For more than 65 years, the 517-bed Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital has served the greater Greensboro region with full-service compassionate care and exceptional service. As part of its “Reinventing Healthcare” mission, the hospital partnered with McKenney’s and several other subcontractors and stakeholders for a highly unique and transformative design and construction process.

The project called for the creation of a 145,000-plus-square-foot facility—offering women’s and children’s health services—connected to the south side of the existing hospital. The collaborative process included input from more than 1,000 patients, employees, community leaders and partners—and is based on Integrated Lean Project Delivery (ILPD) principles that integrate design/build and design/assist functions seamlessly.

The process calls for every stakeholder to be an equal partner working the owner toward a collective vision. As such, it eliminates traditional workflows and demands continuous, real-time feedback between Operations, Design and Build teams. Each user, contractor, designer and owner offer input, but decisions are made collectively by the entire group.

The goal of ILPD is to understand current state operational processes, so the team can identify waste and inefficiencies and design a future state that improves productivity, enhances efficiency and reduces costs. McKenney’s virtual construction, pipe shop, and field teams worked with all stakeholders and subcontractors during decision-making tasks. The team provided construction, mechanical systems, commissioning and retrofitting services. Onsite fabrications were set up, including chilled and hot water mechanical systems. For the first time, McKenney’s used Uponor-brand plastic piping, the low-cost, easy-to-handle product, instead of traditional steel or copper. This alternative improved productivity immensely, saving nearly $250k in labor costs.

The project is on track to be completed on time and within budget. When finished, it will be one of only 100 ILDP projects ever built.

THE CHALLENGE

• Partner with multiple stakeholders in unique, shared-responsibility ILPD process
• First time experience with ILPD process

THE SOLUTION

• Used information provided to make collective, informed decisions
• Installed plastic piping for chilled and heated mechanical systems

THE RESULTS

• Project on track to be completed on time and within budget.
• Decision to use plastic piping reduced labor costs by $250k