The 192-bed community hospital consolidated the inpatient services of MaineGeneral Medical Center’s Thayer campus and the hospital on the medical center’s Augusta campus. To complete the 640,000-square-foot center for health in 24 months of construction, which included 18 months of deign and construction overlap, the design team used an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) method.

The design was headed by SMRT Inc., which holds offices in Portland, Maine, in partnership with Boston-based TRO JB. Contractors Robins & Morton of Birmingham, Ala., in a joint venture with H.P. Cummings of Winthrop, Maine, led construction.

“The common wisdom is that IPD is about collaboration, but it goes well beyond collaboration to a unity of purpose around a common goal. Collaboration implies parties agreeing to ‘play well in the sandbox,’ but for all practical purpose, the parties remain in their silos representing the interests of their individual organizations,” said Ellen Belknap, president of SMRT, in a statement. “Successful IPD requires unity, with all parties aligned to the goals and the good of the project, not to the organization and individual representatives. This requires a fundamental shift in approach attitude and behavior, creating a virtual single-purpose entity and integrated team with a common goal.”

According to the American Institute of Architects, leverages early contributions of knowledge and expertise through the use of new technologies, allowing all teams to better realize their highest potentials while expanding the value they provide throughout the project lifecycle. A multi-party contract, required by IPD, allowed the owner, designers and contractors to jointly manage the project.

This sharing of responsibilities and goals was a catalyst in achieving goals, including targeting LEED Gold certification rather than the initial LEED Silver goal. Utility costs in the new hospital are expected to be less than half of costs at the former health care facility.

“The IPD process drove the LEED certification from our goal of Silver to meeting the requirements for LEED Gold,” said Kate Everett, senior engineer at SMRT, in a statement. “With the design and contractor team working as a single entity throughout the design process and construction period, we were able to introduce and execute innovative strategies, like ice storage, very efficiently.”

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