Within the project's first five months, underground infrastructure in the outparcels had been installed, and 33 acres of the site were seeded with native Florida grasses. Skanska accelerated construction of the site's retaining walls so that they would be fully covered with creeping fig vines by the hospital's opening.

Another key performance requirement was ensuring that the hospital could withstand 150-mph winds—no easy task given that the design also called for extensive use of glass, including the custom aluminum unitized double low-E double-pane panels for the curtain wall. Pryor says having key subcontractors on board early expedited constructibility assessments and fabrication of the glass and other specially designed components.

"We couldn't have done it as fast otherwise," she says.

At other times, upfront planning would yield to quick reaction times—such as with timing the delivery of the radiology diagnostic equipment with completion of lab spaces. When equipment selections were made several months after established "drop-dead" dates, the team had to move fast. "We had to significantly accelerate the radiology area work in order to preserve the completion date," Allen says.

Project safety was another key emphasis noted by ENR Southeast's safety judges. Citing the Nemours project's more than 4.2-million man-hours with only one minor lost-time incident, judges recognized the results with an award of merit for safety.

And it was all possible, Allen says, because project team members committed themselves to trusting each other, and to putting the overall project's goals ahead of all others.

"If you spend time trying to make decisions work, rather than challenging why they were made," says Allen, "you can do great things."

Nemours Children's HospitalOrlando

Key Players

Contractor Skanska USA Building Inc., Orlando

Owner Nemours Children’s Hospital, Orlando

Lead Design Firm Stanley Beaman & Sears, Atlanta

Structural Engineer Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Boston

MEP Engineer TLC Engineering for Architecture, Orlando