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1 Introduction
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As a cause, construction processes often interfere with medical processes. These conflicts between equipment,
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workers, and hazard spaces, are undesirable because medical processes are very vulnerable (Kamat &
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Martinez, 2005). During construction projects hospitals and its users, suffer from construction dust, fires, and
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cost & time overruns. As an example of unwanted effects from construction dust, hospital acquired infections
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are a major problem during renovations because of the dust and spread of mold spores throughout the air
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(Feldbauer, 2009). Researchers established construction activity as an independent risk factor for infection risks
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(Weems Jr, Davis, Tablan, Kaufman, & Martone, 1987). Furthermore fire outbreak risks as a cause of advanced
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hospital installations, medical gasses, and immobile persons, also make renovation projects risky. Besides this
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the complexity of hospital construction, among others, leads to cost & time overruns. Therefore it is important
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to involve different disciplines in the design and planning process, to create safe, feasible, and cost-effective
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plans.
During hospital renovation, medical processes are, in progress at the same time as construction processes are.
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Planning of hospital renovation projects therefore requires an integrated project approach. When different
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specialists are involved in the planning of the project, it is likely that the project will have a bigger chance to be
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successful. Though an integrated project approach demands that all project team members understand the
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construction plans. Only then, the project team members are able to take successfully part in the design and
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planning process, and to give their opinions and solutions. Hence, when people understand plans, they will be
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more aware of the risks, and they can think of solutions.
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There are different ways to present construction plans. Usually project planners present information with bar
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charts and network diagrams. Typically construction planners used these tools together with design
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documentation (2D or 3D drawings and specifications) to produce a construction schedule consisting of a set of
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activities and sequential relationships. Then the construction planner mentally associates this schedule
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information with the graphic representations of the building. But this ‘mental modeling’ is limited because of
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the ability to deal with project information changes and the limited memory of a planner (McKinney & Fischer,
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1998). 3D drawings already give laymen, as well as engineers, a better understanding of project information.
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But when presenting a construction schedule, these drawings lack a time dimension. Therefore project teams
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