Two new hospitals were procured under a single contract by a Public-Private Partnership entity (involving a number of institutional stakeholders) under a design and build arrangement.  The construction contract was valued at circa US$530 million.

William Riakos provided Commercial management and Conflict Avoidance solutions by devising and implementing improved contract administration strategies (focused on change management).

Projects such as this (procured under a ‘design & build’ model) present challenges, to both Owners/ Operators, and Contractors alike, of maintaining quality, and compliance with regulations whilst simultaneously controlling change, and cost.

Our experience in this sector has, amongst other things, revealed that increasingly there is a drive for hospitals to be more welcoming and therefore there is additional pressure for higher standards of finish in the ‘front of house’ spaces, and we have seen a drive to incorporate noteworthy architectural features which Contractors must put in place measures to confront this address this added pressure on costs.  Also, operational efficiency may not be fully developed in early designs used for tender, and contingencies need to be factored-in to resolve these in the design development process.