Photo Courtesy of Anton Grassl/Esto

This 47,000-sq-ft project brought the hospital's radiation and oncology functions under one roof. Part of the 2010 master plan, the new facility includes state-of-the-art equipment such as linear accelerators and also includes office, support, meeting and retail spaces.

The general contractor says that the $34.5-million structure is the first health care project in Connecticut—and one of the first nationwide—to use the integrated project delivery (IPD) approach, which requires the sharing of all risk and reward among project stakeholders. The contractor credits the IPD team's collaborative efforts for reducing the project schedule by six months and for bringing the job in under budget by $1.2 million.

Programming, design and construction relied on lean principles, stressing collaboration across disciplines to achieve cost and quality and to schedule targets. The general contractor held lean training sessions with the subcontractor's project manager and foreman as well as with the rest of the contractor and architect team and hospital project staff. The hospital's "process innovation department," which trains its other departments to operate with less water and greater efficiency, also participated.

Discussions covered many topics including driving efficiency for subcontractors; understanding safety risk and developing avoidance strategies; and building collaboration among the larger network of workers to improve efficiency while increasing safety processes.

One judge praised the team's efforts to engage everyone in the process, commenting that these efforts don't always succeed but "when they work, they're really a nice thing."

Key Players

Owner/Developer Lawrence + Memorial Hospital

General Contractor Suffolk Construction Co.

Lead Designer/MEP Engineer TRO | Jung Brannen

Structural Engineer Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH)

Civil Engineer DiCesare Bentley Engineers

ICL Subcontractor Northeast Contractors Inc. (Sitework/Earthwork);

Harry Grodsky & Co. (Plumbing/HVAC); Wayne J. Griffin Electric Inc. (Electrical/Lighting)