Proper planning at the start of any facility construction endeavor obviously delivers a positive impact on construction costs, but the effects of good or bad planning reach much further than that.
As a recent article in Healthcare Design points out, staffing, operations, and maintenance account for 75 percent of costs in a facility’s life cycle, while construction, equipment, and furnishings account for about 23 percent of these costs. According to the article, planning and design make up the remaining 2 percent but can have tremendous impact on a facility’s overall operational efficiency and ROI, not to mention occupant comfort, sustainability and more.
As the article notes, seven different levers need to be applied to planning and design to add value to the project.
1. The demand lever examines market share and identifies realistic projections of future demand.
2. The operational lever considers factors that could have a significant impact on the size of a facility.
3. The program lever identifies the right amount of space for each program component.
4. The plan lever drives design toward a lean, efficient facility.
5. The design lever takes into consideration how different areas of the facility are going to be used and what design will best support that use.
6. The systems lever drives increased energy efficiency.
7. And, lastly, the materials lever drives thorough, objective analysis of materials specification.
Together these levers work to achieve design plans that are incremental, scalable and sustainable now and into the future.
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