Story

From its picturesque location in Orlando’s Lake NonaMedical City, the architecturally striking Nemours Children’s Hospital is likeno other in the region. Robins &Morton’s initial project scope on Nemours’ sixth floor buildout projectincluded 40,000 square feet of new space, which included adding operating rooms, catheterization lab space and an additional 30 beds. This expansion alsoenabled Nemours to add critical-care capable beds, ultimately increasing itscapacity for cardiac and other critical-care patients.  

Robins & Morton joined the project team early, participatingin pricing and constructability exercises for nearly nine months ofpreconstruction. This early collaboration allowed the collective team to betterunderstand the cost implications of each decision. The team was also taskedwith replicating the appearance of the existing hospital, but at asignificantly reduced price. Through collaborative scope analysis and valueengineering, a 15% cost savings was realized by adjusting the flooring, gypsumboard and lighting.  

Soon after the team began construction, Nemoursbegan to envision a slightly different objective for the sixth floor. In fact,they changed one area’s purpose entirely from an ICU to an NICU (NeonatalIntensive Care Unit), and the hospital also decided to make all  inpatient rooms private, subsequentlyincreasing the room count from 27 to 30. In the end, Robins & Morton finished the NICU and cardiac patient sections at the same time, thanks to the unparalleled collaboration between the contractor, design team, owner and major trade contractors.

Despite project changes and challenges, theRobins & Morton team completed the Nemours sixth floor buildout projectwith zero unscheduled disruptions to hospital operations. By maintainingsuperior levels of quality, providing innovative solutions to uniquechallenges, and working collaboratively with all team members, the project wasan overwhelming success. As a result, the hospital asked the Robins &Morton team to remain on campus and begin an additional scope of work. Theproject kicked off in April 2020.