88 www. bus- ex. com NOVEMBER 09 Innovation fromt heg round up

E llisDon Construction prides itself on innovation. It embraces the use of cutting-edge technology to better manage projects, improve document flow and deliver higher-quality and lower- cost projects to clients. That approach stretches from the back office, where building information management ( BIM) systems have been embraced, to the job site, where the Mississauga, Ontario- based construction company has had a hand in developing new solutions to vexing construction challenges. That philosophy of always seeking a better way to do things and thinking creatively about challenges is on display as EllisDon tackles the first phase of the South Health Campus Project, a $ 1 billion- plus project on which it is serving as construction manager. EllisDon was brought on board early in the design process and in turn brought several key subcontractors into the fold early as well, says project manager Scott Thompson. The South Health Campus Project is the largest in EllisDon history and encompasses some 44 acres of land that will house a new healthcare campus, an electrical infrastructure building and a materials handling facility. The project is seeking Silver- level certification from the Canada Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ( LEED) program. Once completed, the campus will feature 644 new medical beds, including a new acute care facility that can handle as many as 800,000 ambulatory visits annually. The campus is designed to blend into the surrounding natural areas and will feature extensive outdoor views, natural lighting, open spaces, gardens and wetlands, and café- style retail walkways. It will also feature two levels of underground parking- enough to handle 1,200 cars at once. The project is using a tried- and- true approach favored by Alberta Health Services of bringing contractors and designers on board at the same time. " We had mechanical and electrical contractors in the fold shortly after we were hired," Thompson says, noting that systems work accounts for some 50 percent of the total contract value on the project. Innovative systems will include robotics that deliver and pick up linens and handle other duties within the hospital, which is being built with interstitial floors to enable systems to be installed easily and maintained and modified in the future with minimal disruption. The construction management model has posed some challenges for EllisDon. For instance, final plumbing designs were not completed, so the company had to leave the work roughed out to be finalized later once the design had been finalized. EllisDon Construction: South Health Campus Project NOVEMBER 09 www. bus- ex. com 89 EllisDon Construction prides itself on its innovative approach to projects of all sizes. The South Health Campus project- the largest the firm has ever tackled- is no exception, as Keith Regan learns from the project manager overseeing the $ 1.1 billion healthcare endeavor Innovation ground up