How to Keep Healthcare Construction Projects Under Control
Construction projects have historically been hard to control, almost to the point where nobody quite believes cost and time estimates anymore. Delays and additional unforeseen costs can almost be expected. But it doesn’t have to be like that.
The healthcare sector is about to experience an ambitious burst of construction activity and £3.7bn has been promised by the government for new and upgraded hospitals. There is a clear duty for everyone involved to ensure that this funding achieves as much as possible in terms of new facilities that are ready to deliver services as quickly as possible. Any project inefficiencies will waste badly needed investment and stand in the way of tackling the backlog of treatment created by Covid-19.
Offsite With Imagination
It’s well established that offsite construction methods deliver new buildings quickly and to a reliable cost. But there are also misconceptions that this inevitably means standard ‘boxes’ that don’t make the best use of available land and are a compromise when it comes to design and imaginative use of space. This assumption is as outdated as the one about cost and timing overruns being inevitable.
The Department for Health recognises that offsite construction must play a significant role in the planned programme. A recent announcement revealed that new standards will be developed ‘to help standardise the design of new hospitals and make use of modular construction methods to speed up the build.’
Local Needs, Efficient Delivery
The route forward must recognise that modern offsite construction methods offer the best of all worlds: the design freedom to respond to local needs and spatial constraints, economies of scale through standardisation of process and materials, greater speed and efficiency, and certainty over costs and timing. Processes are repeatable and scalable and don’t depend on a shrinking pool of skilled labour, which is often a major source of cost and timing issues.
Success will depend on ensuring that the delivery process is as simple and efficient as we can make it. The reduced complexity of offsite will be essential if economies are to be delivered across multiple projects that all need to be brought in on time and within budget.
