Innovative Technology Helps Brasfield & Gorrie Complete St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital on Schedule
October 16, 2013
“BIM Box” created by project manager helps team overcome communication challenges
Atlanta, Ga. (Oct. 16, 2013) — Brasfield & Gorrie today announced the on-schedule completion of St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Greensboro, Ga., which was facilitated in part by a “BIM Box,” an innovative tool created at the jobsite.
According to Brasfield & Gorrie Project Manager Jep Pound, access to timely and accurate information is extremely important on an active construction site. With this in mind, he developed a system to bring building information modeling (BIM) technology to the field forces.
BIM is a process involving the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of a facility, resulting in building information models that help support decision-making throughout all phases of design and construction.
“While addressing the need for BIM coordination on the jobsite, the BIM Box gave our team direct access to information whenever they needed it,” Pound said.
Pound created the BIM Box after numerous requests to show BIM models to field staff began to impact productivity. He credits the tool with helping the project team overcome communication challenges and aiding the timely completion of the new hospital.
Created from an old job box, the BIM box housed information such as up-to-date digital project models, plans, submittals and shop drawings that were accessed daily by superintendents, subcontractors, safety staff and mechanical, electrical and plumbing personnel. The contents helped field staff working on St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital better understand and perform complex tasks.
“Because of this positive experience, we are already using this innovative approach to streamline and improve other projects,” Pound said.
The St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital is a new two-story, 75,000 sq ft structure that replaces the existing hospital. The 25-bed facility has an expanded emergency department and chapel, surgical suites, all-private patient rooms and a full-service cafeteria. It also houses digital imaging equipment and features the only 64-slice Computed Tomography (CT) scanner in the region.
Brasfield & Gorrie served as the construction manager of the project and Earl Architects is the architect of record.
###
About Brasfield & Gorrie
Brasfield & Gorrie is one of the nation’s largest privately held construction firms, providing general contracting, design-build, and construction management services for a wide variety of markets, including healthcare, commercial, institutional, federal, municipal, industrial, infrastructure, and water/wastewater treatment. We serve clients from offices in Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Dallas, Texas; Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; and Raleigh, North Carolina. Brasfield & Gorrie has approximately 2,900 employees, and its 2012 revenues were $2 billion. Engineering News-Record ranks Brasfield & Gorrie 31 among the nation’s “Top 400 Contractors” for 2013.