Close collaboration and digital tools facilitate major project

The Jönköping Region has expanded rapidly and the capacity of the emergency care at the current regional hospital is only dimensioned for half of today’s population. The hospital is almost thirty years old and in need of modernization, and there is a major shortage of doctors in the region. This is the reason behind Jönköping County’s investment in the county hospital Ryhov.

NCC and Midroc Electro recently undertook another successful hospital project together in Eksjö, which is why Midroc Electro was appointed to be in charge of the electrical installations in the Ryhov project. The project is a partnering contract, where client, contractor and subcontractors collaborate under a joint budget in an open working environment and with complete transparency between the parties. In January 2018, the groundwork was commenced, and the whole construction is estimated to be completed by the turn of the year 2020/2021.

The project started in April 2017 with a kick-off for the participants, and a partnering declaration was agreed upon.

– Around 40 people from Jönköping County, NCC, the architects Liljewall and all the consultants sat down together. All parties presented their ideas on how to carry out the collaboration, and we established mutual rules for how we should work and act, says Gert-Inge Andersson, project engineer at Midroc Electro.

Shortly thereafter, the project planning was in progress.

– The deadline was tight, since we have a whole floorplan with training facilities for medical students that had to be ready early on. Thanks to our close collaboration, the project planning went very smoothly and in record time, says Gert-Inge.

For the project planning, NCC has set up a project studio – a physical office at the construction site where the key actors of the project plan and coordinate their work. All consultants must be on site a couple of days every week to solve problems quickly.

– We have a very successful concept here. Working closely with the main contractor and the end user saves a lot of time. It allows us to make quicker decisions and it is practical for the client who has the opportunity to communicate requests and be involved in the project, says Gert-Inge.

Competence puzzle for diversity

Building a hospital require special competence, something that Midroc Electro has obtained after executing several hospital projects.

– There is a lot of advanced technology and many different systems in hospitals, which makes the installations more integrated than in other installations. There are a lot of sensitive electronics that require several back-up systems to ensure that there is always power supply, says Stefan Svensson, Project Manager at Midroc Electro.

To ensure broad competence and dynamics, there is great diversity among the members of the team.

– All of us have different qualities and experience, and when it comes to competence, we complement each other. We have a great crew. I think that the collaboration is incredibly good, says Leif Eriksson, Project Leader.

Leif is one of the people who contribute with long experience from hospital projects. For the project engineer Martin Sejdhage, however, Ryhov is his first hospital project, but he has broad experience in digital projects. And this project happens to have a very high ambition when it comes to digitalization. For example, the entire building was first constructed in a digital 3D-model first, and all items that should be fitted were entered into the model. It saves a lot of time and facilitates planning and offers early collision detection.

Digitalization simplifies work

Together with NCC, Midroc Electro has developed a mainly digitalized work process, from planning to quality control.

– We use several digital tools in the project to support the work. We spotted early on that one of the challenges could be possible design changes during the construction phase. New medical technology could be developed, and political decisions could affect the work as well. A digitalized design greatly simplifies the handling of changes. If and when there is a change, we can inform the project team quickly. It saves a lot of time, reduces the risk of errors and ensures that everyone always has the latest design version at hand, says Martin Sejdhage.

Another example where a digital solution has improved efficiency is a cloud-based system for self-monitoring, developed in-house.

– We have received very positive feedback from the Quality Controllers. To be able to walk around with your tablet, taking a picture of a deficiency and then in real-time verify when it has been corrected, speeds up and simplifies the work process, says Martin.
For the main contractor NCC, the ability to use efficient digital solutions in the project was a prerequisite when selecting partners.

– At NCC, we want to work efficiently with digital work processes, and to do that we need mature co-players. Midroc has a high level of maturity and understands the benefits this provides. The resources allocated to this project are competent and want to learn more, and question things in a good way so that we can adjust and improve the processes together. That is a great strength in a collaboration, says Tommy Mossberg, chief of staff for Ryhov at NCC.

A great advantage of using digital tools more is that it will increase the accessibility and improve project transparency for everyone involved, which further enhances the benefits of the partnering.

– This is a huge project with many parties involved, and there is often a lot of people on site. We work closely together which creates a team spirit that is good for to the project. With our digital processes in place, where we can share important information, also benefits the collaboration a great deal, says Tommy.

Inclusion and commitment

Smart solutions that simplify work processes, along with short decision-paths and inclusive work methods, have resulted in a workplace with a high feel-good factor.

– We have our office on site and have daily contact with all employees, which makes the work very efficient. We have a very open dialogue within the group, and we have weekly meetings where all employees participate. We carried out a workplace survey where we asked if they were enjoying the project – and almost everyone has given us the highest rating, says Stefan.