In 2018, the DHMC board approved the construction of a new, six-story 240,000 square foot Inpatient Tower, expanding services and capacity by adding 64 state-of-the-art inpatient beds and shell space for future flexible expansion.

The facility was designed with an interdisciplinary and “future-proof” approach. Patient rooms provide flexibility to serve as med/surg, step-down, or even critical care options, depending on need. Each room is private and offers space for visitors to be with their loved ones during their stay. And, technology is at the forefront, with integrated patient dashboards, MyChart Bedside, and telemetry units, allowing patients to interact with their provider teams at their fingertips.

The Challenge: Location-based Labor Shortages

The Upper Valley is a collection of small, quintessential New England towns along the Vermont/New Hampshire border. The area is large, but the population is low, and DHMC is the only hospital within many miles for these residents.

DHMC’s priorities and obligation to Upper Valley residents extended beyond the care they were providing. It was important to the hospital to put the Upper Valley to work through this significant construction project, and to the extent it was possible, keep the labor and vendor base local.

Consigli’s knowledge of the New Hampshire subcontractor market and capabilities informed a thoughtful strategy to do just that, ultimately keeping over 50% of the project spend with local firms.

The Solution: Thoughtful Procurement & Intentional
Pre-fabrication

Keeping the Work Local: The Consigli team took a holistic view of the planning and buyout for this project: identify which scope areas could be supported by local subcontractors and vendors, and then determine where there were opportunities to introduce creative solutions—like pre-fabrication and material pre-purchasing—that would infuse greater efficiencies into the project.

To start, the team mapped out all local subcontractors with the size, capacity, and experience to take on a project of this scale and complexity. The subcontractors were invited to an open house event where they could learn more about the project, meet the Consigli team, and get a sense of the expectations and timing for bidding.

“Our plan was to use local labor whenever we could, and when we maxed out that avenue, we explored creative solutions that could enhance the overall delivery of the project,” said Ricky Gala, Senior Project Manager.

Pre-purchasing Equipment for Schedule Certainty: During Design Development in February 2020, Consigli and designer HDR proactively mapped out decision deadlines for material purchasing, advising on workarounds wherever possible. This is a risk management strategy that Consigli employs on all projects, but it proved critically important and timely at DHMC as COVID hit.

As the world was facing unprecedented uncertainty in early 2020, Consigli’s DHMC team was preparing to break ground on the long-awaited (and much needed) Inpatient Tower. Instead, their focus shifted toward forecasting looming material shortages, supply chain issues, border shutdowns, and astronomical price increases.

“From the beginning of the project, well before COVID was ever heard of, we planned this project to be as schedule and labor-resilient as possible…and then the pandemic really stress-tested that approach,” said Consigli Director of Pre-fabrication Bill Seery.

Consigli secured steel prices before costs skyrocketed and bought from a New Hampshire-based steel mill to avoid potential U.S./Canada border issues. All M/E/P equipment was pre-purchased, locking in early pricing to avoid escalation and circumnavigating long equipment lead times, getting materials to New Hampshire well before they were needed.

It also provided other benefits, like allowing the M/E/P equipment to be designed into the building, and all structural slab requirements and electrical could be fully coordinated in advance, eliminating clashes and field re-work.

This proactive approach extended to commodity items, too. Piping, insulation, roofing, and drywall were prioritized; subcontractor onboarding was expedited, submittals and reviews were fast-tracked, and materials were ordered. Warehouse spaces in Nashua, Enfield, and Seabrook, NH as well as Windsor, VT were used to store the materials until they were needed much later in the project. This fast-tracked procurement approach proved critical as lead times increased nearly 500% on many commodity items during the pandemic.

By April 2020, the Consigli team had locked in its subcontractor and vendor base, pre-purchased materials, and had a solid plan going into the Inpatient Tower groundbreaking, set for July 2020.

“If we weren’t proactive about the way we approached procurement and pre-fabrication on this project, we would’ve been caught on our heels when COVID hit,” said Gala. “We weren’t reacting to a problem and trying to change course. We planned the project in the most efficient way possible, and when the pandemic hit, we were in the best possible situation to take it head-on.”

See how Consigli’s equipment and commodity pre-purchase strategy safeguarded the project when COVID hit, and lead times skyrocketed.

Pre-fabrication for Enhanced Delivery: “The way we go about pre-fab…it’s very systematic. We think from the site all the way through the M/E/Ps and finishes,” explains Brian Hamilton, Consigli’s Vice President of Healthcare & Life Sciences. “When you approach pre-fab as removing labor from a jobsite, it opens up people’s minds; they aren’t just thinking about the standard pre-fabrication elements.”

Every aspect of the DHMC pre-fabrication approach was deliberate. The selected scopes needed to add value to the finished project or the way it was delivered. From the smallest solutions like pre-installing hardware on doors, to large-scale improvements like a structural shift to bolted connections, or driving the exterior design for pre-fabrication, the decisions had to improve quality, increase speed of delivery, save money, or remove on-site labor to mitigate campus disturbances and make the jobsite safer.

“Consigli went into this project knowing the value and advantages that pre-fabrication would bring. When HDR had roughed out a conceptual massing diagram, the entire DHMC project team started collectively digging into the elements of the job that we wanted to pre-fab,” continues Hamilton. “It was really important that we started this out of the gate, because in some cases, it changed the way we approached the building.”

By pre-fabricating systems that directly impacted care delivery and the patient experience, items like headwalls, med gas racks, and wet walls, Consigli and the client team were able to inspect early and often, ensuring the assemblies met DHMC’s exact specifications and standards of care. It also helped keep the schedule in-line by reducing the risk of defects and non-compliance that would need to be repaired or replaced during punchlist.

“By going into the Inpatient Tower project aware of these potential delay ‘traps,’ pre-planning, pre-procuring, and pre-fabricating were all applied to mitigate and diminish these risks,” said Seery. “Our goal on every project is to eliminate risk through intensive pre-planning, and the results at DHMC showcase the fruits of that effort.”

Check out the video below to see what was pre-fabricated and the value it added to the DHMC Patient Tower project.

Turning Over the Tower

Three years after COVID called into question the feasibility of DHMC’s long-awaited project, the Inpatient Tower is opening its doors to the Upper Valley community, providing close-to-home care and a patient experience that rivals its neighbors in Boston and Portland.

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center’s state-of-the-art tower has increased the hospital’s ICU capacity by 228%, with an additional two floors of shell space for a flexible expansion and space for 64 beds which could increase capacity by 356% when fit-out. The main entrance to the hospital is welcoming, with a comfortable lobby, beautiful chapel, easy-to-access amenities and services like food and beverage stations, a lactation room, and an expanded discharge lounge for DHMC patients.

The once too-small hospital is now a landmark for primary and specialty care in the Upper Valley.

The post Revolutionizing Healthcare Construction: The Power of Pre-fabrication & Pre-purchasing appeared first on Consigli Construction.

How does Consigli—which has planned and built more than fifteen projects incorporating timber solutions—coordinate and collaborate with our project partners to plan and deliver high-quality timber structures? With extensive experience analyzing, procuring and installing mass timber, Consigli’s interdisciplinary approach supports our clients—like Bowdoin—in making cost-effective, schedule-driven decisions when planning a mass timber project.

Initial Design

Rigorous pre-construction planning is a must when it comes to mitigating potential cost, schedule and quality impacts associated with a mass timber structure.

• Early Detections of Issues: The smallest details matter when it comes to achieving the desired look and function for such a specialized finish product. Incorporating design intent into early models helps guide crucial design considerations to be incorporated into fabrication documents and allow for timely timber release.
• Structural Reviews: Structural drawing reviews help analyze column spacing, spans of timber elements, choices of direction of primary girders and varying strategies for mechanical ductwork and plumbing routing. The review process can potentially result in cost saving through elements including reducing beam sizes and floor plate thickness.
• Cost Competitiveness: In today’s ever changing and challenging materials market, mass timber has remained relatively steady in pricing. This certainty allows mass timber to be priced early with greater assurance of costs as the project progress. Depending on the application, mass timber pricing can be very cost competitive when compared to steel and concrete and has additional cost benefits in terms of fit-out costs. Mass timber can also remain exposed, reducing the costs of expensive interior finishes on a project.

Selection & Sourcing

Timber species selection can affect the mass timber manufacturer. The right decision-making can support early internal estimates and analyze specific species for the best fit.

• Wood Species & Material Finish: Material selection has a significant impact on the choice of timber manufacturers. From aesthetic to strength of structural design to lengths of members, Consigli can help evaluate timber species and offer options that satisfy aesthetic and structural need.
• Deep Knowledge of Supplier/Manufacturer Market: A strong list of suppliers, both domestic and foreign, ensures competitive pricing for initial bidding during earlier phases of design. As the mass timber is fully designed and released for fabrication, a well-established market knowledge is crucial in bidding installation.

Coordination & Release

Coordination model completion ahead of Construction Documents is critical to final fabrication shop drawings for mass timber. With timber lead times ranging from 16 to 24 weeks from final drawing approvals, time is of the essence.

M/E/P coordination for a mass timber structure.

• M/E/P/FP Coordination: Mass timber penetrations for M/E/P/FP systems must be carefully planned and integrated into fabrication documents. Coordination models for these penetrations allow all pathways to be designed and manufactured in shop in lieu of in field; this is crucial as field cutting is prohibited for this level of finished product.
• Design-Assist Engagement: Engaging design-assist partners for M/E/P/FP systems and mass timber allows the project team to coordinate within the working design model. Creation of CD-level documents through design-assist, even as the rest of the design is in early stages, supports completion of building systems and architectural features for a release of timber well ahead of CDs, mitigating the challenge of timber long lead times.

Delivery & Installation

Careful attention must be paid to the handling, installation and protection of mass timber to maintain the material’s integrity. Hands-on installer experience is imperative when planning a successful mass timber project.

Mass timber logistics & installation considerations.

• Logistical Planning Handling & Installation: Development of the right logistics plans for efficient installation—accounting for any potential double handling and required special care—is paramount to creating schedule certainty through installation. The right project partners develop proper delivery, loading and sequencing unique to each site.
• Protecting your Investment through Insurance & Temporary Protections: Consigli’s in-house Job Site Insights platform allows our clients to protect their investment through floor-by-floor detection of potentially damaging elements to the timber structure, including water, fire or any other elements that may stain or mar the finished product. Additionally, temporary protection is often required and includes the use of hard walls held off the timber columns for UV and moisture protection, floor plate protection from UV, moisture and foot traffic, maintenance of humidity and temperature post close-in. The most effective timber structure protection is speedy building enclosure to reduce environmental impact on the timber itself. Once enclosed and final systems are brought online, maintaining proper humidity levels is critical to keeping the timber looking and functioning at its best.
• Self-perform Capabilities: Consigli self-performs mass timber installation and protection, giving us added control over schedule, quality and continuity of installation because we are that much closer to the product. Our 650 in-house craftspeople share our standards for quality and are a strong additional resource to call upon to get work done on time.

The post Decarbonizing the Built Environment: Mass Timber as a Low Embodied Carbon Material appeared first on Consigli Construction.

Design

When planning an aggressive project schedule, utilize repetitive design details to ensure quality and efficiency as multiple elements are built simultaneously off-site.

Pre-cast Concrete Foundations

The concrete foundations at Johnson Pond Houses were designed to eliminate on-site formwork and ease transportation to site. Consigli’s Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) team developed 35 concrete panel shop drawings to be repeated for each building. Each panel included every penetration, lifting device, reinforcing detail and finishing requirement, with concealing joints between panels. Foundations Engineer of Record Trillium Engineering reinforced details and accelerated drawing approvals.

To confirm there were no conflicts between the concrete, volumetric modular structural unit models, embeds and site work, each panel type was digitally modeled and clash-detected with the structural unit models. Drain lines, HVAC system louver openings, boiler vents, sprinkler drains and electrical conduits were modeled and sleeved in the panels based on the 3D model of Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection (M/E/P/FP) systems.

Volumetric Modular Structural Units

KBS Builders Inc. (KBS) pre-fabricated structural units that allowed in-factory framing, electrical, plumbing and fire protection installation. Consigli and the Kaplan Thompson Architects design team engaged M/E/P/FP design-build subcontractors for weekly coordination meetings to advance the design with KBS. With 18 structural units per building repeated across four houses, coordination and review of KBS shop drawings were required twelve weeks prior to on-site delivery.

The design-build delivery of the four repetitive buildings allowed the team to rapidly adjust design details and apply adjusted concepts from the first building to the last in real time for schedule and quality improvements. The structural units were designed to deliver nearly complete interiors for all spaces except the corridors and pre-cast basements.

Pre-fabrication

Traditional on-site construction limits simultaneous trades on site, due to its inherent sequential nature (first comes site work, then foundation, framing and so on). Pre-fabrication supports faster, higher-quality construction by simultaneously managing multiple trades and delivering materials to site only when installation-ready.

Pre-cast Concrete Foundations

Consigli Self-perform in Pre-casting Yard

With zero flexibility on structural unit delivery, the team had only four working days to set the foundation walls for each building. Consigli turned the parking lot adjacent to the project into a near-site pre-casting yard to construct foundations during sitework, allowing the team to pre-cast and pre-kit the panels on truck beds for just-in-time (JIT) delivery once the site was ready.

From the VDC group’s detailed drawings, Consigli’s self-perform team formed and pre-casted each of the 140 panels. A heated form structure supported rapid pre-cast at ground level, reducing jobsite hazards such as weather-caused slips and potential soil/excavation collapse in the foundation holes. The Consigli carpenters’ pre-casting system formed, reinforced, casted, cured and stripped panels on a five-day cycle.

Volumetric Modular Structural Units

Structural unit pre-fabrication occurred simultaneously with site preparation, foundation and steel fabrication, all of which converged on the date units were delivered to site. Each 18-unit building took 20 working days to pre-fabricate, including the installation of M/E/P systems, insulation, operable windows, an exterior air vapor barrier and a highly insulated exterior wall system to provide a Net Zero Ready structure. The interiors of the bedroom units, bathrooms and common area rooms included the installation of drywall, light fixtures, electrical outlets, flooring and finish paint.

Delivery & Installation

Pre-fabrication reduces on-site labor density, ensures manpower consistency and decreases safety incidents. To reap the benefits of off-site prefabrication against an aggressive project schedule, extensive coordination of trades is essential. 

Pre-cast Concrete Foundations

Concrete panels were delivered just-in-time and placed with a crane with structural steel support beams. Consigli’s self-perform installers set the entire foundation wall system in less than three days—from the first panel being set to the start of wood sill plate installation.

Threaded inserts allowed clean picks off the panels’ sides. Embedded cam rotational picks rotated the panels from their flat to vertical positions for installation. Temporary bracing held the panels in place while awaiting structural unit installation, and top embeds were set to lock in the units come time for installation.

Volumetric Modular Structural Units

Structural Unit Installation

Structural units were delivered in two stages per building (left and right side, two-floors high). In typical pre-fabricated structural unit assembly, units fit with no openings to the exterior. Unique to the Johnson Pound Houses, the structural units had openings for corridor connections when set in place. Keeping each building weathertight between setting units and getting the roof tilted required careful, multi-trade coordination.

Consigli reviewed punch list items throughout construction, catching deficiencies when work was first put in place. Every item delivered was immediately quality reviewed, further accelerating the completion of each building by taking early corrective action.

The post Pre-fabrication for Expedited Delivery: Colby College, Johnson Pond Houses appeared first on Consigli Construction.

In this video series, Consigli looks at components of net zero carbon construction and implementation with our partners. Our first feature is Hotel Marcel, a certified historic renovation that repositioned a former office building into a hotel, targeting Net Zero Energy, Passive House and LEED Platinum certifications.

Sustainable Energy Production

Looking at operating costs over a five-year period, the investment in net zero operations ultimately pays for itself.

As a net zero energy building, the hotel generates 100% of its own electricity, heat and hot water with a rooftop solar array and solar parking canopies—totaling over 1,000 solar panels—with no fossil fuels used for the building’s power or heat. Hotel Marcel is its own energy island, supported by a battery-equipped solar microgrid to power the hotel, feed power to the grid during peak times and maintain power to the building during grid outages. The building’s Energy Use Intensity (EUI) rating is projected to be 34 kBtu per square foot, which is 80% less energy than median EUI for hotels in the United States.

Building Electrification

Technology, like lighting through an ethernet system, allows what was historically one of the least energy-efficient building operations to greatly reduce energy use and operational costs.

Hotel Marcel houses all-electric kitchen and laundry facilities—some of the largest energy-use areas in hotel operations—and utilizes low-voltage Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology to significantly reduce energy use across the entire building. Building-wide PoE powers and controls all lighting and window shades, enhancing operational control and reducing lighting energy use by over 30% compared to conventional lighting systems.

High-efficiency Mechanical Systems

The right mechanical systems can reduce monthly heating and cooling expenses while fostering improved indoor environments through ventilation and exhaust air heat transfer without direct air mixing.

Carefully selected mechanical systems at Hotel Marcel, specifically Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) air-source heat pumps and Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV), support energy-efficient heat recovery and improved indoor air quality in the hotel. The VRF systems at Hotel Marcel can recover heat from cooled spaces for use in heated spaces and vice versa, enabling multiple indoor zones to operate on the same system from the same main compressor unit. The ERV recycles heat energy from the building’s exhaust air to pretreat outside air, reducing load on the HVAC unit and the required capacity of the mechanical equipment. ERV operations are essential for achieving great indoor air quality in high-performance, airtight buildings like Hotel Marcel.

Airtight Envelope Design & Moisture Control

Historic restorations requirements and regulations are not an end-stop for sustainable construction. Innovative building strategies can maintain a building’s historic integrity and deliver solutions for a more sustainable future.

Key to an energy efficient building is a well-insulated envelope with interior and exterior insulation, especially when targeting Passive House. However, at Hotel Marcel, the historic concrete façade could not be modified. Through interior spray foam insulation, the project team created an airtight, high-performance envelope while leaving the exterior untouched, aside from minor caulking improvements. Great care was taken in selecting an environmentally preferable spray foam with low embodied carbon and minimal off-gassing. Coupled with the installation of high-performance window, multiple layers of spray foam insulation ensure an airtight envelope protected from the impacts of outdoor moisture.

The post Decarbonizing the Built Environment: Adaptive Reuse at Hotel Marcel appeared first on Consigli Construction.

Founded by a registered P.E. and a NASA engineer, Rugged Robotics’ inaugural product tackles the challenge of field layout. Traditionally, field layout is performed using tape measures, chalk-lines, and surveying equipment to manually mark the location of walls and mechanical systems. Rugged Robotics automates this process, marking fully coordinated designs directly on to concrete floors using small robotic vehicles. Using the rover, construction workers can print much more information than typically seen on a manual layout, reduce the time spent reviewing plans, and as a result, conduct faster, more accurate installations. It also helps eliminate potential oversights and errors in the manual layout, which can impact multiple trades, and result in incorrect installation, delays, and rework.

Recently, the Rugged Robotics rover was put to the test at Cambridge Crossing – Parcel H, where Consigli is building the new headquarters for Sanofi, one of MA’s largest life science employers. At Parcel H, Rugged delivered a multi-trade layout on six floors covering more than 240,000 square ft.  Their automated layout resulted in improved coordination, reduced errors, and significant time savings on the front end.

“Consigli truly believes in our solution and together, we are working to improve the construction industry,” said Derrick Morse, co-founder and CEO of Rugged Robotics. “As someone who is passionate about the construction industry, it has been thrilling to be in the field and working alongside the Consigli team.”

“At Consigli, our leadership and technology teams are always looking for ways to make construction projects more accurate and efficient, and maximize the allocation of resources on each site,” said Jack Moran, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP and Consigli’s director of VDC and Integrated Services. “We see technology as a way to support our workforce and to meet the construction demands of the future. Rugged Robotics proved its value with an automated tool that exceeded our expectations and worked in synergy with our team.”

Following the pilot, Rugged and Consigli continue to collaborate as Rugged refines, deploys and scales its solution. Future Consigli projects utilizing the robots are already in the works!

The post Construction Technology Newcomer Rugged Robotics Completes First Full-Scale Pilot on Consigli Site appeared first on Consigli Construction.

Becker + Becker Associates, Inc.’s historic rehabilitation of the Marcel Breuer designed Pirelli Building transformed a long-vacant icon into the net zero Hotel Marcel—the country’s first Passive House designed hotel.

All electric, the hotel is powered by renewable on-site energy. Among other sustainable measures, variable refrigerant flow air-source heat pumps and energy recovery ventilation mechanical systems create a uniquely energy-efficient building.

Operated by Chesapeake Hospitality, the hotel hosts 165 guest rooms and suites, restaurant and bar, lounge and meeting spaces and penthouse-level courtyard and galleries.

The post Hotel Marcel: Hospitality’s Model for Sustainability appeared first on Consigli Construction.

Each year, Forbes partners with market research company Statista to measure up the leading employers around the country and the world by asking those in the best position to say: the workers. Since the employee experience can vary greatly depending on an organization’s size and the individual worker, the rankings look at large and midsize employers. Beginning in 2015 with America’s Best Employers, Forbes and Statista have since expanded the coverage to include those employers considered best for diversity, women and new graduates.

To determine the list, Statista surveyed 50,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees. All the surveys were anonymous, allowing participants to openly share their opinions. The respondents were asked to rate, on a scale of zero to 10, how likely they’d be to recommend their employer to others. Statista then asked respondents to nominate organizations other than their own, as well as identify organizations they would not recommend to others. The final list ranks the 500 large and 500 midsize employers that received the most recommendations.

Hear from our employees on why they love working for Consigli!  Congratulations to all for building an amazing community!

The post Consigli Has Been Nationally Recognized as a Forbes Best Midsize Employer for 2021 appeared first on Consigli Construction.

To kick-off the week we looked back at our recently completed YWCA Central Massachusetts project which was led by an all-woman team. Having an all-woman led project team brought new perspectives while aligning with the client’s mission of empowering women.

Throughout the week, we heard from multiple women within our organization on being a woman in the industry. See some of their testimonials below!

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