Market trends are driving healthcare facilities design to focus on cost reduction and efficiency, says an article in Engineering News-Record.
Integrating the needs of end users and operators is causing the adoption of new tools that allow the design to support efficiencies in the lifetime operations of the facility. Life-cycle cost considerations, such as long-term maintenance requirements of central systems are coming into play more frequently.
The adoption of building information modeling and virtual design and construction continues to evolve. For example, virtually walkable facility models now make it possible for end-users like facility managers and nursing staff to interact with the planned environment at an early enough stage when meaningful changes can still be made.
One significant new trend the article points out is design-build and integrated project delivery, driven by ever shortening project delivery time frames. "Compressed time frames are forcing design and construction teams to work together more efficiently and to take proven ideas and execute them in new ways," says the article. For example, prefabrication methods are facilitating a 35-month construction schedule on a new 830,000 square foot hospital in Denver.
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