Cutting costs through collaboration

The Seattle Children’s Bellevue Clinic is a state-of-the-art two-story healthcare facility with room for outpatient surgery, urgent care, radiology, a pharmacy lab, a sports gym, and a 125,000 SF parking garage. The $75 million facility was envisioned as a lean construction project that would optimize space and energy efficiency to support medical operations.

The clinic was fabricated through an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and Target Value Design approach. This was ambitious because it required stakeholders to divide risk evenly and be aligned on a final vision. As part of a collaborative design strategy, UMC took on the HVAC, medical gas, and plumbing duties.

During the planning phases, overall costs were estimated and agreed upon by stakeholders. By setting a fixed budget, teams were encouraged to share responsibilities and maintain costs. This equal distribution reinforced partnerships and ultimately allowed engineers to cut off three months of work, save 30 million dollars, and utilize an improved, space-efficient design with 30,000 SF less than the original specifications.