Building Strategies - Spring 2008

corners: legal

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H EALT H & S A F E T Y

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Environment

Spring 2008

Providing Greater Value to Construction Project Design & Delivery

Construction challenges of

healthcare projects

Capitalizing on a climate of change Controlling the project budget

PM 40063056

Focus on

Trends and Products of the Healthcare Sector

GL AHOLT LLP

CONSTRUCTION LAWYERS www.glaholt.com

Providing Greater Value to Construction Project Design & Delivery

Contents 18 Success Strategies

Capitalizing on a climate of change Briefly exploring just a sampling of the many trends affecting our industry and the strategies firms are using to create new potential offers ideas for you to find and make your own opportunities.

21 Showcase

Concrete examples of excellence Whether the project involves a large or small company, the Ontario Concrete Awards program honours the visions of some of the most creative projects the province has to offer. Here are the winners of the 2007 Ontario Concrete Awards in the nine categories.

23 Economic Issues

21

Controlling the project budget PSMJ Resources consultant Christopher Martersteck brings his 30 years of experience leading projects and project managers to bear as he offers strategies for conceiving, developing and monitoring project budgets in ways that ensure profitability.

26 Project Profile

Healthcare projects pose critical building challenges A trio of outstanding hospital projects exemplify the many considerations involved in building healthcare facilities – the critical care addition at the Ottawa Hospital and the expansions and renovations at Hôpital Régional de Sudbury Regional Hospital and The Listowel Memorial Hospital.

31 Regulations

28

Building with care at healthcare facilities Ever since it was identified that fungal spores and bacteria disrupted during construction maintenance and repair work were causing illness and death in our hospitals, Canada has taken the lead on mitigating these risks. The latest CSA standard takes that lead further.

33 Trends + Products

Addressing risks, energy efficiency and environment issues Security and control of access is a key safety concern for hospitals and other healthcare provider facilities. Security hardware and systems are available to help identify and minimize the risks.

36 Energy Efficiency

Reducing energy costs through power factor correction Where most facility managers have historically focused their attention on ensuring basic availability through system design and on minimizing energy costs, many are now focusing on the quality of the power in their facilities.

The Hôpital Régional de Sudbury Regional Hospital is one of three hospitals we feature in the Project Profile. It is currently undergoing a $362 million expansion and planned consolidation of all acute and rehabilitative services on one site – 66 per cent new construction and 33 per cent renovation – all while healthcare services are being provided.

Image: Yallowega Bélanger Architecture

Editorial 6 W ater, LEED and waste disposal concerns prompt building industry changes

News

8 C FIB calls for apprenticeship changes; COCA welcomes budget commitment; Water legislation is needed now, urges OSWCA; CCA announces national award winners; Ontario modifies re-employment and RTW regulations; Fredericton hosts Festival of Architecture; BOMA Canada expands in Atlantic Canada; Construction Specifications Canada conference set for Halifax in May; ARIDO names new president, directors; CABA to conduct smart and green building technology study; Underwriting firm predicts boost in insurance purchasing

Legal Corner (Sponsored by: Glaholt LLP) 12 The new CCDC 2 stipulated price contract 2008

Environment Corner (Sponsored by: Tri-Phase Environmental Inc.) 14 Minimize patient exposure and possible litigation

Health & Safety Corner (Sponsored by: The TRH Group) 16 New rules require duly licensed paralegal representatives

34 26 Building Strategies Spring 2008

5

Editorial

Water, LEED and waste disposal concerns prompt building industry changes

“O

ther than air to breathe, nothing is more necessary to life than clean water….”

Those are the words of Frank Zechner who is the executive director of the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association (OSWCA) and chair of the Environment Committee of the Council of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA).

In the latter capacity, he made the following comments in the committee’s submission for the COCA 2007 annual report with regard to dewatering of construction excavations. “The water infrastructure industry often digs below the water table, but so too do contractors building highway and railway under passes, transit systems, underground parking and many other structures. If you dig below the water table, the excavated area naturally fills with water which adds major safety hazards. Water erosion leads to trench collapses, water prevents workers from seeing where they are moving, water greatly increases the likelihood of trips and falls and it is an electrical shock hazard if there are nearby cables for lighting or power tools…

The environmental approvals for construction safety one week water permit requires the same types of hydrology studies, bureaucracy and scrutiny as multi-year water permits for major irrigation projects or water bottling plants. Both types of permits can often take months or a year to obtain and COCA believes this reality needs to be changed.”

Water is both a building and environmental issue and merits attention on many fronts, from the safety of workers to permit delays. So, too, do other issues COCA’s Environment Committee

is addressing – in particular, the implications of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System certifications and the escalated enforcement of waste reduction and diversion regulations by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

LEED certification levels affect sources and quality of concrete, wood, adhesives, coatings and other construction materials, the manner in which structures are fabricated and the chemical and energy emissions from both the construction site as well as the completed structure.

Waste reduction and diversion regulations require changes to handling packing materials that accompany fragile equipment and components such as doors, windows and appliances, containers for construction supplies such as paint, adhesives and caulking, and the materials themselves such as plastic pipe, scrap wood and fiberglass insulation. Demolition and renovation projects present their own unique disposal challenges.

Mandated to take a leadership and educational role on behalf of the construction industry on these and other environmental issues, the Environment Committee’s first meeting took place on March 28, 2007. Bravo to COCA for re-establishing this vital committee.

Certainly, environmental concerns come to the fore in constructing healthcare facilities – our focus this issue. Thanks for reading!

Providing Greater Value to Construction Project Design & Delivery

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

News CFIB calls for apprenticeship changes; COCA welcomes budget commitment The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is renewing its call for Ontario to overhaul its apprenticeship programs in light of new research showing record levels of concern over the shortage of qualified labour.

CFIB in March revealed that its latest Help Wanted report showed that the national long-term vacancy rate rose to 4.4 per cent in 2007 from 3.6 per cent the previous year, meaning 309,000 jobs went unfilled. Ontario’s rate jumped to 3.5 per cent from 2.6 per cent. Long-term vacancies (four months or more) increased in every sector in Ontario, with the greatest need being seen in construction, hospitality and primary industries.

“The shortage of labour is a complex issue, but one part of the solution is getting people trained to meet the needs of the marketplace,” said CFIB’s Ontario director Satinder Chera. “Business owners and young people tell us the rigid journeyperson/ apprentice ratios fixed by the government limit or prevent companies from taking on apprentices.”

Ontario’s regulations require employers in certain trades to employ a number of journeypersons before they can qualify to train apprentices. The ratio can be as high as seven journeypersons to one apprentice. CFIB’s research shows close to a third of Ontario small businesses find these ratios are a major obstacle to apprenticeship training, which makes it even harder to address shortage of labour challenges.

“Other provinces are moving ahead of Ontario in addressing the shortage of qualified labour,” Chera said. “It’s time for this province to step up to the plate and help young people get the training they need for the jobs that are going unfilled.”

Help Wanted is available online at www.cfib.ca.

CFIB represents more than 105,000 business owners, who collectively employ 1.25 million Canadians and account for $75 billion in GDP. The Ontario government budget announced March 25, 2008, included a commitment to expand apprenticeship training. The government has reportedly allocated $75 million over the next three years, increasing to $50 million annually by 2011-12. The new funding will support classroom training, expand pre-apprenticeship programs that prepare young people for training and increase program completions. The objective of this investment is to expand the number of apprentices in Ontario to 32,500, a 25 per cent increase. Supporting this initiative is another $45 million over three years for the Apprenticeship Enhancement Fund to buy state-of-the-art equipment essential for technical training.

The Council of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA) at the time noted that it welcomed the government’s third consecutive balanced budget with its $1.5 billion Skills to Jobs Action Plan and an additional $1 billion in new funds for municipal core infrastructure investment.

“The objective of the plan is to train unemployed workers for new careers in growth sectors, expand and increase the number of apprenticeships, build more infrastructure for the growing number of college and university

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

spaces and to help students with the cost of their education,” reads a COCA statement. “A primary plank of the new skills component of the plan is the $355 million Second Career Strategy, assisting 20,000 unemployed workers to receive long-term training to launch them into new well-paying jobs.

“The multi-year investment in skills training and apprenticeship clearly demonstrates the government’s recognition of the significance the growing skilled trades shortage represents to the province’s future economic prosperity.

The $1 billion commitment of new funds for infrastructure also represents a significant step, attacking head-on the existing $18 billion required to refurbish existing stocks. The construction industry looks forward to working with the province to establish permanent, stable infrastructure funding; in particular to facilitate much needed comprehensive reforms to ensure sustainable municipal water systems.”

Water legislation is needed now, urges OSWCA The Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association (OSWCA) is calling for the Ontario government to “immediately proceed with regulations under the Sustainable Water and Sewer Systems Act and ensure full cost pricing, mandatory metering and dedicated reserves for all residents and businesses using municipal water systems. For smaller and northern municipalities that simply cannot afford to move to full cost pricing, assistance similar to the pilot project announced in the summer of 2007 should be seriously considered,” a news release attributed to Frank Zechner, OSWCA executive director.

The OSWCA’s recommendation was in response to the Ontario government’s budget and points out that “while the Ontario government has responded positively with $1 billion to concerns about the crumbling provincial and municipal infrastructure, virtually all of that new funding confirmed on March 25, 2008 is for public transit, roads and bridges.” The budget was expected by many industry observers to be an ideal opportunity for providing details of the $60 billion infrastructure plan over 10 years announced in last year’s provincial election campaign. “Those details are still not available but it is clear that regulations are still needed under the Sustainable Water and Sewer System Act, 2002.”

The association sees tackling the water infrastructure deficit as requiring years of consistent effort by all stakeholders and predictable funding and financing over multiple years. Hopes proved unfounded that the province would expand upon last year’s pilot project through which a total of $40 million was provided to small and northern municipalities in equal increments over a five-year period. The lack of significant water funding in the budget “clearly demonstrates that the provincial government simply cannot hand out the funds to erase the water infrastructure deficit estimated at $18 billion,” notes the OSWCA’s news release.

“We need a focused action plan that includes aggressive capital plans, full cost pricing, dedicated water revenue reserves and mandatory metering as well as leak measurement and reduction programs

to have truly safe, clean and sustainable water systems,” urges OSWCA. The association has been prodding the province to proclaim Bill 175 (the Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act) which was passed six years ago but never became law. “This would go a long way to putting water systems on a firm financial footing as municipalities would be required to move to full cost pricing for these services and create dedicated reserves for their water dollars.

This was also a major recommendation of the Walkerton Inquiry.”

OSWCA represents over 700 companies within the sewer and watermain construction industry and is a champion of environmental protection and best practices in safety and water system management.

CCA announces national award winners The Canadian Construction Association honoured the following individuals, projects and associations during its 90th annual conference in Victoria, BC, in March.

Leo McArthur, president and CEO of the Miller Group of Companies in Markham, ON, received 2007 CCA Person of the Year Award. In addition to guiding Miller into its 3,000-employee strong operation in six provinces and the US, McArthur has sat on numerous industry boards and committees in both countries. He earned the CCA Community Leader award in 2006 and is one of the first nominees to the Ontario Road Builders' Association Hall of Honour.

The CCA General Contractor Award of Excellence went to Alfonso Argento, president and COO of Seven Brothers Construction in Montreal, QC. The 2006 CCA chair has also served as president of the Association de la construction du Quebec - Montreal, vice-president of the provincial association de la construction du Quebec, and has been a board or team member of various community establishments and undertakings, including a fundraising team for a Quebec engineering school.

Dave Pelletier, president of D & G Mechanical Ltd located in Kelowna, BC, received the CCA Trade Contractor Award of Excellence. He served as president of the British Columbia Construction Association and on the executive committees of other associations, including chairing the CCA’s Standard Practices Council.

The CCA Member Association Award of Excellence was given to l'association de la construction du Quebec - region de Quebec.

ACQ - Quebec celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007, a milestone that was celebrated with a weeklong celebration in spring 2007. ACQQuebec has also taken the lead in supporting the progress of many mega-projects in the Quebec region, leading to thousands of new construction jobs. Its plans room is state of the art, including a lamination service for plans.

Continuing education, promotion of Gold Seal, and training are key services that have been improved. Since the beginning of 2006, ACQQuebec has built on a successful membership drive by attracting about 230 new businesses.

the injury and for the duration of one year after the worker is medically able to perform the essential duties of the pre-injury employment.

Perhaps most significantly for construction, the WSIA removed the re-employment thresholds that applied to all employers in the previous Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA), notes an Office of the Employer Advisor document. “Once Regulation 35/08 comes into effect, all construction employers, regardless of the number of workers, or how long the worker has been employed will have re-employment obligations, unlike non-construction employers who only have re-employment obligations if they have twenty or more workers, and the worker was employed for a year.

“Any particular construction industry Above and right: CCA award winning Vento Project by Ottawa, ON-based Windmill Development Group of Ottawa is a LEED Platinum certified project.

Windmill Development Group of Ottawa, ON, earned the CCA Environmental Achievement Award with their Vento Project, located in the revitalization of a neighbourhood near downtown Calgary, AB. One of Canada's LEED Platinum certified projects, it set a new bar in LEED point total for a residential mixed use project in North America. The mixed business and affordable housing complex is built on a brownfield and located close to public transit and green spaces. The three-story building has ground floor retail below 22 splitlevel apartments with a communal landscaped courtyard. LEED points also stem from: low flow appliances and harvested rainwater systems to reduce water use; the purchase of green energy, use of photocell lighting and timers to reduce energy use; and 61 per cent of the waste generated during construction diverted away from landfills. It also served as a teaching project for many contractors and designers in the Calgary area.

Ontario modifies re-employment and RTW regulations The Ontario construction industry will find itself subject to a new set of re-employment and return to work (RTW) regulations on September 1, 2008. That is the date that the

CCA speaker Mark Tewksbury, left, and Leo McArthur.

Ontario Regulation 35/08 regulating RTW and re-employment under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (WSIA) filed on February 22, 2008, will come into force.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour’s Office of the Employer Adviser advises that Regulation 35/08 combines rules for dealing with both RTW and re-employment.

The regulation can be read on the Ontario Government e-laws site at: http://www.elaws.gov.on.ca/html/regs/english/elaws_ regs_080035_e.htm. The regulation requires that all contractors regardless of size will have the responsibility to provide available and suitable re-employment to their injured worker for a period of up to two years after the date of

Olympian medalist Mark Tewksbury with Alfonso Argento.

concerns about the RTW obligations and how they should function in the construction industry will need to be addressed by WSIB policy, if possible,” the document continues.

“Most likely, construction employers and workers will be subject to essentially the same RTW policies as other employers given the wording of the Part II obligations.”

The regulation is based on an agreement forged in December 2006 with the involvement of the Council of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA) in what it calls an “on again off again discussion with the construction unions, various employer groups and the WSIB.” COCA reports that the WSIB is committed to developing policies to support the regulation and will consult with industry officials by June to fill in gaps in the regulation. The WSIB will also develop and deliver a plan to communicate the new requirements to the construction industry.

COCA sees the change as a complex and difficult requirement for many contractors, especially those with less than 20 workers who have not had RTW requirements applied until now. The association estimates there are more than 50,000 small construction employers who need to be informed of their new responsibilities and prepare to respond should they have a lost time injury. The association will work to support policies and information to help the construction industry implement it.

Building Strategies Spring 2008

9

News Fredericton hosts Festival of Architecture More than 400 architects are expected to gather in Fredericton June 25-28, 2008 and just one of the reasons will be keynote speaker Bob Berkebile, FAIA, a leading authority in sustainable design and founding chair of the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment. Berkebile, BNIM Architects principal, will be the keynote speaker at the Architects’ Association of New Brunswick - RAIC Conference and Festival of Architecture.

Berkebile was instrumental in forming the US Green Building Council and the pioneer in sustainable design continues to be at the forefront of our profession by continuously leading with new ideas, explains Kiyoshi Matsuzaki, FRAIC, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) president.

RAIC and AANB will be hosting the annual national Conference and Festival of Architecture themed Steering the Current.

BOMA Canada expands in Atlantic Canada The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Canada is restructuring BOMA Atlantic to build on its three decades in this region. The restructure will increase by three to a total of 11 local associations from coast to coast.

The three new BOMA Canada local associations are: BOMA Nova Scotia, BOMA Newfoundland & Labrador, and BOMA New Brunswick. The latter will also include members from Prince Edward Island.

“We are confident that this new structure will enable each local association in Atlantic Canada to better promote its service offerings to local members and the industry as a whole,” said Ian Stewart, Chairman of BOMA Canada.

“A strong local presence will enable each local association to meet the specialized needs of its membership as well as improving the delivering of BOMA programs and services in each province.”

New websites being created are: www. bomanovascotia.org; www.bomanl.com and www.bomanewbrunswick.com.

Construction Specifications Canada conference set for Halifax in May “Designing for Disaster” is the theme of the Construction Specifications Canada event coming up May 28 – 31, 2008, in Halifax.

A diverse group of technical sessions to accommodate all interests has been planned with presentations from leading experts in the construction field. Topics include a legal update on contract law; bidding documents, construction insurance, project delivery, CCDC update, interpersonal skills, developments in glass technology, dealing with a labour shortage, emergency preparedness, water treatment, retrofitting masonry to resist explosion, avoiding roof disasters, designing in the arctic in the face

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

of global warming, writing specifications for off-shore projects and more.

Details at www.csc-dcc.ca

ARIDO names new president, directors The Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO) in March at its annual general meeting welcomed Franca Rezza from figure3 as the new president. Peter Grimley of Grimley Associates now assumes the role of past-president, while Deborah Rutherford of HOK, steps into the position of president-elect.

With the completion of three-year terms as directors for both Willem Berends of Marshall Cummings/IBI Group and Helen Cordeiro of HC Design, ARIDO welcomed two new directors - Sue Bennett from Bennett Design Associates Inc. and David Sapelak of Dave Sapelak Design. In addition, Lynn McGregor of McGregor Design Group replaces Gary Hewson of Office Source as the chair of the Board of Governors.

The association also bestowed three Fellowship Awards and one honourary membership to four industry players during the event, as well as the 2008 Norma Ruth Ridley Scholarship to two students and the inaugural Harvest House Craftsman Award to five interior designers who recently completed their NCIDQ exam and achieved the highest combined examination score in 2007. Details at www.arido.ca.

ARIDO IIDEX/NeoCon Canada 2008 is set for September 25 and 26 at The Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place, Toronto, ON. Details at www.iidexneocon.com

CABA to conduct smart and green building technology study The Ottawa, ON-based Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) reported in March that it has contracted with Frost & Sullivan to conduct a research study that addresses the operation, energy savings and long term benefits associated with commercial facilities that implement intelligent and green building technologies.

CABA is an industry association offering industry intelligence to stakeholders in all areas of home and building automation. CABA's resources cover areas such as HVAC, lighting, security, A/V, communications technologies, energy management and controls.

The research project referred to as Convergence of Green and Intelligent Buildings, will examine carbon dioxide reduction and energy efficiency in commercial buildings and culminate in a report that evaluates the long-term benefits of intelligent building technology adoption.

“CABA is undertaking this research initiative to showcase how integrated systems can be utilized in the built environment and also achieve promoting green building practices,” stated Ronald J. Zimmer, CABA president & CEO. “Furthermore, the research will illustrate

the great return on investment that can be achieved through the use of integrated systems.”

The research project will ultimately be a compilation of case studies that best demonstrate key technologies, capabilities and benefits. The case studies will focus on technologies such as building and network management systems, building automation systems, lighting solutions, HVAC and sustainable energy technologies such as solar energy, wind power, rain water collection and recycled wastewater.

The compilation of case studies will provide industry participants the means to showcase their technology and contributions towards intelligent and green buildings. Manufacturers, service providers, developers and builders are invited to financially back this research project to profile and promote their technology, products and services.

CABA’s Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council will be providing oversight for this research effort. The Council is specifically tasked to review opportunities, strategize, take action and monitor initiatives that relate to integrated systems and automation in the "large building" sector.

The Council will direct this research in order to accelerate and drive broad market acceptance of intelligent building technologies.

For details or to involve your organization, contact Fred Bryson, CABA’s Business Development Manager at bryson@caba.org or the CABA office at 888.798.2222, ext. 226. More information about the report is available online at: http://www.caba.org/councils/council.html.

Underwriting firm predicts boost in insurance purchasing Programs such as LEED, a push for sustainable structures, advances in Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the prevalence of Public/ Private Partnership (P3) projects and collaborative construction teams are driving contractors to search for the optimal Contractors Professional Liability (CPrL) insurance solution for their unique professional liability risks, reveals New Day Underwriting Managers LLC. The company, based in Bordentown, NJ, is a specialty resource of high-quality environmental and construction related professional liability insurance coverage to agents and brokers. Its annual Market Update offers a survey of the trends and growth opportunities in the environmental and construction-related professional liability marketplace to the brokers and agents representing the construction and contracting fields.

According to the New Day Market Update 2008, several key trends are also likely to influence the purchase of Contractors Professional Liability (CPL), Pollution Legal Liability (PLL) and Contractors Professional Liability (CPrL) insurance products in the coming year. For instance, New Day foresees PLL continuing to comprise approximately 60 percent of the entire $2.8 billion environmental marketplace. The update reports that CPrL premiums, which are estimated in the $250 million range, are likely to grow at a rate of about 15 to 20 per cent per year.

Details at www.newdayunderwriting.com or (609) 298-3516.

Legal Corner

By Keith A. Bannon

The New CCDC 2 Stipulated Price Contract 2008

the long awaited CCDC 2 Stipulated Price Contract 2008 became available for use. Here’s a look at five areas of changes to this standard construction contract.

T

he CCDC 2 Stipulated Price Contract 2008 replaces the 1994 version with which owners, architects and contractors had become very familiar. Because the general sections of the contract have not changed, a review of some of the more notable changes to the contract should provide those familiar with the old contract with a comfortable working knowledge of this document.

Notable changes were made to the contract in the following areas: Progress Payment; Mould; Insurance; Indemnification; and Waiver of Claims.

The following is a summary of these changes that should assist in the future use of this document.

GC 5.3 Progress Payment The Consultant must now notify the Owner of the Contractor’s application for payment. Previously, this notice was not required until the application was certified. More importantly, the Owner’s payment becomes due 20 calendar days after the Consultant’s receipt of the application, where it previously became due five days after certification.

This change should place greater emphasis on the Consultant’s timely review of applications for payment.

GC 9.5 Mould The inclusion of this general condition is entirely new to the CCDC 2 and is a reflection of the industry’s heightened awareness and concern with mould.

Both the Owner and Contractor have an express obligation to report to the other party in writing any mould found on the project. If the cause of the mould is in dispute, it becomes the Owner’s responsibility to retain an independent qualified expert to investigate and determine responsibility. Upon the finding of the expert or the agreement of the Owner and Contractor, the responsible party is obligated to remediate the mould.

GC 11.1 Insurance The new insurance requirements are contained in CCDC 41 – CCDC Insurance Requirements, which are included in the new contract by reference. The contract will incorporate the most recent version of the CCDC 41 at the time of bid closing. Moving the insurance requirements to a separate document will allow for its more frequent amendment to keep pace with industry changes.

For now, the minimum insurance required was increased from $2,000,000 to $5,000,000.

GC 12.1 Indemnification The Owner and Contractor now indemnify each other from and against all claims, including those of third parties. In addition to this new mutual indemnification, the biggest change to the indemnification provision is the omission of the Consultant.

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

Consultants must now negotiate their own indemnification, within their own contracts.

GC 12.2 Waiver of Claims The Contractor must give “Notice in Writing of claim” to the Owner by the fifth day before the expiry of the lien period or the Contractor waives and releases the Owner from all applicable claims.

The Owner must also provide the same notice or waive its claims; however, the Owner can rely on the added exceptions of claims for substantial defect in the work or its warranty provisions.

The “Notice in Writing of claim” must include the following: 1. a clear and unequivocal statement of the intention to claim; 2. a statement as to the nature of the claim and the grounds upon which the claim is based; and

“

review of some of the more notable A changes to the 1994 version of the CCDC 2 Stipulated Price Contract should provide those familiar with the old contract with a comfortable working knowledge of the updated document.

3. a statement of the estimated quantum of the claim.

It has been suggested that the time period imposed by this general condition may be contrary to the Construction Lien Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.30, because it ends the lien period prematurely. If successfully challenged, the time period would be amended by the court to conform to that Act. The requirement of notices in writing was modernized throughout the entire contract. These notices need no longer be delivered by hand or mail, the parties may now use facsimile or “other form of electronic communication” – i.e. e-mail. Notices sent by electronic communication will be deemed received that same day, if sent during normal business hours.

For those looking for a complete user manual to this contract, CCDC has also updated its guidebook in CCDC 20 - 2008 A Guide to the Use of CCDC 2 - 2008 Stipulated Price Contract .

Keith A. Bannon is an associate at Glaholt LLP

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Environment Corner

Minimize patient exposure and possible litigation

By Camille Atrache

A proactive approach is required to decrease the occurrence of construction-related nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections.

C

onstruction and maintenance activities in hospitals and other health care facilities can cause dust containing fungal spores and water aerosols containing Legionella bacteria to become airborne and can cause serious or fatal infections to patients near the project area. Even relatively minor work can cause serious infections if performed near susceptible patients.

If dust particles contaminated with bacteria and fungi are dispersed during construction, there may be health risks for patients, staff and visitors.

Early planning in construction and renovation projects must integrate infection prevention and control, engineering services and building design to prevent nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections, and minimize allergen load and other workplace hazards.

Particulate generated during construction or renovation activities can contain mould known as Aspergillus. As Nosocomial Aspergillosis is often associated with construction activities, isolation of the work area and monitoring of the work area and monitoring activities become key components of construction in these and similar areas. Numerous published reports have linked construction activities in hospitals to outbreaks of Aspergillosis which have had fatal outcomes to multiple patients. It is essential that preventive measures be undertaken to decrease patients’ or residents’ exposure to dust particles contaminated with aspergillus spores.

Fungal infections, particularly due to fungi of the Aspergillus family, are a major concern of the Health Canada standard. Several Aspergillus species can cause infections in susceptible patients. Aspergillus exposures and other fungal spores or bacteria may occur by a variety of pathways: through infiltration of outside unfiltered air, disturbance of dust in ceiling systems or other cavities, demolition of equipment, fibrous insulating material, roller-blind casings, fireproofing material, or from mould growth in the facility.

The key to eliminating Aspergillus infections is to minimize the dust generated during the construction activity and to prevent dust infiltration into patient care areas adjacent to construction. These activities will also eliminate other dust-borne fungi (e.g. Rhizopus) that may cause invasive fungal infections.

Understanding the relation between these organisms and construction and renovation

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

activities leads to a better understanding of the need for preventive measures. Aspergillus organisms are fungi found ubiquitously in soil, water, and decaying vegetation. The fungal spores (conidia) proliferate on dead organic debris and can remain viable for months in dry locations. During construction and renovation activities, spores can be dispersed on dust or dirt particles when floors, walls or ceilings are penetrated. Since Aspergillus spores are small (2.5 µm-3.5 µm) and settle very slowly (0.03 cm per second), they can remain suspended in air for prolonged periods. This increases the likelihood that they will be inhaled or will contaminate environmental surfaces.

To control this risk, Health Canada and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) have issued extensive guidelines for the conduct of construction or maintenance activities near patients or other high risk areas. The CSA Guideline Z317.13-03 “Infection Control during Construction or Renovation of Health Care Facilities” and Health Canada’s document titled, “Construction-related Nosocomial infections in Health Care Facilities”, classified the construction work into four activity types (A,B,C &D) and four risk groups (1,2,3 &4). The combination of the activity type and risk group determines which Preventive Measure class (I, II, III or IV) is to be followed. These classes share similar steps as those followed in asbestos and mould abatement procedures. Contractors performing work in health care facilities must take care to apply these standards with diligence to minimize the very real risk of their work causing illness and death in susceptible patients.

Appropriate infection prevention and control measures must be employed throughout construction and renovation projects in health care facilities to reduce health risks. Controlling the risk

requires the collaborative effort of many involved in a construction project. For smaller scale projects, these would include at least the infection control practitioner at the facility, engineering services, the architects and engineers responsible for the project and, of course, the contractor and subcontractors.

Larger scale renovations may require a specialist consultant to design the containment and ventilation controls and to supervise and test the ongoing isolation methods. Infection prevention and control professionals must be involved in each phase of the project to ensure that the appropriate preventive measures are initiated and followed.

All personnel involved in the construction or renovation activity should be educated and trained in the infection prevention measures. For example, the infection control personnel could educate the project managers and contractors who then ensure that the construction workers receive the appropriate education.

This approach is becoming widely recognized as necessary in all health care construction. It is the standard expected of construction when hospitals remain operational during renovations. Adherence to these guidelines will minimize patient exposure and possible litigation as a result of nosocomial infections.

Preventive measures have been shown to be effective in health care facilities as well as in commercial and residential buildings undergoing renovations. These preventive measures are effective in decreasing the incidence of construction related fungal infections. They are cost-effective because the patients’ safety will be maintained and litigation cases prevented. B Camille Atrache is chief operating officer and partner at Tri-Phase Environmental Inc.

Health & Safety Corner

New rules require duly licensed paralegal representatives

By Irv Thompson

Employers and workers should take into consideration the new legal requirement affecting WSIB and WSIAT cases.

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n May 1, 2007, The Law Society of Upper Canada became responsible for regulating the paralegal profession as a result of amendments to the Law Society Act brought about by Bill 14. The Law Society by-laws and Paralegal Rules of Conduct – both based in the Law Society Act – set out professional and ethical obligations. Paralegals failing to meet these obligations are subject to the Society's complaints and discipline process. The discipline process is governed by the Rules of Practice and Procedure.

The Law Society governs legal service providers in the public interest by ensuring that the people of Ontario are served by lawyers and paralegals who meet high standards of learning, competence and professional conduct. As of November 1, 2007, the Law Society has taken carriage of service providers providing legal services in Ontario with regard to a wide range of provincially legislated bodies. All paralegals were required to submit an application for their P1 Class Paralegal License and obtain appropriate errors and omissions insurance in order to write their Paralegal License Exam in January 2008. By May 1, 2008, the successful applicants will receive their P1 Paralegal License to provide legal services in Ontario. This applies to all paralegals providing advocacy work on behalf of their clients.

Those parties that have successfully filed the application and have met the Law Society requirements to obtain their Class P1 Paralegal License are now referenced on the Law Society website directory at www.lsuc. on.ca. The licensing requirement has been a long time coming to regulate all those who provide legal services to ensure they do so professionally and ethically. There are certain exemptions covered under by-laws of the Law Society for union representatives, legal aid providers and internal employees or family members, or friends, etc.

Most employers and workers in Ontario and across Canada use these paralegals to represent them before the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and Workers’ Compensation Boards (WCB’s) across Canada.

This also extends to the Workplace Safety and

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

Insurance Appeal Tribunal (WSIAT) final level external hearing process.

Representatives assist their clients with Workers’ Compensation issues involving Health Care and Disability benefits, initial entitlement, ongoing benefits, third party liabilities, LMR programs, pensions, revenue related issues, rate classification issues, registration, experience rating and audits. The primary representation is before the appeals branch at Appeal Resolution Officer Appeal (ARO) Hearings at the final level of the WSIB and the external final level of appeal at the Appeals Tribunal at WSIAT. The Ontario WSIB notified all workplace parties that effective November 1, 2007, they would not accept representatives that were not in the process of obtaining their Paralegal P1 License and those who are not exempt from coverage. The WSIB has now issued new representation authorization forms for both claim issues and revenue authorization forms to release confidential information to those authorized paralegals that must produce their Law Society identification number. An employer Authorization Form is also available

authorizing a registered paralegal as your representative with their confirming Law Society application identification number.

These authorization forms can be found on the WSIB website under “Forms” at www.wsib. on.ca.

The WSIAT issued the same mandate effective November 1, 2007 to all workplace representatives. Those parties that were not recognized were asked to seek legal counsel from registered paralegals or lawyers.

The Law Society of Upper Canada accepted the applicants for paralegals that operated prior to November 1, 2007 as being “Grandfathered” but were still required to pass the Law Society Paralegal examination that was written in January 2008. Those parties will receive their Paralegal Class P1 License by May 1, 2008 to practice Legal Services in Ontario.

Employers and workers should take into consideration this new legal requirement under the Upper Canada Law Society (Law Society) in requesting representation to ensure the paralegal you are engaging is professional, ethical and bound by the by-laws of the Law Society. Of equal importance, be assured that the legal representative has appropriate errors and omissions insurance to cover any eventuality that may arise. This protection under the Law Society is in effect to protect the client, whether it may be an employer or a worker for the advice and representation being provided.

To protect your interests, you should be asking your current or prospective representative whether they are licensed under the Law Society to provide legal services such as the WSIB or the WSIAT. If the representative is not licensed with their Class P1 Paralegal License, they may not be able to represent you before these bodies. If the representative indicates this requirement does not apply to them, consider seriously finding a representative that has their Class P1 Paralegal License to represent you. B

Irv Thompson is president, The TRH Group, www.trh-group.com

Success Strategies

Capitalizing

on a climate of change

By Brian Watkinson

Briefly exploring just a sampling of the many trends affecting our industry and the strategies firms are using to create new potential offers ideas for you to find and make your own opportunities.

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ost observers agree that there are many changes happening in the design and construction industry and that more are on, and just over, the horizon. Many suggest we could be on the leading edge of a major transformation. And some say this is all long overdue.

Study after study has identified this sector as under-performing and failing to deliver value to our customers and clients. Generally speaking, profitability is chronically low by comparison with other industries.

Critics complain that we’re still trying to design and construct buildings more-or-less the same way we did 100 years ago. In the meantime, other industries have reinvented themselves – many, more than once.

Yet, despite these rather dismal portrayals, there are many, many examples of designers and builders, large and small, who are conspicuously successful.

How are they doing it?

They are capitalizing on this climate of change by understanding some of the forces that are driving it and finding opportunities - often creating their own – to improve their performance and profitability by delivering added value to their customers.

Demographics and our aging population

Changes in the makeup and characteristics of our population are having a dramatic impact on our whole economy, including design

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and construction. In 2006, the Conference Board of Canada said: “The aging of Canada’s massive baby-boom will be the underlying demographic force affecting labour supply and demand for goods and services.” [emphasis added] Looking first at the demand side of the equation, our aging population is transforming opportunities in recreation and leisure, commercial and institutional, residential and healthcare. “Boomers” re-established golf as a hugely popular leisure activity. This led not just to an explosion of new golf courses, but also to the invention of a highly successful new type of housing centred around them, as well as numerous spin-offs in the commercial sector. Those designers, developers and builders who recognized and responded to the opportunity prospered.

Forward-thinking designers and builders today are, for example, considering the impact of an aging population on residential markets.

How much living space will people need and want as they grow older?

What housing forms can support a transition from independent living to the various levels of support we may need as we begin to experience mobility and cognitive issues? Is there a model that can provide a continuum with minimal upheaval? A new segment of the industry is quickly developing around this one opportunity alone.

Still others are looking at declining

Building Strategies Spring 2008

enrolment in elementary and secondary schools. What is the impact for firms that are heavily invested in those markets? Are there opportunities for a valued new service focused on helping school boards strategically consolidate their real estate holdings? What can be done with schools that may be declared surplus, many of which may be in downtown areas?

And these are just two of the market opportunities that are unfolding.

Demographics also have a supply side impact. Every industry including this one is beginning to face a talent crunch as today’s workers retire. [see Building Strategies, Fall 2006] A recent study by the Ontario Workforce Shortage Coalition concluded, “Fifty-thousand workers will be needed to replace retirees in Ontario’s construction industry, and the province will require more than 35,000 additional workers to meet construction demand from 2007 to 2015.”

Where can we find the qualified people we need to design and construct our buildings? Who will be the future of our industry and populate our succession plans? Business leaders are becoming much more inventive with human resource policies to attract and retain new workers.

They are introducing more flextime, implementing education and training programs, allowing some to work from home, and broadening benefit and compensation packages.

Others are creating opportunities around government policy that relies on immigration to help address challenging demographics. We’ve all read about professionals from other countries relegated to driving cabs in Canada because they can’t get their credentials recognized here.

Governments have responded with programs to help newcomers integrate. Savvy design and construction firms are tapping into those initiatives in order to service their customers, and in addition marketing their corporate social responsibility.

Sustainable design

Climate change is front page news and very near the top of the list of things Canadians say they care about.

The Conference Board in Canada says “Economic growth and concern for the physical environment need to

be integrated into a single concept of sustainability.”

At last, sustainability is “front-ofmind” for owners. In response, many designers and builders have adjusted their services and marketing to place more emphasis on “green”. This has included, for example, obtaining third-party credentialing of expertise in sustainable design. Others have been more proactive and are opening up new opportunities by promoting contracts where they and the owner agree on energy performance targets for the building, and share the savings if they can improve on them.

Red tape

Does anyone think it’s getting easier to complete a building project? Despite efforts to streamline, the regulatory red tape continues to increase.

Where some find roadblocks, others have created opportunity.

Design firms have honed their expertise in facilitating approvals of all kinds, and market this as a specialty service which is highlyvalued by their customers, pricing it accordingly! Taking it a step further, in some urban settings a new breed of consultant called “permit expediters” has emerged.

Advances in building technology

The advent of new building materials and systems is happening at a torrid pace. How can anyone hope to keep up with it all? The watchword in the industry has always been to “stick to the tried and true”. Meantime, our customers, especially now with access to endless possibilities over the Internet, want the very latest for their projects. In order to meet market demand while managing the risk associated with being early adopters of new building technologies, design and construction firms are investing in research and development - and tapping into readily-available government funding to support it!

They differentiate themselves, market the value of tested solutions, and find they can often charge a premium for it. Other companies have adopted a different strategy by sticking to technologies that have been proven over time, and marketing a level of comfort and certainty to their customers.

Risk transfer

The trend among public and private owners alike to shift more-andmore of their risk onto their service providers continues to escalate.

Frustrated by cost and budget overruns they create contracts that demand fixed prices (no change orders!) and iron-clad occupancy dates. In many cases the contracts include liquidated damages clauses penalties payable by service providers if targets are missed.

While reluctant to provide those guarantees under “traditional” designbid-build delivery models, some in the industry turn this into an opportunity by responding with a design-build approach. They are comfortable that they can manage the cost and time risks because one entity controls both the design and construction.

There are other kinds of risks which owners are seeking to transfer, things like: design and construction quality; financing; subsoil and environmental conditions; latent deficiencies in brownfield projects; and, responsibilities for building performance and maintenance.

Those design and construction firms that understand risk management are able to carefully consider opportunities where owners are seeking to transfer some of their risks. Under the right circumstances where they can identify, measure, manage and charge for risk, these firms may make an informed decision to accept it.

But where does that leave all of those companies that aren’t positioned to even begin to deal with these risks?

They can, of course, simply decline these projects. But many are choosing to learn about risk management, and make it a part of their business strategy, understanding that the willingness and ability to assume manageable risk can open new and profitable opportunities for them.

Integrated project delivery

Still others are beginning to explore new ways of managing risk through better integrated delivery models (see Building Strategies Spring 2006). They are finding that this more collaborative approach, by bringing all of the key project life cycle stakeholders together from the outset of the project, focuses the team on a common goal – achieving the best possible project result they can. That shared objective can significantly reduce the aggregate risk on the project. The team then allocates remaining risks to the parties best able to manage them.

Many of the integrated models in use today go one step further by sharing not just the risks, but also the rewards. Where the project cost comes in under budget, the parties

share the savings on a pre-determined formula. Should there be savings in energy and building performance, these are shared within the team.

There are firms that are not waiting for the customers to ask for an integrated solution. They are actively promoting integrated delivery and all of its benefits. They build the team, might secure the financing, could include a contract for facilities management, and create their own projects!

Building Information Modeling (BIM)

BIM (see Building Strategies Fall 2007) goes hand-in-hand with integrated project delivery by facilitating the input of all team members and sharing of information in real time. Software on the market today allows designers to “construct” buildings inside their computer, just like Boeing did with its Dreamliner, and avoiding, for example, the coordination problems that so often plague construction projects.

That database of building information is then used by the builders, giving them a three dimensional model rather than 2D drawings to work with. Those who see the huge potential of BIM for our industry are already making sure they are “ahead of the curve” in adopting it.

These are just a very few examples of strategies that design and construction firms are using to find and generate new business opportunities.

There are, of course, many other possibilities. What potential might there be given the ongoing scarcity of affordable housing? What lies ahead in healthcare, especially given the constant pressure for more private sector involvement? What new markets can globalization open for us?

What potential is there to outsource more of what we do to developing countries? Will multi-disciplinary companies become a key to unlocking new prospects?

While the list of possibilities is practically endless, the strategy is the same. Understand the marketplace trends and the other forces that are driving the potential for change in the industry, then find opportunities - and create your own – to succeed and prosper by delivering added value to current and new customers. B Brian Watkinson, OAA, FRAIC, Int’l Assoc. AIA, is former executive director of the Ontario Association of Architects and now provides consulting services through his firm Strategies 4 Impact! brian@ strategies4impact.com

Building Strategies Spring 2008

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Showcase

The Ontario concrete industry acknowledges excellence and innovation with its annual Ontario Concrete Awards program.

Concrete examples of excellence W

hether the project involves a large or small company, the Ontario Concrete Awards program honours the visions of some of the most creative projects the province has to offer. Here are the winners of the 2007 Ontario Concrete Awards in the nine categories.

Building Strategies Spring 2008

21

INFRASTRUCTURE

for bridges, road and other municipal and provincial infrastructure projects that predominantly utilize concrete products.

Winning project: Church Street Bridge Reconstruction Owner: City of Brampton Works & Transportation Department Engineer of record: Planmac Inc. Consulting Engineers General contractor: Anscon Contracting Inc. Material supplier: Dufferin Concrete Additional participant: Ronco Steel Centre Limited

MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT & INNOVATION

Architectural merit

for buildings or other structures in which the architectural considerations or design predominantly influenced the overall project.

Winning project: St. Gabriel’s Passionist Church; Owner: Passionist Community of Canada; Architect of record: Larkin Architect Limited; Engineer of record: Carruthers & Wallace, part of the Trow Group of Companies; General contractor: Martin-Stewart Contracting Ltd.; Material supplier: St Marys CBM; Additional participants: Aldershot Landscape Contractors, Camino Modular Systems Inc., glass artist David Pearl, Haworth Limited, Ian Gray and Associates, Structform International, UCC Group, Weissbau Inc.

ARCHITECTURAL FLOORING OR HARDSCAPE

for interior concrete flooring systems or exterior landscape designs that effectively utilize concrete materials.

Winning project: Bay Street Streetscape Reconstruction Owner: City of Hamilton - Public Works Architect of record: The MBTW Group Engineer of record: McCormick Rankin Corporation General contractor: Dufferin Construction Company Material supplier: Dufferin Concrete Additional participants: G. O’Connor Consultants Inc., Skycast Inc., Unilock

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

for applications in which material innovation or specialized construction techniques were developed to improve the overall performance of the concrete.

Winning project: Pulver Residence Owner: Ian Pulver Architect of record: Mark Hartley Landscape Architects Engineer of record: N/A General contractor: The Beach Gardener Inc. Material supplier: Stone-Link Corp.

MID TO HIGH RISE RESIDENTIAL

for residential buildings constructed primarily of cast-in-place and precast concrete.

Winning project: Portofino Condominiums Owner: Portofino Corporation Architect of record: Vijay Vasantgadkar Architect Engineer of record: HGS Limited General contractor: Portofino Corporation Material supplier: St Marys CBM Additional participants: PCR Contractors, Renaissance Precast The Portofino Condominiums project also won in the category of STRUCTURAL DESIGN INNOVATION which honours structures in which engineering considerations predominantly influenced the structural design.

SPECIALTY CONCRETE APPLICATIONS

for projects in which specialty concrete products were used or applied in efficient or creative ways.

Winning project: Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building, University of Toronto Owner: University of Toronto Architect of Record: Foster + Partners; Engineer of Record: Halcrow Yolles; General Contractor: PCL Constructors Canada Inc.; Material Supplier: Innocon; Additional participants: Amherst Crane Rentals, Premform Ltd.

SPECIALTY CONCRETE PRODUCTS

for projects in which specialty concrete products were used or applied in efficient or creative ways.

Winning project: Code’s Mill Inn on Stewart Park; Owner: Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Ltd.; Architect of record: Erskine Dredge & Associates Architects Inc.; Engineer of record: Eastern Engineering Group Inc.; General contractor: R.K. Porter General Contracting Inc.; Material supplier: Rideau Home Hardware Building Centre, McNamee Concrete; Additional participant: Nudura Corporation.

SUSTAINABLE CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION

for projects in which concrete materials were used efficiently to minimize the economic, social and environmental impact of the project.

Winning project: The Currents; Owner: Windmill Development Group; Architect of record: Busby Perkins + Will; Engineer of record: Adjeleian Allen Rubeli Limited; General contractor: Aecon Buildings (Ottawa); Material supplier: St Marys CBM; Additional participant: Build Green Consulting.

The judges for 2007 were John Archer, Cement Association of Canada; David Bayne, Vanbots Construction Corporation; William Crompton, David S. McRobie Architects Inc.; Marco Frascari, Carleton University; John Hull, Ready Mixed Concrete Association of Ontario; Chris McColl, St. Lawrence Cement; and Ian Shrimpton, Earth Tech Canada Inc. They selected these projects as winners based on architectural merit, creativity, quality of engineering design, innovative construction techniques or solutions, complexity and functionality / end-use suitability.

Sponsors for 2007 included: American Concrete Institute - Ontario Chapter, Canadian Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, Cement Association of Canada Ontario Region, Concrete Floor Contractors Association of Ontario, Consulting Engineers of Ontario, Ontario Association of Architects, Ontario General Contractors Association, Ontario Cast-in-Place Concrete Development Council, Ready Mixed Concrete Association of Ontario, Reinforcing Steel Institute of Ontario, Axim Italcementi Group, BASF Admixtures, Euclid Chemical Company and Grace Construction Products.

The awards were presented at a banquet held at the Concrete Canada Tradeshow on November 28, 2007.

Both cast-in-place and precast projects are eligible for this annual competition. Details at www.ontarioconcreteawards.ca

Economic Issues

Controlling the project ```````````` budget

By Christopher Martersteck PSMJ Resources consultant Christopher Martersteck brings his 30 years of experience leading projects and PMs to bear as he offers these strategies for conceiving, developing and monitoring project budgets in ways that ensure profitability.

E

very year, management training and consulting firm PSMJ Resources Inc. trains thousands of AEC project managers (PMs) and design firm executives and “controlling project budgets” is the most frequent response to the question “what is the biggest challenge you face in your job?” What is the secret to controlling the project budget? Why are so many firms chronically plagued by budget problems?

The secret is that there is no secret. Design firm executives and PMs that consistently control their budgets — and make every project profitable — take a disciplined approach to developing, forecasting and monitoring their budgets.

When a design firm receives payments from the client, that fee is usually divided to pay five components, which form the elements of the project budget: Direct labour: the salaries of the people who will perform the work.

Overhead: holidays, vacation time, sick leave, payroll taxes, rent, vehicles, administrative staff, etc.

Other direct costs: consultants' fees, travel costs, printing fees, and other related out-ofpocket expenses.

Contingency: a cushion to handle unforeseen problems.

Profit: the necessary reward for the owners of the firm for assuming business risks.

Five budgeting methods There are also five typical methods to budget a design project. The first four methods are most common, and the fifth reflects what happens typically. Consider using as many of the four budgeting methods as possible on every project. At a minimum, use at least two methods. This creates “checks and balances”— the hidden pitfalls in each method are compensated for by the strengths of the others.

1. Upward or zero-based budgeting – starts at the most detailed level and moves upward.

The estimator typically uses the project plan task outline, estimates staff hours required to complete each task, estimates direct hourly labour rates and multiplies those estimates to calculate direct labour costs.

Next, the estimator adds the overhead costs as a percentage of those direct labour costs, estimates other direct costs (such as airfare, printing, and subconsultants) for each task and adds appropriate contingency costs. Finally, the estimator adds the desired profit.

The advantages of the zero-based budgeting approach include: • it forces the PM to thoroughly plan the job before creating budgets.

• it provides the PM with baseline information for monitoring and controlling the project.

• it records commitments made by the responsible individuals involved in estimating the level of effort required for each task.

• it develops the resource information needed to calculate manpower requirements.

• completed during the proposal stage, it provides invaluable information during contract negotiations. It also forms an excellent foundation for future change control.

• forecast against the project schedule for each task, it generates cash flow information.

Despite all these advantages, the zero-based budgeting method also sets the stage for PMs to pile contingency upon contingency when examining each individual task—ultimately overbudgeting the job.

2. Downward budgeting – starts from the opposite direction. The assumption is that the value of the project has been established, so it is known what the client is willing to pay to complete the work.

The budgeting process starts with a total price (fee) that is not necessarily related to the cost of actually performing the work. The price has been established using some method other than adding all the costs, including profits.

Once the amount of fee is established, budgeting involves subtracting the profit to determine the firm’s total costs. Contingency, direct expenses and overhead factors are then subtracted until you have the direct labour dollars to pay for the project team to do the actual work.

This is the critical point in the downward budgeting process. In this case, the dollars available for direct labour costs dictate the Building Strategies Spring 2008

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Economic Issues scope of work that can be performed. Too often, the tendency is for PMs to squeeze a scope of work, determined by their assessment of what the project requires, into a budget that has been determined by subtracting the non-direct labour costs from a client-imposed maximum fee.

Projects undertaken for fees based on this method require careful planning and control.

The PM must understand that he or she is starting with an assumed fee, and it is critical that the scope of work be developed to match this fee — not the reverse.

The major advantage of downward budgeting is that it does establish a project budget that will meet all the firm's financial goals as long as the scope of work complies with the client’s requirements. In addition, it is based on the client’s fee requirements and should therefore meet those expectations.

The primary disadvantages of downward budgeting revolve around its tendency to not match the final budget and the scope that the project team believes is required.

Here are some things the PM can do to avoid these pitfalls: • ensure a high degree of team buy-in.

• align final budgets to each individual task so that the PM is provided with essential planning information.

• ensure there is a viable way to express levels of effort required for the various tasks.

3. Unit price budgeting – this budgeting process is based on estimates of the number of units of work performed and the number of hours or dollars per unit. Examples of unit price budgeting tools include: dollars per drawings, per cent of construction costs, dollars per square foot of office space, and dollars per foot of boring.

To use unit cost budgeting with the best possible accuracy, it’s necessary to define carefully the exact scope of work contained in commonly understood units and then compile historical cost.

The main advantage to unit price budgeting is that it provides an objective estimate based on actual historical costs. If the actual costs are being tracked with accuracy, these factors can take much of the subjectivity out of the estimating process.

The major disadvantage is that very few projects are exactly alike. Even if two tasks were identical, the second time the task is performed, its cost should be less because of the experience from the first.

Also, unless the cost budgeting approach is aligned to the lowest level of detail of the task outline, it does not provide the PM with the quality of planning information that can be obtained from the zero-based budgeting method.

4. Staffing level budgeting -- works particularly well for very small projects, such as a small design project that will take a total of six weeks. You know you are going to use 100 per cent of Fred’s time on the project, 50

24

Building Strategies Spring 2008

per cent of Bill’s time, and 25 per cent of Matt’s time, and some clerical help will be needed for about 33 per cent of the time. You multiply the hours needed times the billing rates and add the other direct costs and/or contingency to arrive at the fee.

Budgets prepared using this method are at best “gut feel” numbers. Usually the scope of work is not well defined. So, they should not be relied upon as the only way to budget a project.

This budgeting method works where the specific tasks for the new project are not yet well defined. However, from experience you do know the number and type of team members that were used on a similar project.

Until the actual scope of work is set, an initial budget assuming those same staffing levels is established. This type of budgeting should not be used to develop fixed prices for new scope of work, since it has not yet been defined. As soon as the actual scope of work is developed, the task outline can be finalized and upward budgeting must be done.

5. Real world budgeting -- in reality, budgets are typically established by a combination of upward and downward methods. The project team budgets the project using the upward method and arrives at a proposed fee to accomplish the project. If the proposed fee exceeds what the firm believes it can achieve, the downward budgeting process is initiated to attempt to lower it. This process continues until the PM arrives at a project budget and fee that both looks and feels right.

No matter how the budget was created, it must be translated into the zero-based budgeting format to allow monitoring and control. Each task must have a budget, and the total of all task budgets must equal the project budget.

Budgeting the project is a challenge for the most experienced PMs. Many of these challenges can be overcome by following the project management plan process. Develop the scope of work and break it into the tasks needed to complete the work. Then plan the work by sequencing the tasks in the most logical order, with all the dependencies identified. Schedule the tasks to meet commitment dates, and then budget individual tasks on the schedule.

Using the four budgeting methods in combination, fine-tune the project budget and get commitment of the team members responsible for each task.

Monitor project’s financial status

The key for PMs controlling the budget successfully after it has been established is to ensure that the financial performance goals of the project are met. Here’s how: 1. Monitor the work done.

2. Seek additional fees for extra work.

3. Get authorization for extra work.

4. Review preliminary invoices immediately.

5. Review all final invoices.

6. Give the project accountant needed

7.

8.

9.

10.

information for invoicing.

Review subconsultant invoices.

Review invoices for other expenses.

Invoice clients promptly..

Review time sheets weekly.

Overcoming budget problems

So what if your project gets away on you in spite of your best efforts? Here are some strategies to overcome budget problems and regain control.

• Examine the figures. Before making changes, be sure you’re really over budget. Check all charges of time and expenses.

• Check to be sure everything you’re doing is required in the scope. If something is not, stop work, or get added client funding.

• Examine each task. Be sure that only experienced people work on those activities requiring judgment and only junior people work on tasks that merely require persistence.

• Shorten the schedule and work overtime.

This reduces coordination costs by minimizing the number of people working on the project. It will also cut overhead costs because overtime hours do not carry the same burden as regular hours.

• Stop evaluating alternative solutions. Go with what you know will work and don’t change unless someone convinces you that what was selected won’t work.

• Renegotiate consultant contracts. If the total budget is in trouble, perhaps subconsultants caused aspects of the problems. If so, you may be justified in renegotiating their contracts.

• Use temporary help. The firm can save payment of some fringe benefits by using temporary help.

• Be a squeaky wheel. If your project is over budget, don’t hide it. If you inform everyone in the firm that you are in trouble, those who might otherwise charge a random hour to your project will think twice. And, people on your team will know to work together to salvage the project.

• If all else fails, ask the client for a budget or fee increase. If the scope or other circumstances have changed, don’t be afraid to go back and ask for more fee. Remember – always ask the client for what you need to be successful. Their success depends on your being successful as well! B Christopher Martersteck AIA, LEED AP, DBIA, a project management consultant for PSMJ Resources Inc. based in Deerfield, IL, consults and leads project management seminars for AEC firms around North America. His engagements include leading two sessions at the annual Ontario Association of Architects conference being held April 30 to May 3, 2008, at the Hilton Niagara Falls Fallsview Casino Resort, Niagara Falls, ON. He can be reached at (847) 945-0128; cmartersteck@psmj.com.

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Company profile

By Susan Maclean The therapeutic impact of design today plays a major part in shaping our healthcare environments. A prime example of a recent project that took this into consideration is the 220,000 sq. ft. critical care addition at the General Campus of The Ottawa Hospital completed late 2007.

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he addition and renovation to accommodate additional surgical activity consists of 190,000 sq. ft. of additional space and 30,000 sq. ft. of renovated space. The critical care redevelopment includes 17 operating theatres, a 34-bed recovery unit, a 32-bed intensive care unit (ICU), 24-bed surgical day care and administration and support facilities, plus a stem cell and gene therapy laboratory and the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory. The addition also includes a new boiler/chiller plant and emergency generators as well as a parking expansion.

Bulk stores facilities and a new biomedical engineering department also form part of the new complex.

The architect firm for the $65 million project was Ottawa, ON-based Erskine Dredge & Associates Architects Inc., formerly Lowry Otto Erskine Williams Architects Inc. “One of the most innovative planning strategies of the project was the linking of the surgical suite and ICU via a bridge that runs through the middle of the public

Project Profile

Healthcare projects

By Susan Maclean

pose critical building challenges A trio of outstanding hospitals exemplify the many considerations involved in building healthcare facilities.

Left: The Ottawa Hospitals’ new atrium with a bridge linking the surgical suite to the ICU provides a naturally lit alternative to long winding corridors.

Photo: Gordon King Below: Construction at the Hôpital Régional de Sudbury Regional Hospital is undergoing a $362 million expansion and planned consolidation of services on one site.

Rendering: Yallowega Bélanger Architecture

atrium space,” recalls architect Michele Dredge. “The atrium is a welcoming public space that allows natural light to penetrate deep into the building interior. All 32 ICU rooms have access to natural light.

“The bridge in the centre of it at the second level carries patients between recovery and ICU and is quite unique,” Dredge continues. “Patients typically travel down long hospital corridors from department to department. The bridge is a direct link that is much shorter.”

Like the ICU rooms, the atrium is enhanced with natural light which has been proven to shorten patient stays in hospitals, according to The Center for Health Design. Based in Concord, CA, this is a non-profit research and advocacy organization of healthcare, elder care,

“

Building on an existing structure while the latter is in use for delivering care to patients is a difficult feat common to all these projects. The third project also involved building a business case.

design and construction professionals and product manufacturers who are bent on transforming healthcare settings into healing environments that improve outcomes through the creative use of evidence-based design.

The original budget was value engineered to include the two and a half storey atrium space which also serves as the second main entrance to the hospital for the north end of the campus and the new 880 space parking garage.

Work on the two-storey wing and vertical addition of 120,000 sq. ft. began in 2004 with EllisDon Corp. as the general contractor. The vertical addition was built on the existing structure, a difficult feat that is familiar to EllisDon and one that is being repeated in Sudbury, ON.

A construction zone at an operational hospital

“Building a vertical extension to the building while it must remain functional is extremely challenging,” admits Guy Logan, general superintendant of construction for EllisDon at the Hôpital Régional de Sudbury Regional Hospital (HRSRH). Although he says this is his fourth project with this challenge, he views this project still as “very complex” given that there are both vertical and horizontal extensions.

As a regional resource and referral centre, the HRSRH provides hospital-based acute, transitional, rehabilitation and continuing care for more than 530,000 residents across northeast Ontario.

The HRSRH is currently undergoing a $362 million expansion and planned consolidation of all acute and rehabilitative services on one site. Once complete, the new hospital will feature state-of-the-art technology and have 17 surgical operating

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rooms, 3,600 employees, 600 volunteers, and a medical, dental and midwifery complement of 260.

This large project consists of 66 per cent new construction and 33 per cent renovation. The entire acute care area is being renovated, including operating rooms, radiology, materials, management, food preparation, while keeping the Hospital operational.

The design and implementation of these renovations were split into two phases.

The $137 million Phase 1 was completed in 2003. Phase 2 is currently under way.

As noted by MMM GROUP’s energy analyst Kathryn Kuber in the Fall 2007 issue of Canadian Healthcare Facilities magazine, Phase 1 of the project broke ground in many ways for the hospital and province.

Building Strategies Spring 2008

The 6.7 MW (net) co-generation facility and supplementary chillers will provide the hospital with electricity, hot water, chilled water and steam once Phase 2 is complete.

This co-generation facility lays claim as being Ontario’s first public-private partnership project: a cooperative venture between the City of Greater Sudbury, Sudbury Hydro and Toromont Energy Ltd. The facility required the installation and operation of a 5 MW co-generation facility serving several buildings in downtown Sudbury with electricity, hot water and chilled water. The plant has been successfully operating since May 2000.

HRSRH consists of two 3.3 MW reciprocating engines operating on natural gas and was completed December 2001 during the hospital’s Phase 1 renovations.

The co-generation plant will be completely operational after Phase 2 renovations are complete in 2009.

The co-generation facility operates on natural gas and supplies electricity, heating, cooling and steam. The waste heat recovery system will be utilized in the heating and cooling system through a heat exchanger and an absorption chiller, respectively, Kuber noted.

The system was designed/financed/ operated by Sudbury District Energy Corporation and Toromont. The MMM Group, which is also responsible for the mechanical and electrical on the project, represented the Hospital in contract negotiations, consumption limits, cost sharing, and financing. Subsequently, MMM Group was engaged by a design/build consortium to design mechanical/electrical systems for all but the main engines, which were supplied and manufactured by Caterpillar/Toromont.

The current Phase 2 is a new construction

project and includes additional acute inpatient and intensive care beds, mental health, operating rooms, birthing facilities, emergency department and other diagnostic and support departments, reports Robert Hofmann, project manager, Capital Planning at HRSRH. Construction for Phase 2 involves approximately 135,857 sq. ft. of new construction, about 164,542 sq. ft. of renovations of the existing facility, fit-out of about 58,499 sq. ft. shelled-in space constructed as part of Phase 1, and life safety renovations to bring the balance of the hospital’s 135,891 sq. ft. up to current code requirements for sprinkler and fire alarm systems. Once complete, the new hospital will accommodate 429 acute and rehabilitation beds and 17 surgical operating rooms.

Yallowega Bélanger Architecture (YBA) of Sudbury, ON, is the project architect.

The design calls for extensive construction in two of the hospital’s three towers in this $225 million second phase of the hospital’s capital expansion.

The north tower is a nine-storey structure with three of the floors being gutted and restored. The remainder of the north tower will receive life safety work which includes the installation of new nurse call, medical gas, fire alarm and sprinklers. A tenth floor as the elevator machine room is being added with a new helipad created on the roof for air ambulance service.

EllisDon’s Logan explains that the sixth floor – the one with the construction zone beginning just above it – is an oncology suite with patients whose immunity systems are already compromised. “It is critical that we follow strict infection control measures and make sure they are not exposed to any dust or other harm from the construction.”

The existing centre tower is being expanded vertically with the addition of a new mechanical and electrical penthouse which involves structural tie-ins, erecting watertight hoarding and using waterproof membranes. In addition to keeping everyone dry, all the mechanical and electrical must run without interruption even as these systems are being extended.

This centre tower is also being extended horizontally for a total of 136,000 sq. ft. of added space for Maternal Child Programs and Cardiac services. a critical care and intensive care unit is being developed on the third floor of the shelled-in centre tower while new operating rooms are being developed in the second floor of the shelled in centre tower.

Substantial completion of the second phase is set for December 2009.

“Any time you’re dealing with renovations in a healthcare facility, you have to deal with infection control, the staff ’s ability to do the job and the need to control noise and air impact,” adds HRSRH’s Hofmann. “We’re working in partnership with EllisDon to avoid any impact.”

He reports that the project is going well.

“EllisDon has a good safety record,” he adds.

The Listowel Memorial Hospital project will upgrade existing structures that are about 50 years old and sit on the original building’s 1919 foundation. Rendering: COHOS EVAMY integratedesign

It also helps to have building information at one’s fingertips which is where the SeawoodFM system comes in. Geoff Williams, manager of SeawoodFM, reports that the Internet-based facilities and maintenance management system offered through the Toronto, ON-based Seawood Solutions and Services Inc., now part of the MMM Group, is a tool to help understand how to operate a building better. Since early 2007, the HRSRH has been using this central point of knowledge for drawing data and operations of the facility. Even at this construction stage it brings such a benefit as determining temporary lines for shut downs. “It helps with shutdowns so plumbers, for example, don’t have to work through the night; they can just shut lines down locally,” Williams explains.

Treating life-threatened individuals and constructing a building would seem to be about as compatible as oil and water.

But, in spite of the dangers of infection (see Environment Corner, page 14 and Regulations, page 31), it’s a mix that is going to be increasingly common as healthcare facilities get upgraded.

A model for detailing a longterm business case

Another approach that will be more common is to determine the business case in advance in order to get funding. The Listowel Memorial Hospital was the first

hospital that the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) required a business case to be done to get funding, according to Craig Applegath, a Toronto, ON-based architect with Cohos Evamy integratedesign.

“It required determining whether a greenfield hospital or taking an existing hospital over time and building a phased in new facility would make the best business case,” he recalls. “A smaller redevelopment over time was determined to be most effective. Then, we came up with a workable scheme to prove that the plan works and it could be done.”

A team comprised of Cohos Evamy Architects, healthcare consultants Agnew Peckham, healthcare planners and architects Tillmann Ruth Mocellin., designed the complete redevelopment master planning of the current hospital on its existing site in four phases over the next 15 – 20 years.

“The team came up with a really good scheme for a four-phase redevelopment,” Applegath continues. “Each phase provides self-sufficient development. Each improves the hospital but does not require future development to make it functional. So if the project stopped there, it would be okay.”

The first phase, costing about $15 million, was a new emergency facility, ambulatory care, diagnostic imaging and operating room, with the latter still being completed this spring. It also provided a new main

entrance whose doors opened before Christmas 2007.

The 50-bed acute care facility in southwest Ontario serves a rural population close to 30,000. The hospital was founded in 1919 and some of the current structures are about 50 years old and sit on the original building’s foundation.

The timing for the new construction was such in 2003 that the Ontario ministry required detailed planning to fulfill the government’s then new Master Program, Master Plan and detailed project checklist requirements.

Cohos Evamy was selected to provide project management services and lead the Master Planning process. The national firm of architects, health care planners, engineers and project managers willingly applied its experience with large, complex projects and healthcare planning to this smaller project.

Completing the Master Program and Master Plan requirements required analyzing the programs and services being offered to the community and projecting the volumes and scope of service which will be required in 15 years.

Prior to eliminating the greenfield option, the planning process included charette sessions for a hospital on a new site as well as a complete rebuild of the hospital on the existing site. In addition to the planning and design workshop process, a government relationship-building Building Strategies Spring 2008

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process helped ensure that funding was secure in light of the change in the leading political parties at that time.

There were also many consultations with experts and stakeholders in the local community as the planning encompassed an analysis of the political, economic, social and technological context. Many different stakeholder groups were involved in brainstorming sessions to bring forward and address their concerns, problems and other issues. The Strategic Plan evaluated areas of medical specialization, human resources, technology and communication.

In addition, it emphasized what is needed to secure new and future funding for potential service areas, such as a dialysis program or diagnostic imaging equipment.

Overall, the implementation plan included separate operational, financial, work, communications, community relations and government relations plans. The planning also helped ensure that all aspects of the hospital’s programs and services being delivered are maintained throughout the phased redevelopment project.

Another way that this Listowel facility was a first for Ontario was the technical planning which produced savings over time, adds Applegath. “This is a really good example of a strategy set out, approved and implemented successfully. It’s a very good strategy for other hospitals,” he adds.

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The Listowel & Wingham Hospitals Alliance tendered the first phase of the project and construction began in late 2005 with general contractor EllisDon, MMM Group as mechanical consultant, Mulvey & Banani International Inc. as electrical consultant, Naylor Engineering Associates Ltd. for the geotechnical.

While it’s always difficult working in an existing hospital as you have to be mindful of your surroundings, it’s rewarding to work with the owner to keep the quality of healthcare at a high standard, finds Ryan Simmons, the EllisDon project manager for the $14.6 million second phase.

This project is an expansion and renovation to the existing Listowel Memorial Hospital in Listowel, Ontario.

Phase 2 consists of about 51,000 sq. ft. and additional floor area over two levels and approximately 7,000 sq. ft. of renovation to the existing ambulatory and emergency services areas. This project also included the installation of two new elevators servicing the new expansion and existing building areas. This project includes the installation of a new Electrical and Mechanical Powerhouse to supply the entire facility when completed.

Major issues and concerns are with respect to performing demolitions, new construction and renovations to an operational hospital facility and minimizing

any impact on daily hospital operations “You have to have good communication and co-ordinate the work with the staff,” Simmons advises. “You have to keep the guys on the site aware of their surroundings and mindful of those around them.”

Another difficulty with this project has been the Listowel location, he adds. “It’s been a bit of a challenge that no one is close to Listowel and it takes everyone one to two hours to get there,” he says, referring to the trades who are from Toronto, London where he is based and Kitchener-Waterloo.

“It’s difficult when you’re used to working in your own back yard.”

It is also located in southern Ontario’s snow belt and given that the project began December 2005, there have been many weather challenges. “There were a lot of closed roads in the winter,” Simmons recalls. “When we did get through, it was hard working in the storms. We did the superstructure through the winter. It was tough-sledding pouring concrete all winter long.”

On the up side, Simmons has been finding it refreshing to work on a smaller regional hospital where faces become familiar and “you get to see how the hospital impacts on the community. It is rewarding to see that they are really happy with the progress being made. You notice the practical effects of the job you do.” B

Regulations

Building with care at healthcare facilities

By Gordon Burrill

Ever since it was identified that fungal spores and bacteria disrupted during construction maintenance and repair work were causing illness and death in our hospitals, Canada has taken the lead on mitigating these risks. The latest CSA standard takes that lead further in an effort to eliminate deaths that are still occurring.

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t started back in the late 1990s when Health Canada sponsored a detailed study of healthcare facility-acquired infections related to construction, maintenance and repair work in healthcare buildings. The Canadian Communicable Disease Report, Volume 27S2, Construction-related Nosocomial Infections in Patients in Healthcare Facilities – Decreasing the Risk of Aspergillus, Legionella and Other Infections, was released in July 2001. This landmark document was the first document in Canada in which a correlation of construction, renovation, maintenance and repair work with negative patient outcomes was definitively drawn. In the study, covering a 20-year period, 32 outbreaks were analysed and found to have correlation to the construction and maintenance work in the healthcare buildings. Patients with conditions that made them particularly susceptible to illness caused by fungi and bacteria were studied in this report. The most alarming finding of the study is that 41 per cent of those patients at risk succumbed to their illnesses in this report. For the first time, there was conclusive evidence that showed that fungal

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Regulations spores and bacteria that are disrupted during construction maintenance and repair work were causing illness and death in our Canadian hospitals.

At about the same time, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, was studying the same issues and determined that somewhere around 4,000 to 5,000 deaths occur every year in US hospitals due to air borne pathogens. When extrapolating the data to Canadian hospitals, it is a reasonable estimate to say that somewhere between 400 and 600 deaths occur in Canadian healthcare facilities attributable to healthcare construction, renovation, maintenance and repair work.

Since identifying these challenges, Canada has been on the leading edge of implementing procedures to mitigate the risks that have now been identified. The Health Canada report contained guideline information to give healthcare facilities the opportunity to reduce the potential impact of construction, renovation, maintenance and repair work.

These guidelines formed the foundation for a 2003 Canadian Standards Association (CSA) standard that was developed to tackle the challenge head on. CAN/CSA Z317.13-03 (Infection Control during Construction and Renovations in Healthcare Facilities) revolutionized the healthcare construction industry with its requirements to ensure that fungi and bacteria generated during normal construction, maintenance and repair work were unable to reach building occupants who were particularly at risk. Healthcare facilities have a significant portion of their populations who are at risk of developing infections as a result of these pathogens being released into the healthcare facility indoor environment.

The introduction of the CSA standard in 2003 continues to have an impact on the construction industry in healthcare. The most significant issues in this standard are the risk assessment model which helps healthcare teams to determine appropriate levels of infection prevention and control measures to be implemented for different types of work in the buildings. The four levels of infection prevention and control measures are becoming better understood in the industry. Sadly, however, there are still cases occurring in Canada where construction is being blamed for untimely patient deaths in our facilities.

With a solid four years of feedback from the industry and new cases continuing to develop in Canada, CSA has released an improved version of the same standard. Printed in December of 2007, CAN/CSA Z317.13-07 is called “Infection Control during Construction, Renovation or Maintenance in Healthcare Facilities”. Although the 2003 standard always included the words “maintenance and repair” in its scope statement, some healthcare buildings were excluding its requirements from their dayto-day maintenance activities. Such activities can (and have been shown) to have the same devastating impact on the building occupants.

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There are more changes than just the title though. A new section has been added to the standard that deals specifically with new construction projects. Section 8 of the new standard lays out requirements for “infection prevention and control measures for new construction projects”. They include such requirements as the constructor designating an infection control officer to work with the healthcare facility. It goes on to require that the healthcare facility’s multi-disciplinary team designate a representative to the construction project. Another requirement for new construction projects is that the development of an infection control plan is now required. This plan is to be reviewed by the multidisciplinary team prior to the commencement of construction.

In this same section, there is a recommendation for the constructor to coordinate education sessions for all suppliers and subcontractors participating in the project.

In addition, a copy of that written infection control plan is required to be provided to all subcontractors. Finally, for these new construction projects, the infection prevention and control measures are required to be reviewed at every construction and project management meeting.

Another significant addition is a second new section entitled “Quality System”. This section recommends that any department performing construction, renovation or maintenance work in a healthcare facility should have a quality system in place. This system is used to build a documentation program to verify activities during construction. As one professional that I have spoken with so aptly put it – “In the eyes of the judge: If it ain’t written down, it didn’t happen!” This new section of the standard stipulates requirements to ensure consistency across the industry in the way that construction projects are documented from an infection prevention perspective.

There are other changes to the standard.

The most significant addition/change is the clause that deals with shipping, handling and storage of materials on construction sites.

There are two primary areas of concern relative to construction products: moisture and dust infiltration into the materials. The challenge here is that current construction practices do not always protect vulnerable construction products (especially ventilation ductwork and paper-faced gypsum wallboard) from what amounts to contaminants for a healthcare building. The 2007 edition of the standard requires these products to be handled in such a way that they are protected. These requirements include wrapping moisture susceptible products (e.g. drywall products) in an impervious plastic wrap, loading material at indoor facilities and delivering the products using enclosed vehicles. Shipping drywall products on an open bedded truck in inclement weather will not meet the requirements of this newest standard.

Handling of ductwork is another

documented vulnerability for immune suppressed patients in healthcare facilities.

To that end, the 2007 edition of the standard requires that ductwork shall be handled and installed in accordance with the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association’s (SMACNA) 2000 Duct Cleanliness for New Construction Guidelines at the Advanced Level. In essence, this means that ductwork must be protected from dust intrusion through the use of sealing the ends of the ductwork (during shipment to the site and while being handled on the site). In addition, all fittings and transitions must be shipped to the site wrapped. Finally, the ductwork is only to be opened in order to complete the connections between pieces of the work as they are being installed into the project. At the end of each piece of work on the ducts, open ends are to be sealed to protect the ductwork from the intrusion of dust.

One last addition to the standard that will make the standard much more usable is the addition of a new Table 4: “Time Required for Airborne Contaminant Removal at Efficiencies of 99 and 99.9 per cent”. This table has been adapted from a similar table used for the control of airborne infectious diseases and provides an excellent guideline to answer the question of how long the negative construction air handling units should be left running after construction before removing enclosures. The answer to this question depends on the desired efficiency (which is now stipulated in various areas of the hospital) and the volume of air moving through the construction area. Now there is a good answer to that question.

The 2007 edition of “CSA Z317.13-07: Infection Control during Construction, Renovation and Maintenance of Healthcare Facilities” is poised to, once again, revolutionize the construction industry in Canadian healthcare buildings.

Many years ago, very progressive people recognized the risks due to healthcare fires.

They worked to implement current code and standard requirements that stipulate the use of fire detection, suppression and alarm systems.

They further worked to train healthcare building staff of the importance of being aware of the risks and always being prepared for a fire.

As a result, deaths due to fire in Canadian healthcare facilities have dramatically dropped to single digits annually. We can all hope that our future holds a world in which healthcare facility deaths attributable to construction, renovation and maintenance work (i.e. the spread of fungi and bacteria) drop to that single digit level. Canada continues to lead the charge. B Gordon Burrill is president of Teegor Consulting Inc. He can be reached at teegor@ nbnet.nb.ca.

This article was originally published in the Winter 2007/2008 issue of Canadian Healthcare Facilities.

Trends+ Products

Addressing risks, energy

efficiency and environment issues

By Duane Sharp, P.Eng.

Security and control of access is a key safety concern for hospitals and other healthcare provider facilities. There are several safety and security aspects which are peculiar to healthcare facilities, ranging from theft of newborn babies, rape, assaults on patients and staff, internal and external vandalism, wide-scale pilfering of hospital goods, fire risks and staff abuse of access codes on doors, among others.

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long with various government strategies and guidelines for ensuring that appropriate security procedures are followed, security hardware and systems are available to assist healthcare facilities to identify and minimize the aforementioned security risks.

Access control

Card access is one of the security features which healthcare facilities have used in the past and which is being upgraded in a number of Canadian hospitals, to take advantage of new technology.

The New Women's College Hospital selected Mississauga-based Veridin Systems Canada Inc. to deploy their systems. Veridin integrates security systems for buildings, involving card access, video surveillance, and alarm systems.

Colin Doe, CEO of Veridin, explains that “magnetic stripe access control is an antiquated system and it's really not used anymore. At The New Women's College Hospital, every employee has a Mifare access card, and on that card is their photo identification, as well as critical personal information that needs to be known at a glance, for accurate identification.

“The bit size of the data on the card is so large it would take ‘a few thousand years’ to break the code,” according to Doe. "It's an encrypted code only readable by the card reader assigned to that card. Whatever healthcare facility they're putting on to that card is provided their own access code number so it can't be duplicated anywhere else. This makes the card that much more secure.”

The card has credentials built into it

to allow or deny employee's access into different areas of the building, depending on their authority level, with future provision for incorporating other features to make the facility a one-card facility for various uses such as logging on to the computer and paying for parking and cafeteria items.

The logistical challenge for The New Women's College Hospital was to issue new cards as quickly as possible. Not everyone could be assigned their access cards at one time because the staff numbers at this hospital are around 1500, and it was not possible to assemble that many people in one room for photo badges.

Ken Ferguson, manager of safety and security services, The New Women's College Hospital, said the facility selected the Mifare product because of the ease of use and flexibility of the software. "In an older facility like ours where there's a lot of wires, control cabinets, and different things mounted in hub rooms and electrical closets, we'd run out of space," he said.

"The brains of the smart card system were more compact, and the fact that it is not a proprietary system, was a deciding factor in the selection process.”

What are some new trends in security systems for healthcare facilities?

“I have been surprised,” notes Doe, “by the fact that a number of healthcare facilities have chosen multi-format cards, which we also provide, when installing new security systems, rather than smart cards.

These cards have the advantage over smart cards in that, besides being ‘smart’ cards, they can be used with three or four different readers, meaning that hospitals do not need to replace readers.

“Another trend I have observed is that there is more partnering among suppliers and healthcare facilities,” he adds.

“Unfortunately, healthcare facilities are slow to adopt new technology, even though cost reductions can be achieved. However, the move to P3 contracts for hospital construction should encourage the more timely adoption of new technologies in safety and security areas.”

For more than 85 years, Schlage has been providing innovative security solutions for schools, hospitals, hotels, condominiums and a host of other commercial buildings.

Today, Schlage is prominent in cuttingedge technologies such as wireless security products, biometrics and video solutions.

With a wide range of products, styles and finishes, Schlage has recently introduced a new range of security-oriented products.

The 4040XP offers tough safety where you need it most. Said to combine superior quality with real-world application solutions, it is designed for use both indoors and out, safeguarding doorways from heavy abuse such as harsh weather, heavy-duty cycles and improper installation.

LCN 6030 Series closers provide reliable door control without detracting from the facility’s overall appearance. The closers are fully concealed in the head frames, and the tracks are concealed in the door.

Alarm systems

Gentex Corporation recently released an addition to its photoelectric smoke alarm product line. The Gentex FirebyrdTM Series is a photoelectric single or multiple station smoke alarm for use in commercial and commercial residential applications, such as Building Strategies Spring 2008

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Trends+ Products healthcare facilities. The GN-200 Series is a 120VAC hard wired smoke alarm, and the GN-300 has a 9VDC alkaline battery backup in addition, in the event building power is lost. The GN-200 and GN-300 both produce an 85-decibel continuous tone, while the GN-203 and GN-303 produce an 85-decibel temporal 3 evacuation tone.

The Firebyrd Series has a push button test to simulate 3.5 per cent smoke condition, mounting bracket for ease of installation, Sure-LockTM locking pin to detour tampering, a quick disconnect wire harness, tandem capabilities with all Gentex tandem capable smoke alarms and the Easy WashTM on site maintenance program.

Notifier, a division of Honeywell International Inc., offers scalable fire and

life safety systems for protecting single hospitals or sprawling university medical centre campuses. Notifier’s Onyx Series of intelligent fire alarm control panels are said to be engineered to fit the unique fire protection needs of the healthcare industry.

The company has been in the fire alarm and life safety systems business for more than 50 years, and claims to be the largest manufacturer of engineered fire alarm systems, with over 400 distributors worldwide and regional support operations on every continent.

Interior building products

A Toronto Firefighter for 20 years before becoming president of Markham, ON-based Rescue 7 Inc., John Collie says he believes in

the photo-luminescent products his company sells for exit signs and low-level pathway lighting to identify and mark evacuation routes in the event of blackout conditions.

“The value of photoluminescent products is tremendous,” he notes. “There is no electricity required, no maintenance and it makes for a very safe environment.

Exit signs no longer have to be placed above the door [which is] not visual in a fire. Instead, they can be placed at a low level beside the door. When renovating, the exit signs require two screws to change them from one location to another.

There’s no need to run electrical wiring and feeding lines through the walls.”

Non-toxic and non-radioactive, the signs and tape are designed to glow in total darkness after exposure to normal ambient fluorescent light. They are non-electric and have no internal lights, making them 100 per cent reliable, easy to install, low-cost and virtually maintenance free. They are also explosion proof, making them well suited to sensitive areas, such as healthcare facilities.

The Rescue 7 photoluminescent product line includes: Glo Brite Framed Exit Sign Single Face, Glo Brite Safety Track which is a non-skid, mineral coated photoluminescent tape, and a wide variety of signs for indicating pathways, emergency equipment, etc.

The photoluminescent products are guaranteed to last for a minimum of 25 years. The product's ions are charged by the ambient light and when it goes dark the product will illuminate for 24 hours.

All products meet Building and Fire Codes which state that Exit signs must illuminate at five candles or more for 90 minutes or longer. Emergency maps at elevators and in other common places of buildings can be created with photoluminescent so they will "glow" in the dark.

Energy efficiency

Reliable Controls is a Canadian company headquartered in Victoria, BC, with a long history of providing control systems for healthcare facilities around the world.

Recently, the company released two products: the MACH-ProSys building controller and the MACH-ProPoint expansion module.

The MACH-ProSys is a 32-bit based BACnet device that delivers value in a high performance programmable building controller. The MACH-ProSys provides high-speed communications, 12 inputs and 8 outputs, and multi-protocol support. The MACHProSys controller database allows users to define up to 160 universal I/O on a single address. The additional I/O points are added to the MACH-ProSys using convenient MACHProPoint I/O expansion modules. Up to 7

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

MACH-ProPoint expansion modules can be added to each MACHProSys controller for large installation projects.

Another new product that Reliable Controls now has in its control system offerings for healthcare facilities is its building automation software (BAS) RC-Archive 2.0, which adds a range of features and functionality to its current suite of building automation software.

RC-Archive 2.0 is an SQL-based data acquisition application used to create longterm trend logs archived from multiple buildings. End-users can quickly gain access to numerous trend logs recorded from multiple buildings, automatically polled using Ethernet (IP) communications. Alarm messages can be emailed automatically by the server to communicate server status.

RC-Archive 2.0 maintains an SQL database of trend log data which is accessed by Reliable Controls workstation software, RC-Studio 2.0, to provide seamless integration with real-time online data.

Archived data can be viewed, graphed, printed, or exported into third-party applications such as Microsoft Excel.

Vent cleaning

Ventcare Inc. specializes in providing robotic ventilation inspection and cleaning technology for industrial and institutional facilities. The company provides a variety of programs to maintain and improve indoor air quality.

Among the ventilation hygiene services provided by the company are the following: ventilation inspection, digital video analysis, ventilation cleaning, ventilation system monitoring, air quality testing, microbial growth analysis, particulate analysis, and an anti-microbial shield program approved for ventilation systems.

The Ventcare robot designed for inspection and cleaning acoustic lined and metallic ducts allows the company to adjust the intensity of the cleaning action and monitor the cleaning process with a remote mounted camera system. A robotic direct contact brushing method contacts the ductwork on all four sides simultaneously, providing a work method that ensures particulate removal of a quality superior to traditional compressed air and hand vacuuming.

Ventcare robotics minimize the number of access holes made in the ventilation system, preserving the mechanical integrity of the ventilation duct system. Access to ductwork traditionally felt inaccessible is now possible, such as ductwork blocked or hidden by electrical cable trays, or ductwork where the workplace is restricted, as is often the case in hospital operating rooms and other areas in healthcare facilities.

facilities would be incomplete without mentioning the risks associated with building improvements or construction on the site. Avondale Construction is a Halifax NS-based company which has built and renovated a number of healthcare facilities in the Maritime provinces, including the Clinical Research Facility and Ophthalmology Unit & Surgery Area of the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, NS, the Dr. George Dumont Hospital Psychiatric Unit in Moncton, NB, and over 25 projects for Northwood Care in Halifax.

Milton Kitountas, project manager for Avondale, described two areas which command special attention during construction: protection of the healthcare environment from construction materials,

and control of infection. “In the hospital renovations we have completed recently, the only aspects I noted that were pressing requirements were environmental and infection control and waste management.

One deals with protecting and isolating the clean areas from the construction by isolating them, which would involve tarping and hoarding these areas from one another.

Air quality was checked and monitored on both sides and procedures followed for clean ductwork, etc. The other aspect dealt with what and how demolition material was handled once it left the site: did it go to a landfill? which one? was it recycled, i.e., to recover copper wire, pipe, and steel?� B

bradley resize need art form

Environment and ` infection control

Any review of addressing risks in healthcare Building Strategies Spring 2008

35

Energy Efficiency

Reducing energy costs

through power factor correction

By Leon Wasser, MBA, P.Eng.

Historically, most facility managers have focused their attention on ensuring basic availability through system design supported by UPS protection for critical equipment and on minimizing energy cost through a variety of energy conservation building retrofits such as lighting replacement programs. While these are very important, many facility managers are now focusing on additional aspects of their electrical supply system, especially the quality of the power in their facilities.

U

nlike most power consumers, the electrical utility sector – both producers and local distributors – are highly aware of and sensitive to power quality and power factor issues. Power suppliers work hard to ensure that the power they transmit to consumers, including large institutional clients like hospitals, is high quality and has a high power factor. They know that the efficiency of the power grid that they are responsible for is highly dependent on their ability to produce and maintain the high-quality power network that we enjoy across Canada.

As noted, the power that healthcare facilities receive at the utility electrical meter is generally in very good condition.

The reality is that the vast majority of power quality problems are caused by factors internal to a building, usually as an unintended and almost unavoidable consequence of the power loads in the building. Different forms of power consumption result in a variety of effects on the power that is circulated in the building, and different types of loading result in a variety of forms of degradation of the institution's power supply.

“

Despite local variations, in almost all cases, institutions land up paying for power that simply is not available to them.

Many building engineers are aware that loads such as florescent lighting and the cathode ray tubes used for computers and many other devices generate harmonics, or secondary waves within the main power wave. These secondary waves, operating

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

at frequencies that are multiples of the standard 60 Hz cycle of the primary wave, create interferences that can detrimentally affect motors and other equipment. In addition, inductive loads from equipment such as motors and compressors like the ones used in HVAC systems, elevators and other mechanical devices normally create other types of electrical wave disturbances that reduce the electrical system's power factor. Variable speed drives installed on motors in order to conserve energy result in further disturbances of the normal electrical wave pattern. Resistive load devices like incandescent lighting and direct electric heating do not result in these types of wave disturbances, but as everyone knows, these technologies are often inefficient from an energy consumption perspective, and as a result are becoming increasingly rare in institutional settings including healthcare facilities. It may seem ironic that the more heavily institutions invest in their facilities to conserve energy through innovative energy efficient lighting, variable speed drives on motors and increased local smart controls on HVAC systems, the more the power is degraded resulting in power quality and power factor reduction problems.

Hospitals as electrical consumers

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are by their very nature among the most energy intensive buildings found anywhere in their cities. The vast array of diagnostic, monitoring and therapeutic equipment characteristic of healthcare facilities ensure that these facilities would be at the upper echelon of building power consumers. In addition, the need to maintain exceedingly high HVAC standards, through frequent air

Energy Efficiency changes, humidity control, filtration and other environmental factors are major factors in elevating hospital power costs. This high power demand and a multiplicity of devices and equipment result in a virtual cacophony of demands on the building's power supply that help to degrade the power supply within the institution. In addition, as should be obvious, hospitals and other healthcare facilities also require high power factor and power quality to address potentially narrow tolerances for the optimal performance of all types of equipment. Historically, many institutions have protected themselves with capacitor banks to ensure high power factor in critical areas and have installed uninterrupted power supplies to ensure that an ideal power is available to the device at all times. Today, more robust and dynamic systems perform these tasks and obviate many other power quality problems.

“

Technology that is more sophisticated is available to address both low power factor and a variety of other power quality issues

Forms of power degradation

As noted already, various loadings can generate a variety of forms of power degradation. Because power is a waveform, many of these problems are cumulative and, therefore, can generate unexpected or even unpredictable results. One simple problem that can be associated with these types of wave abnormalities is that motors and other inductive loads do not run at their maximum efficiency. As a result, equipment heats up as it operates and possibly even overheats beyond the device's design tolerances, causing premature wear and ultimately early breakdown at major costs. This inefficiency also means that the devices consume excess power to operate and through unintended heat losses. In addition, many pieces of equipment are controlled today by small microprocessors. These control devices are vital to ensure the smooth operation of the overall system, but these small electronic devices can be "tripped" by relatively small electrical surges or interruptions which can cause them to reset or even trip off, depending on the default programming of the device. Systems as varied as banks of elevators and local environmental controls can be seriously affected by power fluctuations.

One important result of the various forms of power degradation is a reduction in the power factor of the building's power system as measured at the entry point of the power supply to the building. Often, the building's power factor can be reduced from near unity, or 100 per cent to as low as 75 per cent, depending on the loading of the building. This is quite important since institutions typically pay at least a portion of their power bill based on 100 per cent power factor. There is considerable variation in how utilities charge for power in different Canadian jurisdictions. Electrical rates charged to larger customers such as healthcare facilities and hospitals are

typically a combination of consumption expressed in kilowatt hours and peak demand expressed in kilowatts, often in combination with some "transmission" or administrative charges. Despite local variations, in almost all cases, institutions land up paying for power that simply is not available to them.

Typically, when facility managers have become concerned with low power factor,

they have addressed the problem with banks of capacitors located in proximity to large devices. Alternatively, the power problems for a whole building could be partially remediated by larger capacitor banks located in the main electrical room. Today, technology that is more sophisticated is available to address both low power factor and a variety of other power quality issues identified above. Computer Building Strategies Spring 2008

37

Energy Efficiency controlled comprehensive systems deal with the multiplicity of power problems that modern device-laden buildings generate.

In all cases, it is critical to start with a complete diagnostic assessment of a building performed in each primary electrical room.

This test provides highly detailed results about the building's overall or local power profile and power factor. Just as it would make no sense to proceed with a major operation without proper diagnostic tests, it is reasonable to make use of the new computerized diagnostic tools that give a far more detailed view of a building’s power system than has been available using simple volt meters and amp meters.

Other efficiency issues

Power conditioning applied at individual buildings is being recognized by governments and utility companies as well as by building managers as a highly effective power demand reduction technology. Because power demand and consumption is tied to the types of power consumption activities inside the building, it is understood that power conditioning is a highly effective local conservation measure. For this reason, some jurisdictions and utilities have already launched specific educational and incentive programs to increase awareness of both power quality and power factor issues. While a power conditioning system can be designed

and installed independent of any building systems since it is connected to the building's primary supply in the building's electrical room or rooms, work is advancing with building controls companies to incorporate this technology into a building's energy system. Power conditioning systems are always designed to run in parallel with the primary electrical supply so that only a small proportion of the building's power runs through the power conditioning equipment in order to balance out or filter the power supply. As noted above, power quality problems can result in equipment failures due to tripping out of the solid-state controls that operate the equipment. One of our customers had the unintended benefit of eliminating the regular tripping out of a number of elevators due to locale power surges as subways entered or left a nearby subway station. The elimination of several outages a week was appreciated by the hospital's management, patients and elevator service company alike.

Another residential institutional client had unexpected power savings when they discovered that they were operating at a significantly lower power factor than they had expected due to far greater growth in personal computer usage throughout the building. As in many cases, management had focused on the total power demand for the building rather than how power is used in the building, and how that usage evolves over

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Building Strategies Spring 2008

time. Even with the best diagnostics, there is always some degree of uncertainty as to how well a building will adjust to the power conditioning measures that are introduced.

While typically power consumption can be reduced by six to 8.5 per cent through power conditioning, in one case, one institutional client achieved savings of over 10 per cent because the power supply was found to have many anomalies and problems that turned out to be easily corrected. When a building has major power problems, the typical system payback of 2.5 can be reduced considerably.

Although the degradation of a building's power might be invisible to the human eye, the effects on building systems and operating costs are hardly invisible. The presence of phase imbalances, harmonics, micro-surges, re-closures and other power anomalies result in under-performance of building equipment to run inefficiently, premature wearing out and breakdown of motors and other equipment components and overconsumption of power. B

Leon Wasser MBA, P.Eng., is vice-president, Business Development for PowerCon Optimized Power Solutions, Inc. www. powercon.ca.

Building Strategies

Winter 2007/2008

Volume 2 Number 4