subcontractors,
designers, and architects to collaborate from the
start, building a singular model that acts as the
guiding light for a project. Through that singular
model, clashes can be detected before a project
even breaks ground, designs can be simulated
for efficiency, materials can be sourced and
tested, and progress can be communicated at all
stages of the project. In addition, long after the
construction process is completed, BIM plans
can be turned over to facilities for ongoing building maintenance and future expansions.
Virtual reality
Today, it's possible for any project team member
to explore the BIM model that the designers,
contractors, and engineers are using. While these

BIM models like this allow
teams to see inside spaces
before they're built, in
this case viewing the
mechanical systems serving an area in the Brigham
Building for the Future
project on the campus of
the Brigham and Women's
Hospital in Boston, to
be completed in 2016.
However, virtual reality
takes BIM a step further,
providing the ability to
virtually walk through the
model and experience the
space as a user would.

Jason Seaburg

http://www.HCDmagazine.com

Healthcare Design - April 2015

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