Challenge

This project was a new clinic building that incorporated an Owner-defined facility brand identity for all new buildings, providing a consistent building profile, including interior finishes and standardized “lean workflows” for physician clinics. The project was fully designed but the branded facility requirements were still in the initial stages of design, which was impacting an aggressive project schedule. If the project team waited for the completion of the branded facility design, the project would not meet the Owner's schedule expectations. In addition, the project budget was established early in the process and was based on a set of conceptual assumptions. After detailed design user group meetings, it was apparent that the base assumptions did not account for the current project requirements, including facility brand requirements and the Owner's equipment, resulting in budget variances.

Success

Northstar recognized the schedule variance and brought focus to develop a solution that included integrating the Owner's facility brand design team and the project design team. This allowed design collaboration, which expedited the branded facility design requirements for project implementation and maintained the established schedule. The team identified budget variances between the current project requirements and the original assumptions, and confirmed that the Owner's business plan supported the added program elements, resulting in adjustments to budget. This allowed the Owner to fund the variance prior to major project commitments and expenditures.