Achieving High Quality Design of Healthcare Facilities within the context of Two Delivery Methods
Yanai¨ Elbaz
St. Clair Armitage
Pierre Major
Imma Franco
McGill University Health Centre, Canada
(Click here to download the full paper)
The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) is an academic healthcare centre with an international reputation for excellence in clinical care, research and teaching, and a responsibility for assuring tertiary pediatric and adult services for the McGill Integrated Health Network across a vast territory of Quebec.
In the 1990s, the institution determined that modern facilities, which could adapt apace of medical, scientific and technological advances, were necessary. As such, the MUHC is carrying out a $1.579-billion Redevelopment Project. Its guiding principles stipulated that medical and scientific excellence would be fostered on two state-of-the-art campuses and through strong relationships with healthcare partners; each LEED-registered campus would be designed to provide “The Best Care For Life” in a healing environment; and both campuses would provide patient centric care of equal quality.
By 2007, the Government of Quebec had confirmed its preferred model for the financing, design, construction, and maintenance of the MUHC’s two campuses.
The brand-new Glen Campus would be realised through a public-private partnership (PPP). The Mountain Campus, involving new and existing structures, would be realised conventionally. Successful projects depend on establishing clear objectives from the outset. Traditionally, clinical needs (Clinical Plan) and technical requirements (Functional and Technical Programme or FTP) are defined.
However, with two distinct delivery methods, the MUHC felt the principle of quality assurance had to be reinforced. The MUHC thus produced a Design Specification Guide (DSG) for its Mountain Campus and a Performance Specification Guide (PSG) for its Glen Campus. The DSG establishes minimum requirements in the form of design and technical inputs, covering clinical building systems (mechanical and structural), sustainable development and cost requirements, which must be met by the professionals when designing the conventional campus.
The PSG is different in that it outlines the MUHC’s expected results for the Glen Campus. Its importance lies in the fact that the PPP consortium is the one tasked with establishing the design and technical infrastructure requirements.
Given the emergent Quebec PPP market, the MUHC’s local professionals had great difficulty in switching their mindset to produce the PSG. A balance was finally struck between the proper level of performance and prescription in so far as how to achieve the expected results.
This presentation examines the complexity of preparing architectural and engineering documentation, the timing and coordination involved in the provision of exemplary patient care, the value of sustainable health design and the impact on organisational image throughout the initial project management phase.
|