Haskell delivers AEC and Consulting solutions to help assure certainty of outcome for complex capital projects worldwide. Their market sectors include healthcare, energy and transportation.

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Michael Matthews is vice president of strategy and consulting at Enstoa, a global professional services firm that specializes in capital projects improvement. Healthcare and education are among the industries in which they focus their efforts.

Construction projects are designed and built by bringing together multiple companies to perform a myriad of activities. Value comes from funding the right projects and completing them safely and efficiently. Projects that are delivered faster and at a lower cost deliver higher returns on capital employed and create greater value.

Generally speaking, project supply chains are not very well integrated or streamlined. Contracts and corporate systems act like the wall and moat around a castle where everything must pass through a drawbridge and a gate to get in or out. Projects are also inherently risky. Historically, companies have tried to mitigate that risk through the contracts executed between the project stakeholders and the proprietary systems sitting behind company firewalls. Thankfully there is an emerging technology that directly tackles these issues – a combination of blockchains and smart contracts enabled by distributed ledger technology.

What are blockchains and smart contracts?

A blockchain is an immutable system of record (think ledger) for recording transactions and activities that is replicated amongst all parties that are granted access (rather than being stored in one company’s centralized system). Transactions and activities are reviewed and approved by pre-defined rules and then captured into what is referred to as a “block” that is assigned a unique “hash” or code. Each block is placed into the blockchain by “attaching” to the previous block using its unique hashes to cement a unique connection. Once placed into the chain, any change to any block is prevented. One of the most popular examples of blockchain being Bitcoin, which people trade through websites similar to bitcoin.com.au, decentralized from any government or bank using the previously stated method. With the development and growth of Bitcoin, bitcoin mining and trading have become popular, opening the doors for the expansion of other types of cryptocurrencies, such as Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum. Those who are interested in trading bitcoin can do so using some of the best crypto exchanges available to trade and improve their investments in their chosen digital currencies. If you want to discover more about bitcoins traders you may want to visit somewhere like https://cryptoevent.io/review/bitcoin-profit/ for more information. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now available for use all over the world. Some countries have their own bitcoin exchange services, similar to monedero for those who trade and invest in cryptocurrencies within their countries.

Think of smart contracts as the workflow layer that sits on top of the blockchain. Information regarding the transaction or activity being recorded passes through a pre-defined set of rules before being added to the blockchain. These smart contracts enable each block to be automatically checked against the pre-defined rules before being processed and readily accessible to all the parties of the blockchain.

Embracing emerging technology

Today, there is an enormous amount of data generated on every project. Much of it remains hidden, however, due to either the reluctance or inability to efficiently share the right data with the right people at the right time. A lack of visibility into reliable real-time data results in broken handoffs, errors and omissions, extended lead times, and unexpected bottlenecks.

Blockchains can capture where a resource is at any point in time, identify who has care, custody and control, and record the state that it is in without the barriers imposed by disparate systems and traditional contracts. The information is captured in a peer-to-peer network where transactions are approved through consensus and the relevant information is available to all the stakeholders in the project through the democratization of all the project data.

The value for the project ranges from automated status updates, improved forecast accuracy, scenario planning, streamlined materials management, reduced overhead and indirect costs, rapid issue resolution, accelerated schedules, and improved quality control. With blockchains and smart contracts, benefits accrue up and down the supply chain, from just-in-time planning and inventory management to dispute resolution, reduced wastage and quality controls.

The full lifecycle of typical design and construction projects generate tens of thousands of documents (much still in paper form) from dozens of different companies and the information contained in those documents is often needed by multiple stakeholders. Disciplined coding and tagging can help identify what data and information is contained in the documents, but the data is not readily visible to all project stakeholders.

So what’s the next step? Organizations looking to maximize the value of their capital projects using emerging technologies such as blockchains and smart contracts must address the following questions:

• How can you get all the project stakeholders to embrace blockchains and smart contracts?
• How will you manage access to project data?
• What is the inherent value of the data held by the project stakeholders and how can sharing it benefit each stakeholder?
• What processes and functions exist only to certify trust or facilitate workflow?

The value of blockchains and smart contracts comes from the trust they create and the data they capture and share. Utilizing a combination of both can transform a construction project from a document-centered approach that impairs visibility and speed to a data-centered approach that is visible to all stakeholders in real-time.

About the Author

Vice President of Strategy & Consulting at Enstoa, Michael Matthews has over 25 years of experience managing large capital projects and portfolios in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. He specializes in strategic business consulting and smart technology solutions that enable leading organizations, worldwide, to spend more strategically on improving operations. For more information, visit http://www.enstoa.com.

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CANTON, Ga. — The Northside Hospital Cherokee in Canton has been making plans to upgrade and build a new hospital for close to 10 years. Construction began in Jan. 2014, with the new updated hospital slated to open on May 6, replacing the old 1960 facility that is still currently in use in North Canton. The new full-service community hospital will have more than 600 physicians and 1,700 employees.

The budget for the new 700,000-square-foot Cherokee hospital is $280 million, with 300 more employees than the old hospital, according to a statement. The architect on the project is Howell Rusk Dodson Architects (HRD) in Atlanta, and the general contractor is Batson Cook (also in Atlanta). Construction is already complete on the new hospital, according to Dale Lee, lead design architect at HRD, and will open with more than twice the square footage as the old hospital. Northside Hospital staff is focused on training and education between now and when hospital doors open, while overseeing the installations of equipment and furniture. The goal of the new hospital is to replace the existing facility with state-of-the-art modernized features, expansion capabilities for future growth and to upgrade the level of service for the people of Canton, according to Lee.

The new hospital is built on 50 acres of land, and will have 150 patient rooms, including a 24-bed ICU unit, 45 emergency department exam rooms, inpatient and outpatient radiology and cardiology, and six operating rooms, according to Lee. It will also have a cancer center and infusion center, an outpatient surgery center, and a 900-space parking deck. The new hospital will also have a women’s center — which the previous hospital did not — that will have 13 labor and delivery rooms, two C-Section rooms, and a Zen garden built outside, according to Lee.

Design aspects of the hospital were inspired by the Cherokee community, following Cherokee’s motto, “Where metro meets the mountains,” according to Lee. “We wanted to create some nice public spaces. We wanted to make sure we combined high end materials that you would want in a hospital, but also to use materials that are native to the area that offer warmth and a feeling of comfort,” said Lee. To achieve this, HRD used a combination of high-tech materials and design including metals, panels, and using clean lines in combination with stone walls, wood walls and very ‘earth-like materials,’” according to Lee. Much of the art in the hospital also comes from local artists and photographers.

The building is also designed and oriented to give patients beautiful views, according to Lee. “Creating a connection between the inside and the outdoors was a really important part of the design. There is so much natural light coming into the building, you don’t even need lights on most of the time,” said Lee. That said, 50 percent of the building’s light fixtures will be energy-efficient LED lighting, according to a statement.

To create a community feel, there is a large dining space called The Galleria with a large outdoor terrace space intended to be used by the public for community events, or simply to go out to lunch, according to Lee. “The new hospital will become a destination for the community to visit for pleasure in addition to going to the hospital when someone is sick. That’s something you don’t see every day,” said Lee. “This is what I personally enjoy about designing hospitals — helping people and giving the community something they can be proud of,” Lee said.

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TOMAH, Wis. — Tomah Memorial Hospital in Tomah has plans to begin construction of a new $66 million hospital this fall. Tomah Memorial first announced the project last spring, and plans are currently underway an estimated 140,000-square-foot, three-story hospital and proposed medical office building that would be attached to the hospital.

The project is currently slated for completion by 2019, according to Tim Sessions, AIA, principal at St. Paul, Minn.-based BWBR and architect working on the Tomah Memorial project. Tomah Memorial Hospital staff and administrators have been meeting with architects and designers from BWBR and Market & Johnson of Eau Claire on specific designs for the building since early 2016.

The motivation for building a new hospital stems from the growing needs of the public, according to a hospital statement. Between the emergency room and urgent care, the hospital will likely see 16,000 people this year, with other services having tripled over the last five years, according to Tomah Memorial Hospital CEO Phil Stuart, in a statement. Since opening in 1952, the current hospital has undergone expansions in 1964, 1994 and 2004, but the location no longer allows for future growth.

“The design team’s central goal is to establish a facility for Tomah to be able to deliver healthcare for the next half century with a flexible and adaptable platform that they can work with as health care changes over time,” said Sessions.

Some of these plans include patient-centered efficiencies such as plans to double the capacity of operating rooms, expansion of emergency and urgent care areas, increasing obstetric services with additional delivery suites, the expansion of outpatient infusion services, enlarging rehabilitation areas and patient rooms, and improving efficiencies in daily workflow.

Sessions talked about Tomah being an independent hospital and how as a result they have a real focus on the wellbeing of their patients and the in-patient experience. “Nowadays, systemized hospitals have a greater focus on outpatient services, but Tomah wants to really focus on care and prevention of the hospital’s patients, in addition to becoming a known center for health and wellbeing for the greater Tomah surrounding community,” said Sessions.

There has been extensive discussion about the creation of a wellness facility that would include an indoor saltwater swimming pool available to the community (not just for patients) but is not currently part of the plans as “the economics are not there right now,” explained Sessions. While their vision for the wellness center will not yet come to fruition, progress is still being made with a saltwater pool being included in the plans for the physical therapy/rehab center. The design for the hospital also includes a walking trail around the hospital campus that may connect to Tomah’s existing recreational trail system.

Additionally, Sessions talked about the design trying to create a stress-reducing and calming environment for the patients with a simple and easy to navigate layout, complete with major landmarks to make for easy wayfinding.

“It’s hard enough just having to be at the hospital without having to worry about knowing where you are going,” Sessions said.

The design team also plans to have the patient rooms be more “backstage” so they are not on display as an effort towards more privacy and sense of calmness.

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The Kuwait Ministry of Public Works appointed SSH — one of the leading firms in building, design and construction in the Middle East — to provide design services for the hospital on a design-award-construct basis. Global architects HKS and global engineering firm WSP are also involved in the project. The 322,914-square-foot facility will be built in the Al Sabah Specialty Medical Area in Al Shuwaikh.

The design concept of this giant hospital project is said to be unique with its “futuristic hospital” design theme, according to a statement issued by SSH. The project incorporates advanced designs that include both state-of-the-art technology and energy conservation, according to an article by Trade Arabia. As the largest hospital of its kind, it will have enough space for 792 beds and 2,400 parking spaces. There will be a helipad to support emergency air transport services as well as a day-care center for children of staff members working at the hospital.

In addition to its functional design, one of the goals of the hospital project is to provide a welcoming, comfortable, stress-free and home-like environment for its patients and their families, according to SSH. The facility will also include diagnostic and treatment centers to complement all tertiary care services, along with other non-clinical support and public departments.

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