Construction meetings key for health care renovations

Before construction ever begins, a good architect will already have a drawing of the phasing as they see it and how it could affect the adjacent areas. For instance, if a project is being phased, the contractor needs to install temporary walls to maintain infection control. A good architect will show the locations of these temporary walls so the price for these walls is included in the bid from the general contractor.

The general contractor then studies the proposed phasing plan and makes suggestions for altering it, if necessary. The general contractor must determine how this phasing will affect other facility infrastructure. For instance, where the general contractor installs a temporary construction wall might restrict staff and the public from getting to a fire alarm device; therefore, other provisions will need to be made so that everyone is still as safe as they were before the temporary wall was installed. The best way to communicate this kind of situation is in construction meetings.

It is important to determine who needs to be at a construction meeting to make the most of everyone’s time. If you don’t have all of the people there who can make decisions, it is a worthless meeting. The reason for this meeting is to keep everyone apprised of the progress of the project and what items need to be coordinated.

The typical people to attend a construction meeting in the health care field are:

Construction:

• Architect

• Interior designer

• General contractor

• Subcontractors

• Any vendors working on the job

• Office manager of the project

Hospital:

• Security

• Infection control

• Electrical

• Mechanical

• Plumbing

• Environmental services

• Information systems

• Telecommunications

It is important to have the hospital represented because these are the people who must maintain the systems, and they can confirm that the equipment they want installed is actually installed. Hospital departments typically keep a bulk of maintenance items in stock, but they don’t want to have to keep every brand of everything all the time. That’s where a good architect coordinates with the items the hospital wants to specify and helps ensure they get installed per the owner’s request.

As a project progresses, changes happen in schedule, floor plans, mechanical system, etc. It is easier to coordinate these changes with all the appropriate personnel at a construction meeting, in case it affects another trade, which is quite common. This way everyone involved in the project knows what is going on in real time, not after the fact.

To make this meeting even more efficient, some of these people might not need to be involved until near the end of a project, such as environmental services, which would be more interested in the final cleaning of the facility and moving of the equipment once the project is completed. However, all of those things need to be scheduled ahead of time, so it is important that they are informed about project progress.

On the agenda

The construction meeting should have an agenda, written meeting minutes from the previous meeting and an opportunity for anyone to ask questions. This process helps everyone to know which items are being done now and which will be done in the near future to facilitate planning.

The construction meeting is an excellent place to inform the office manager what he or she is responsible for each week, such as making sure the view boxes are delivered to the job site at the appropriate time or cleaning out a space that the contractor will need soon.

Some people think these meetings are a waste of time. Good construction meetings can result in time- and money-saving benefits.

Stephanie D. Ireland is principal architect of Ireland and Associates in Springfield.

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