Key Processes in the Building Delivery of Green Hospitals

Abstract

The healthcare industry is one of the largest and most significant built environment markets today with over 120,000 buildings in the United States. Moreover, in the next 15 years, an estimated $300 billion will be spent on hospital construction across the United States. Therefore, there is a great opportunity for research and improvements to be made in this area. The built environment has a great impact on healthcare, particularly on the health, safety and well-being of patients and staff. Green healthcare can enable improved clinical outcomes; lower operating costs, energy consumption and water use. Healthcare facilities are amongst the most complex types of facilities to design, construct and operate. This research study outlines the findings from four children’s hospitals with different levels of sustainability in regards to, the project delivery process, greening strategies and lean principles. The key processes investigated are: transparency in relation to green outcomes, owner commitment, early team selection, team experience, early adoption of green, the commissioning process, energy modeling and the role of the construction management team in the delivery of a green hospital. The findings provide a detailed description and analysis of the delivery process for each case study. The results show that certain delivery process attributes vary with the level of sustainability being sought by the hospitals, with the top three attributes being: owner commitment, expertise on sustainable delivery and early timing of sustainable objectives.