Digby Christian

The Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley project has been recognized throughout the construction industry as a unique project in design and approach, catching the interest of architects and builders throughout the world. We sat down with Digby Christian, Sutter Health Project Manager, for a closer look at what makes this project unique.

Q. Why is this project different than other projects you and the team members have been involved in?

One of the unique features of the project team is that we have an 11-party contract, with the non-owner members putting all of their profit at risk. I’m very confident that’s a unique set-up in the United States.

Another unique feature is that the trade contractors involved in the design and construction of the new hospital have a goal of achieving a fully coordinated, constructable, affordable design, complete with fabrication drawings, before the facility is even built. We do not want to resolve issues in the field during construction. We want to resolve them all as part of completing the design rather than in the field during construction when change orders are costly and time-consuming.

Q. There is a lot of emphasis on the team approach to this project. Who participates in the regular project team meetings?  How do they work together?

The Project Team is managed by a six-member team called the Core Group. I’m on it representing Sutter Health, as is Bryan Daylor, Eden’s Vice President of Ancillary & Support Services, representing Eden Medical Center. The other four members are from DPR Construction (general contractor), Capital Engineering (mechanical and plumbing design), Devenney Group (architectural design), and J.W. McClenahan (plumbing). We meet every two weeks to ensure the project is managing all the risks as optimally as possible. All decisions are required to be unanimous, and for the two years that we’ve been meeting, we have met that requirement.

A much larger group comprising all the designers, builders and specialty consultants meets at least every two weeks to resolve any strategic issues affecting the whole project. There are also subgroups that meet almost daily to keep information flowing fast and efficiently through the project team.

What are the benefits of this team approach?

You get a fully informed designed. You get an efficient plan for construction. But the main thing you gain is certainty about scope, cost and completion date.  These large projects traditionally go a long way over budget and finish very late and with compromises to the goals that the owner had. We worked hand in glove with each other for close to 18 months to get the cost of the project down without altering any of the goals for the building, and now for at least a year I have been completely confident of our ability to get the triple victory of on budget, on time, and with all the goals intact. That’s a tremendous difference from traditional delivery of these complex, expensive, long duration projects.

What have you learned by this approach?

That it works. To make it work requires that a very large team of people works very hard all day, every day for years. But if the owner’s goals are clear, and the team is working under a contract that puts their interests completely in alignment with the owner’s interests, that that monumental level of effort is exactly what you can get out of a team.  Hospital construction in California is some of the most complex, most strictly regulated, construction in the world and it is extraordinarily unforgiving of oversights and errors. To deliver a hospital on time, on budget with no compromises to what the owner and community want is about as ambitious as it gets in construction at this stage in our industry’s evolution.

How has this changed construction projects for the system? For the industry?

It’s been a tremendous proof of concept for how Sutter Health would like to deliver its projects.  And because the project has been written about in various trade publications and has now won two awards for its delivery model, it does have the potential to be a game-changing project in the industry. I would like it to be just that. Our modern society deserves a rock-solid reliable delivery method for these critical facilities, and until now, in my opinion it has not had that.

If you have any questions for Digby or any member of the team, please feel free to let us know or send us your comments.

We’ll share more details on this prestigious award next week, as well as an interview with Digby Christian, project manager, on the project team’s innovative approach to design and construction.

Here’s a closer look at the week’s progress on the new hospital. Photos courtesy of DPR Construction.

Workers install formwork at radius shear wall on the first level

Nelson stud installation is now complete through level 6 of the tower

The view from level 4 of the future Podium green roof

Rebar installation on level 2 of the elevator shaft

We welcome your questions and comments!

We’ve had several questions about the small structure located on the west side of the construction project. The structure is designed to test the materials that will be used on the exterior of the new hospital and is commonly referred to as the “exterior skin mock-up.”

A closer look at the structure reveals the surface materials in consideration for the new hospital’s exterior. These materials include the pre-cast Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC, the “skin” of the building), the curtain wall (glass), punched windows (the smaller windows), caulking and more. On the photo above, the blue paper marks where the aluminum panels will be installed next.

The mock-up allows the team to identify and correct any installation and erosion issues and helps ensure that the materials work together and hold up to varying weather conditions.The next step will be to create a performance mock-up, a testing environment built around the mock-up that will test for performance in conditions such as high winds and driving rain. These studies are done by testing agencies working with the project team. We’ll share more information on this in a later blog. In the meantime, you can view the structure from Stanton Avenue, along the west side of the construction site.

As always, we welcome your questions and comments.

Photo Courtesy of DPR Construction

Workers shake hands at teh top of the structural steel following placement of the signed beam

For the past week, the sun was shining brightly as Eden Medical Center employees, physicians, volunteers, patients and community members stopped at the construction site to sign the celebratory steel beam. The construction teams were on site working in perfect weather to keep the construction project on pace. At the end of each day, many took the opportunity to add their signatures to the crossbeam that would be hoisted to fit in the last spot at the highest structural point of the steel structure.

By Tuesday morning, the rain and wind returned, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of everyone who gathered for to mark the special occasion. About 200 people gathered under cover of the parking garage to congratulate the construction teams, sign the beam and cheer as the beam was lifted into place.

The American flag was paced atop the beam prior to liftoff

As is the tradition in the construction industry, the Topping Off Ceremony marks the moment when the highest structural point in the building construction has been attained. The last steel beam is signed and hoisted into place. An evergreen tree and US flag are placed on the beam to symbolize that the building project has proceeded well, with a clean safety record, and to bring good fortune to the future inhabitants of the building.

Eden Anesthesiologist Dr. Frank Rico, former EMC board member, checks out the signatures after adding his name to the beam

Eden Medical Center CEO George Bischalaney welcomed the crowd and thanked them for supporting the efforts. He stated that this milestone was as significant to the community as it was to the construction teams, as the dream of a new hospital becomes reality. DPR Construction executive George Hurley thanked the steelworkers and every contractor on the job for their great work, and commended Sutter Health Project Director Digby Christian for keeping the project moving forward.

We’ll post more information about the trades and the next steps in the project soon.  Let us know if you have questions or comments for any member of the Project Team.

The main hospital tower is taking shape as workers continue welding the structural steel and shear wall installation. This is now the view of the project site, from the top of Eden Hospital.

Inside the tower, crews are making tremendous progress:

Another shear wall ready for concrete pour

Columns are wrapped in rebar reinforcement

Under-slab electrical conduit in the area that will be home to the future electrical room

And just what is that small, standalone structure seen from Stanton Avenue? That is a mock-up of a section of the building exterior, allowing the construction team to view and test the exterior materials to be used on the finished building.

A model of the exterior building materials

And across the campus, the Laurel Grove site has changed dramatically as the building has been deconstructed and recycled. The area is now being graded to make way for parking for the construction crews. The Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley construction will create more than 1,000 construction industry jobs throughout this project.

The site of the former Laurel Grove Hospital

We welcome your questions and comments.