Executive summary
The Hospi tal District of Southwest Finland (VSSHP) is building a new hospital , named T3 in Turku, Finland which is going to replace the ageing current hospital building. Services from other nearby hospitals will also be merged at T3. The basic elements for the design of the hospital will be patient safety, i ts family-orientation, as well as the adaptability and multi - functionality of the facilities. Achieving these goals requires new approaches and knowledge management, which comprises of the collection of data, and i ts analysis and utilisation in decision-making.
T3 is a massive project, and to ensure its success, it has been essential to take advantage of the professional knowledge of the future users of the facility. A large number of requirements to be taken into consideration were collected from the hospital staff, and this data forms the basis for the project’s knowledge management. A big project like this accumulates a lot of spatial information and it cannot be managed with traditional means.
Modelspace-software allowed the collection and management of data in one place. This data was always accessible, up-to-date, and comprehensible. The data could also be efficiently processed and changes could be made quickly, even to multiple spaces in one time. The data was retrieved from different angles as needed – Modelspace offered a new window into the information contained in the Building Information Models (BIM)
Client
Turku University Hospital (TUH) is part of the Hospital District of Southwest Finland (VSSHP) and serves a population base of 470,000 people of which roughly 200,000 use the services annually. T3 is being built as part of a hospital campus area that will comprise of the hospital and the university. Services from not only from the old hospital, but also from nearby hospitals will be combined at the new facility. The new hospital is expected to receive over 50,000 unique patients a year. Challenging targets have been set for the hospital in terms of enhancing care, and this requires the introduction of new approaches and facilities. A special feature of the new hospital is its location on a deck that will be built on the Helsinki-Turku highway and railway.
TUH T3 In a Nutshell
Total area of the new building is about 54 000m2, eight floors, usable area 21 000 m2, Deck area 9 000 m2
Total cost €158 million
Building cost €140 million
Fixed hospital equipment and furniture €18million
Challenge
T3 is a massive project, and there was a wish to take advantage of the professional skills of the future users of the facility. A large number of requirements to be taken into consideration were collected from the hospital staff, and this formed the basis for the project’s knowledge management. A big project like this accumulates a lot of facility data, and it cannot be managed with traditional means.
The management of spatial data has been the responsibility of single persons and the tools they’ve used have been numerous Excel files. The number of Excel sheets tends to grow exponentially when information from many sources, and for many different purposes, are being compiled in them. As projects have got bigger and the requirements for building information modelling have got stricter, the amount of managed data has multiplied. The project’s spatial information might have been in hundreds of different files, from where it was attempted to retrieve when needed.
The slow retrieval meant distortion on the data. The same information was captured in different places and different formats, meaning information was unreliable. On a typical project, reconciling these data conflicts requires a lot of manual work and dedicated people. Addressing this inefficiency was a key focus on the T3 project.
A uniform approach calls for one nomenclature for categorizing the data. Without one there will be many variations of names and attributes making data difficult to utilize.
The management of spatial information evolves and lives on as the planning of the project goes on. That is why the information needs to be changeable. The changes might be big or small; such as a modification in the use the of the space, or choosing a different door for the space. However, these changes have to leave a trace, why the change was made, who made it, and when. Managing different versions of Excel sheets is laborious. After the project is finished, the information is saved in the project bank’s files but its use is challenging as it’s in separate files that need to be accessed.
During the planning phase, it’s important to be able to identify how the different spaces and rooms in the hospital fit in together. Showing the master drawing to the future users of the space and asking them to perceive the space is not easy and this might result in misunderstandings.
Solution
Once Modelspace was chosen for the projects, the designer worked with the experts to create a common project nomenclature for use within the software. This ensured that information and tasks would always have the correct names, and could be found and referenced by the project stakeholders. etc...
“We have hired the best workers and started using the best tools. On top of that, we encourage teamwork. This is what information management is about.”
-Timo Seppälä
Modelspace has enabled the users and the designers to have a better dialogue than ever before. By using Modelspace, there is an opportunity to show the users what the new facilities and spaces will be like and where they are located, which results in getting valuable feedback from the nursing professionals. In the T3 project, the entire data set has been able to be collected in one place. This ensures that the new hospital will serve the end user the best possible way. The required conditions for patient safety and care will be confirmed by listening to the users of the facilities.
Modern cloud service creates an excellent basis for data management. Instead of files, space and project information, such as user requirements, will be saved in the database. The information is always available and accessible from the database, and it can be linked to other information. The data is understandable, reliable, and straightforward.
Building Information Modelling can also be developed by using knowledge management. Information content of the models improves, which leads to a better utilization of the models. The amount of data is not a problem anymore; instead, we can focus on the extraction of all the relevant information from the data sources.
Data is also easily updateable as the planning progresses. Certain spaces, such as the operating theaters, can easily be found and their requirements can be changed. Modelspace enables making changes to multiple spaces at the same time. This is how the spatial information is easy to maintain and keep up to date. Every change leaves a trace and it is easy to later on determine what has been done, who did it, and why. People involved in the project have praised the ability to search for information – for example, areas that require hospital gases, can be found in a few mouse clicks. A nomenclature was developed for the T3 project, which ensures that the information and tasks always have the correct names and thus are found by those. This created a facility card, which is actually utilizable. This is becoming a normal approach in the industry.
“We have been able to have an even better dialogue about the developing care environment with the designers and users of the space by using Modelspace.”
-Annika Lindblom
Expanding Modelspace
On the basis of the good experience gained from the T3 project, information models could have a wealth of use in addition to designing and construction. When done well, modelling and the information contained therein can be used in for example real estate maintenance. Modelspace offers the tools for updating spatial information, which means the modification and repair projects become easier to implement. From the perspective of hospital districts, Modelspace opens up the opportunity to develop operations. The entire facility portfolio can be managed using it instead of just a single hospital. This would provide efficiency in construction and also standardize practices. Repairs, inspections and other recurring operations could be scheduled and monitored through Modelspace.
Gravicon
Digitalization has changed and will change construction continuously. Gravicon is one of Finland’s leading specialists on construction data modelling. We are experts on construction data management. The data management of construction projects is “management of the project through better and more accurate data. ”
Gravicon works as an informationmodelling expert in Finland’s most notable projects. Our consulting services cover the planning of information model processes and comprehensive training on the topic. Modelspace is a software solution developed by Gravicon for the management of construction projects.
