Why It’s Time to Rethink How We Build Healthcare Facilities
The future of healthcare facilities must be all about responsiveness, flexibility and adaptability. The big question is whether the familiar lumbering processes for procurement, development and construction will get us there?
Build Back Better is the new agenda. It’s not, ‘build like we’ve always done with a few tweaks.’ The need for greater responsiveness and resilience demands that we revolutionise the entire process from design, through to operation and maintenance. To do this we must simplify the development process along with the supply and value chains. Only then will we see the fleet-footed and adaptable building programmes needed to build the right kinds of healthcare capacity, in the right places, to meet evolving needs.
New Terminology, New Thinking
Modern methods and materials bring opportunities to build a seamless transition from the architect’s vision, through detailed 3D designs and into reality. In this new environment we are talking less about construction and more about manufacturing and assembly. The new terminology reflects the new process and a different way of thinking.
There seems little doubt that offsite construction will be used increasingly in healthcare building programmes. There is little alternative if we want to simultaneously increase productivity and quality.
The ‘One-Project’ View
But construction is one phase of the process and a single link in the value chain. The biggest efficiencies are on offer when the entire workflow – from design to ongoing maintenance – is a single project and not a collection of dislocated sub-projects. Every part of the process is then focused on the final outcomes of improved speed, quality and performance.
As part of Osborne’s healthcare solutions, we commonly use offsite methods to deliver improved product quality and greater certainty over costs and timing. We also offer a managed service that accelerates every phase from procurement to delivery, along with options for financing and ongoing maintenance. This is the type of end-to-end approach that will truly transform healthcare capacity building.
