Alton Memorial Hospital Showcased Collaboration

The ribbon cutting that took place on March 10 at Alton Memorial Hospital was much more than the official opening of the hospital's new 89,000-square-foot Duncan Wing. The event also marked the completion of a highly successful construction project that surpassed everyone's expectations for speed, project management, value and quality.

Thanks to a partnership environment and close collaboration between the architect, construction manager, contractors and the hospital throughout the project, the new Duncan Wing of Alton Memorial Hospital was completed and opened on schedule and under its construction budget. Even more significant, the facility passed the extremely rigorous inspection by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) in a single day.

In the State of Illinois, every healthcare project is subject to inspection and licensing from IDPH. Before an owner can occupy a new or renovated space, the project must pass the IDPH inspection and be licensed for occupancy. In many cases, the inspection process can last two or three days with multiple visits, and the issues raised by the inspectors can often take weeks to address.

"The state review went extremely well," says Doug Pytlinski, vice president of administration at Alton Memorial Hospital. "We invited the state inspectors to a preliminary walk-through of the building in December 2009, in which they helped identify areas for us to address prior to the final inspection in January. This process helped the final state inspection to go smoothly and completed in a day."

"Our team's partnership attitude was the primary factor in both the successful completion of the project and in the fast IDPH inspection approval," says Bill Wagner, project executive at S. M. Wilson & Co., construction manager for the project. "Getting the IDPH approval in a single day for a project the size of the Duncan Wing is unheard of in Illinois."

"Everyone was proactive in response to the issues raised in the state inspection walk-through," said Robert Meyer, Project Manager for Pratt Design Studio, architect for the project. "The State of Illinois is very stringent and particular on its reviews of healthcare facilities. The team's overall response made for a big project success in terms of value and quality."

The seeds to this significant success story were planted more than two years ago, when S. M. Wilson was brought on board to manage the construction project. Pratt Design Studio had designed the new tower, and S. M. Wilson put together a team of contractors that would be required to work much more closely together than normal to insure that Pratt's design was brought to full fruition. KJWW Engineering Consultants provided MEP engineering, while Guarantee Electrical was the electrical contractor and Murphy Company was mechanical contractor. The project team established a collaborative environment months before the project started by bringing the electrical and mechanical contractors into the project at the pre-construction design development phase along with the engineering firm and architect to work in partnership with one another.

Through this extensive pre-construction process and the involvement of the owner, architect, engineer, construction manager and subcontractors, everybody was able to contribute their knowledge and expertise, leading to solutions that were well-thought out and designed to benefit the overall project.

"The collaborative relationship between all parties gave every team member access to all information pertaining to the building," said Meyer. "This allowed everyone to immediately work on forming solutions when presented with a challenge. The owner benefits by being able to make well-informed decisions and ultimately getting a more cost-effective building."

"There was very good communication among all parties regarding issues that needed to be resolved," said Pytlinski. "The team showed good flexibility in creating workable solutions that met everyone's needs."

In addition to the rigorous IDPH inspection, countless other challenges were overcome along the way by the team with similar collaboration and efficiency.

"Time and cost savings were achieved, sometimes substantially," says Wagner. "The entire team of owner, architect, contractors and construction manager deserves the credit for the incredible results achieved on this project."

"We are very pleased with the outcome of this project," says Pytlinski. "It opened on schedule, came in just under our budget and it met our overall expectations."

The Duncan Wing cost $45 million, $35 million of which was construction cost. The 89,000 square foot tower replaces the previous bed tower and is a completely private bed facility. It is designed to enhance the experience of patients staying at the hospital. It features 76 new private rooms equipped with patient lifts, as well as six observation beds, a new inpatient pharmacy, inpatient therapy, inpatient lab services, patient registration area and a new lobby and reception area.

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