Improving hospital projects by off-site approaches

Dear All, I am trying to identify new methods and approaches for the delivery of hospitals using off site and better on site methods.

Any recent experience and lessons being learnt would be appreciated. The research is to consolidate a catalogue of methods which contribute to reducing the design and the delivery periods and which provide lower final transaction costs.


Examples of plans used in practice would help to understand the practical issues arising and the constraints.


I have made some progress considering the design and procurement of hospitals and identified a problem.

I have one area which has been identified as a current issue.

This is the extensive packaging of the projects due to the reduction in direct labour of the principle contractor who now brings in package contractor/suppliers and suppliers with their own of third party labour.

We are now finding some projects become congested in the fitting out periods as partitioning and ceilings and plastering/flooring is carried out. In addition because of the disconnection between wiring and mechanical services design and fitting out of rooms/determination of walls there is a larger amount of rework and on the job changes.

Have you seen any work to address the better use of labour on site by several suppliers who coordinate their needs please.

Have you found any ways Primervera or similar techniques are being used to try to overcome these changes in fitting out with less detailed design and less task specificity please.

Any guidance or reference will be appreciated.
What is the issue or problem which will provide the basis for your dissertation?

The issues are the number of new/refurbished hospitals and health care facilities have increased with the PFI and other trust and Department of Health, NHS and private health initiatives. There have been a range of sizes and different forms/methods of construction designed and delivered but there have been concerns about the efficiencies in the procurement and delivery process and the need to increase standardisation and the associated use of offsite fabrication.

Proposed working title for the dissertation is:

Determining what improvements in performance are possible in the design and delivery of healthcare facilities (hospitals, GP premises etc) and how these improvements will be achieved, identifying the challenges that need to be addressed and the subsequent impact on delivery, functionality and patient care.


The topic has been selected to determine if the complexities of hospital design and construction can be better managed with clients and the supply chain(s) through improved collaboration, visualisation and with key specialist designations.

Discussions suggest that design and delivery are always as efficient and complete as may be required and there are areas of improvements which can be defined and addressed.

The recession is impacting on the funding, project scopes, the numbers/skills of key people engaged in the architecture, engineering and delivery organisations and the utilisation levels of manufacturing productive operations. These changes may be impacting the extent of detailing and rates of obsolescence and allowances for these effects may be necessary.

Best regards
Chris Eaglen