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Page 10 — Health Care Properties Quarterly — January 2017
NOW OFFERING
UP TO $100/SF TFA
2,700 SF | BUILD TO SUIT | 15901 E. BRIARWOOD CIRCLE, AURORA, CO 80013
Patricia Wassik, CCIM | 303.830.1444
Construction
T he focus of this publication
and many of the articles writ-
ten is on the state of real
estate investment, financial
opportunity, design criteria
and insight, construction projects,
delivery methods and market types.
All of which are important topics
when discussing capital investment
in real estate. An additional topic
that is beginning to receive more
attention is the role of facilities
management in creating an inte-
grated approach that also addresses
operating, maintaining and improv-
ing the building infrastructure in
order to create an environment that
strongly supports the primary objec-
tive of the organization.
In previous articles, we discussed
the meaning behind projects, the
elevated value of project success
through teamwork and understand-
ing of common goals, and the evolu-
tion of operating room technology.
These topics are certainly drivers in
health care construction and shed
light on how our industry is chang-
ing. While the health care industry
is experiencing vast change through
the delivery of patient services, that
change also is affecting the way
facilities and health care campuses
are being developed. And at the
heart of these campuses is the facili-
ties management group.
We talk about function and design,
we budget and value engineer, we
contract, project and report. In all
of this, where would we be without
facilities management?
Historically one of the problems in
the building industry was a limited
degree of learning from how exist-
ing buildings are
being used and
operated when new
building projects
are planned. What
forward-thinking
teams are realizing
is that the facili-
ties management
group is the miss-
ing link to bridge
the gap between
building opera-
tion and building
design. Savvy facili-
ties management
teams are making sure they are part
of the process by developing produc-
tive relationships with every profes-
sional who plays a part in construct-
ing the building. They recognize that
early involvement and intelligent
decisions will save them time and
money later and can prolong the
operational life of the facility.
There is an incredible strain put on
facilities. With 24/7 operations, sys-
tems must be manned at all times.
Facilities management teams have
many responsibilities: They part-
ner with physicians and nurses to
ensure high quality of care is being
received inside their building; they
manage capital budgets; and they
strive to improve the efficiency and
quality of patient care while reduc-
ing costs. In our office, an employee
recently went in for surgery on his
arm. The surgery start was delayed
because the facility staff was work-
ing tirelessly to clear snow from a
snowstorm while at the same time
adjusting the operating room tem-
perature down to 65 degrees to allow
for the optimal working conditions
for the surgeon and his team.
In addition to the daily work tick-
ets involved with maintaining the
buildings, the facilities group takes
on more – they are the enforcers, the
activists, the realists, the inspectors,
the creators, the managers and the
technicians. They keep the facilities
operational, they keep them current
and they keep them compliant. This
group has responsibility to Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services,
joint commission, internal corporate
audit, state and local authorities, the
fire department and so many more.
They make sure walls meet rat-
ings, penetrations are sealed, smoke
compartments are maintained and
access control is in place, in order
to ensure patients, visitors and staff
are all safe.
And after all of this, facilities over-
sees the construction on campus. In
health care, construction is as com-
mon as the seasonal flu. With new
technologies, growing population,
expansion and competition, there is
always a project underway.
It is from the facilities team that
we learn about the existing systems,
the history of changes, the manufac-
turers that function best, locations
of shut-off valves, model numbers
for the hands-free faucets that last
Chad Cleveland
Project executive,
Catamount
Constructors Inc.,
Denver
A look at the interventional radiology renovation completed by Catamount Constructors
at Presbyterian St. Luke’s.