Smooth operation

Co-ordination, co-operation and conversation – vital ingredients of any construction project and a recipe that was carefully followed by the design and build team on the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and University of Edinburgh medical school.

With a project value of £210 million, a 70 acre site, and several clients to satisfy in this private finance initiative (PFI) scheme, teamwork was essential: "Something like this could not be built otherwise," states Mike Harris, deputy project director of Edinburgh Royal Joint Venture (ERJV) partner Haden Young.

Haden Young was the preferred bidder for the £80 million m&e services contract and forms 34% of ERJV, the design and build partnership contracted by the 25-year service provider Consort Healthcare. The three-way integrated joint venture covers the project, for which Balfour Beatty has the lion's share (51%); Morrison Construction is the third partner with a 15% stake. From the start ERJV has run as a team.

It was decided early in the design phase that the project had to be run from site if it were to be successful. "One of the reasons for setting up a team [on site] was the scale," explains Harris." On a job like this you really need to focus the whole team on the project and one of the best ways of doing that is by getting the team away from the pressures of their everyday office environment."

Clear design strategies were set by the ERJV at round-table discussions with the consultants. Included in these were the need to avoid duplication and to maximise each team member's strengths. To do this each party's role in the project was deliberately defined: the designers were to concentrate on design, ERJV would manage the scheme, and the co-ordination of the installation was to be looked after by subcontractors: "They have the experience that lets them look at co-ordination in a more practical way," explains Harris. With this in mind the early involvement of subcontractors was necessary, and packages were tendered for and awarded on the basis of one quarter of the final design.

There are over 200 subcontractors involved on the project, and around 63 on the services side. Services manager John More explains: "In essence what we've had is standard packages for specialist subcontractors. We initially managed those in isolation, then transformed them from packages, integrating them and meshing them more into a project management role...initially it was by system, then by area, then by section." Each subcontractor was responsible for its own team, with ERJV overseeing the process.

Satellite offices were set up throughout the building for the various section managers and subcontractors. These contained staff facilities but also gave access to the centre pin of the electronic design and project management system: Documentum. This was the result of another design strategy: to maximise the use of IT. All design, preparation and document management for the project was fed into the system. "It's been essential to the job," states More. "The sheer quantity of paper and drawings could never have been handled," he explains. Chosen jointly by the ERJV members, the design team works to a set method ie a single drawing is overwritten and updated, allowing co-ordination of different systems before starting on site. A record of all stages is kept, allowing the team to check that the original concept has been maintained. The idea of laptop points around the site was discussed and rejected – the satellite offices give on-site staff access to the electronic and paper versions of drawings.

Planning in operation
The initial design brief gave basic details such as the number of beds and departments. The primary objective was to group the medical aggregations and site them so that they were closest to the most relevant sections and vice versa. Planning permission also meant that the building had to be invisible from the adjacent Craigmillar Castle and the top of city-centre landmark Arthur's Seat.

This resulted in a three-storey building, divided into ten sectors, which stretches a distance of 350 m through the arc of the main ward area (see aerial photograph). The university building reaches out from the linear face of the hospital, connected by a walkway leading from above the main entrance.

The project is being handed over in three phases: phase one (around one-third of the hospital) in October 2001; phase two (the remainder of the hospital) due for December 2002; the university will follow in March 2002. This was to satisfy building control and enable a progressive move from the other hospitals.

Rooftop plantrooms serve each of the sectors separately, although some systems such as the bms are site wide. "This was done to meet the phased handovers," explains Moore. The electrical infrastructure is via basement risers, and main power supplies are from a central energy centre that serves the entire site.

Security of supply features strongly in the services, ranging from dual incoming electrical supplies to a control system that can restore critical supplies from start in under the required two minutes (the slowest time to date being 45 s).

While the Trust wanted tried and tested solutions due to the 25-year contract, it did not rule out the use of innovation on the project. "What we did was look at things that were needed here but had been done in other ways elsewhere," explains Harris. "We could not afford to bring something into the hospital that wasn't proven to have a life cycle of 25 years. We have used things that were proven but maybe not in this role." So, for example, prefabricated toilet pods, more familiar to hotels, were used.

A series of full-scale mock-ups were completed in the old infirmary – these brought out issues early enough to make changes. They also helped with the approval for use of bedhead trunking that contains all the ward lighting, giving more flexibility for above ceiling services.

  The services provider was, unusually, included in these decisions. "The service provider has been on site throughout the construction period," confirms More,"so we've kept the ideas transparent and kept them involved throughout – they have an input too. It's very much a partnership between the Trust, Consort and Haden to make sure that everything in here works for the 25 years it's supposed to." Haden Building Management has been employed by Consort as part of the facilities management team: its 25-year contract will be reviewed after seven years.

It is the next phase of the project that will prove how effective the team is: a three-month transition period following the phase one handover saw the first patients move in on 27 January. This effectively means that the hospital is live on the same site as the construction project for the remaining phases: albeit these are in the advanced stages and separated by a commissioned buffer zone. Problems so far appear simple – the hospital and construction teams refer to areas by different names – and easily overcome. It seems that as the talking continues, so too will the project's success.