Hospital project is ‘on budget and on programme’

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Bermuda’s new hospital will reach its rooftop level before the end of this year, according to project director James Campbell.

“It’s been a long project, with a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” he told The Royal Gazette.

For many, the timeline of its construction has been marked in road closures: the digging on South Shore Road to lay cooling pipelines, which finished in April ahead of schedule, and the more recent work on Berry Hill Road for the hospital’s water supply, which finished last week.

The next off-site work — which contractors Paget Health Limited say will not interrupt traffic — is to start next month along Point Finger Road, with a new footpath and underground utilities running from Berry Hill to the hospital entrance.

That job is expected to last two months.

A 20-year veteran of healthcare building projects, Mr Campbell said Bermuda’s refurbished King Edward VII Memorial (KEMH) has been notably easy going: 18 months into construction, with no changes made to plans, the new hospital remains “on budget and on programme”, he said.

“One of the things I have noticed about this project is that there has been a complete buy-in and support from all areas of the community,” Mr Campbell added.

There have been no objections to the Department of Planning; corporate support recently saw a $1 million donation by Renaissance Re.

Government provided duty relief on the construction materials brought in, and the Corporation of Hamilton gave wharfage relief.

The completed facility will have six levels, including a utilities “plant room” on top of level five. Contractors are about to build the superstructure for levels three, four and five, which will house its in-patient units — 90 single-occupancy, en suite rooms.

“The provision of single bedrooms is huge for patient care, patient dignity and infection prevention and control,” Mr Campbell said.

For the project director, the most challenging aspect of the job came before construction began: coordinating the work of all the parties involved.

“One thing about this project is, it’s the first of its kind. First of all, it’s Bermuda’s largest infrastructure project, and it’s the first ‘P3’, or public-private partnership.”

After the request for proposal was made in December, 2009, proposals from three different bidders were evaluated at a “secure location” in Toronto, he said.

During procurement and evaluation, Mr Campbell and his associates were put to the test by a Due Diligence Committee, whose role was “to challenge the project team and test the team’s evaluation processes”, he recalled.

There was even a “Relationship Review Committee” to examine all business and personal connections of the team.

The Bermuda Hospitals Board chose Paget Health on an anonymous basis, and the winning bidder wasn’t named until the company itself had been informed.

Ultimately, the selected bidder for the project was chosen in September 2010, and the deal was closed by December.

“That’s unprecedented for a jurisdiction doing its first P3,” Mr Campbell said.

After breaking ground, construction was thrown off by the discovery of subterranean sand pockets — but Paget Health amended its schedule, and remains on track to complete the facility at the end of March, 2014.

As Mr Campbell put it: “Construction has been out of the ground for a good number of months now. Once that happens, they’re more in control of their destiny. There are less uncertainties to deal with.”

The end product, which Paget Health will maintain for the subsequent 30 years, will be “much more patient-focused in terms of its design”, he said.

“Members of the public and visitors coming in will be separated from the back of house services like waste management and the laundries — you won’t see any of that any more.”

A new emergency room, new diagnostic imaging, new day patient services and a new central utility plant will complete the upgraded facility.

For now, one of the project’s top challenges, Mr Campbell said, is “building a hospital directly adjacent to an operating hospital”.

Industrial filters are required to keep dust out of the air system for KEMH’s operating rooms, and vehicles’ wheels must be washed before they exit the site.

As part of its “considerate constructor” ethos, Mr Campbell added, Paget Health even weeds the nearby roads.

“This hospital likes to be a good neighbour,” he said.

Useful websites: www.bermudahospitals.bm, www.pagethealthservices.com.

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