The beat is ABB's term for the lean construction techniques at Worcester PFI Hospital. We beat a path to their door to find out more.
Imagine a construction project with little on-site storage and minimal waste; one where staff are paid well and don't work overtime or weekends; one where the project timescales are being beaten by three months. A dream? Not to those involved at Worcester PFI Hospital.

Ever since ABB Building Technologies was awarded the contract to supply and install the m&e and public health services on the project, the company has been applying lean construction techniques. On-site storage has been replaced by just-in-time delivery; workers' jobs have been tailored to use their specific skills; and manufacturing techniques have been copied and adapted.

Divide and conquer
The hospital covers 38 000 m over three floors and consists of a main central building that is headed at one end by a semi-circular accident and emergency area and has two adjoining ward areas at the opposing end. Main contractor Bovis Lend Lease's construction plan was to divide the building into quadrants. "There are 41 individual zones in the hospital and each is very complex," explains ABB's project manager Peter Court. "They all have the same types of services going into them, but how they are installed differs to fit with the needs of the different types of ward." Two of these zones makes up each quadrant.

ABB began planning for its role in the project four months before going on site in January 1999. The project team carried out a brainstorming "mix and sort process" with the available options and information at the start of the project to decide the best products to use and ways of working. This process led to several decisions, a principal result being what ABB terms 'the beat'.

The beat involved separating the trades and areas into manageable chunks in terms of time as well as size. For each quadrant, the installation tasks were pre-planned into two-week slots, with decisions made on how many staff would be needed to complete the work within that time. Each task was then scheduled in the logical order so that by the end of an eight-week cycle the services in a single quadrant would be complete.

The idea was that at any one time there would be only one trade group working within each quadrant. Each group had two weeks to complete their installation in an area before moving on to the next quadrant (although this period was split for simpler tasks); a different trade then moved in to complete its part of the installation in the following two weeks and so on.

The system worked very much in the same way as that used in the manufacturing industry. "There are a lot of good ideas you can bring to construction from a manufacturing background," advises Court.

To start the cycle, Bovis fitted the headtracks for partitions, outlining the future rooms and corridors. ABB then installed a bracket matrix, which was attached to the ceiling slabs at 1200 mm intervals – this provided the platform for the services system, but also removed the task from skilled contractors.

The ductfitters then moved in for their two week task, being followed in turn by installation of corridor walls, the pipework, then containment. A scheduled eight-week time-lag between floors on Bovis' original 154 week project plan matched that needed in the ABB beat, and meant that the same team could simply move onto the next floor when they completed one. This reduced the numbers of workers needed: more operatives were only needed when the a&e and ward areas began.

  Each zone is being commissioned as it is completed, so any problems can be picked up long before handover. Rather than one certificate for the entire building there are 41 individual ones – one for each zone, so the last certificate passed is simply for the last zone. This has given great piece of mind to all involved.

Logical working
Another important outcome of the brainstorming sessions was the decision to use just-in-time deliveries on a five- day supply basis.

There were no on-site stores, besides small local containers, so careful logistical planning was carried out to ensure that workers had the correct materials when they needed them. A separate team was hired for the task of logistics; these workers also completing other less-skilled jobs, such as fixing brackets and managing waste, during the rest of their time. "This meant that the workers paid to do skilled jobs could actually concentrate on just that...the skilled workers we were paying the most money for weren't fitting brackets," explains Court.

The logistics team ordered products wanted by team leaders on site, and were responsible for delivering the parts to the relevant areas. By looking at this delivery process more closely and applying value management techniques to it, ABB came up with some innovative new solutions to reduce time and materials waste.

The company studied how the goods were moved to and around the site. Everything was considered, from the point of offloading to the point of use; the type of products being used, and what spillages were due to materials being moved on site. This resulted in a new delivery strategy.

ABB realised that if a storage device designed for use in the workshop, could be filled there and loaded onto a lorry for delivery direct to site, transportation waste could be reduced. This method, explains Court, is an example of lean construction: "People think that you save money by reducing costs, but what you actually need to do is reduce the non-value added acts. Added value is that which the customer is willing to pay for. They're not going to pay us to move things around the site – that is non-added value." The logistics team was trained in scaffold handling, enabling them to make a system of access platforms and materials trolleys. Weekly 'lessons-learned meetings' with the group team leaders established what access and storage facilities were actually needed.

Platforms with poop decks give access to hard-to-reach areas, and the materials trolleys can be stored in the centre of these for transportation at the same time. Small tool boxes on the platforms hold the basic materials needed on a daily basis, and three-sided mobile boards are positioned at each workstation; each having a full set of up-to-date drawings on them – another responsibility of the logistics team. All of these were constructed from standard scaffolding materials.

Working together
With radical changes to conventional on-site practices, how did the workforce adapt to the change in culture? Court assures that, despite some early scepticism, the majority of operatives have embraced the new ways of working.

Everyone working on the site attended two induction sessions on their first day: a standard health & safety talk and a separate demonstration on the ways they would be expected to work on the site.

It was an objective to complete the work within the two week timeblocks without the need for overtime or weekends. As an incentive, ABB introduced a bonus scheme. Initial ideas for this included paying the wages equivalent of working a full seven-day week without actually working weekends, or completing work that would traditionally have taken three weeks in two weeks but being paid for three.

Neither of these methods were used in practice as some workers were involved in more complex areas, which meant that the ability to finish work in shorter timescales was reduced – ABB wanted equality along the job so decided on an attendance bonus, which produced the equivalent higher wages.

The stability of the workforce demonstrates that this system worked. Court confirms: "We've had people leave for better paid jobs, and they've been gone for a week and come back asking for their job back, because the working environment is so good." The number on site peaked at about 250. Of which, around 100 were electricians and pipefitters – this is around two-thirds of the numbers that would be needed on a traditional project of this type and size.

This reduction in staff and the on-site strategies have led to increases in health and safety on the site, for which both Bovis and ABB have received awards.

Also playing a part in this high safety record was the choice of materials and tools. Products were chosen for their ease of installation, such as push-fit spiral ductwork rather than traditional rectangular products – these were easier to handle on site and install, and reduced the need for on site welding. Traditional power tools were replaced by battery operated products to remove trailing cables and subsequent hazards.

Lessons learned
Peter Court states quite proudly that a lot of lessons have been learned. The project team used a six-bone fish-bone diagram conceived in the initial brainstorming sessions to solve problems as they occurred. The bones represent the six main areas of work and any problems can be traced by working through a number of key points stated along the bones.

One area where problems occurred was in materials delivery. As Court explains: "We took suppliers' word for delivery periods," and that was not always the case. In one instance a ten-day delivery period quoted by a supplier had increased to 30 days when the products were requested via the ABB resource planning system that calls in the products on a just- in-time basis. The company had received a lot of orders in the meantime. "The next time we will be aware of the delivery offsets based on the reliability of the component delivery, so we'll call things in earlier where necessary," states Court.

In areas where ABB was independent of other trades the company could control its own destiny. Where there were other trades working in the same areas, which occurred in the finishing stages of each zone, co-operation was needed. To counter any problems, ABB introduced weekly meetings with the other contractors in these areas. This turned out to be a useful experience. "Its amazing what we can learn from, say the painter. If you co-operate you learn from others," says Court.

In fact, changes will be brought in from the design stage. "On future projects with Bovis, we will be working together with the consultant while they are doing a concept and inputting into the design at that stage," says Court. "There must be interaction at the early stages because then you can actually save time and money," he stresses.

The Egan report states that each project completed by a team should be 10% cheaper than the last on a like-for-like basis. Currently the Worcester scheme is 8.25% below costs of the previous pfi hospital the team worked on in Calderdale. And with over six months to go until completion, who knows, this figure could be higher still.

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