We have recently been awarded a contract to build a 80,000 sqft hospital building, to be constructed in 180 days and handed over. Initially I thought that something like this is next to impossible, but when we discussed the matter with structural engineers and the contracting team, I was amazed to know that this can be done. I initially thought that this would cost the earth and would be un-economical but the cost incremental would be only about 25%, which was not much given the fact that you will otherwise take at least 12-15 months to build this using conventional construction methods of RCC framework. This is enough to emphasize the value of using faster construction techniques in which one can fast forward the revenue intake by a stupendous 6-9 months period! This surely needs to be researched further and imbibed as a strategy if we have to cut down the time to rapidly construct hospitals. Green field projects would suddenly start making sense.The IT industry uses these technologies, and we need to learn from their experiences.

The idea was to use structural steel for columns and beams. These can be fabricated on site and erected at one go. The slabs could then be cast at fast speed there by getting the structure in place in record 3 months time. The internal walls are to be erected using Gyp Board partitions, which are not only fast to erect but also give us enormous flexibility to run engineering services between the two partitions. These walls are easier to dismantle as well. Flooring would be vinyl, for fast laying, and an entire floor can be done in a day, plus you enjoy ease of future maintenance and replacement. The cost of these dry wall partitions is also not very high as compared to the conventional brick masonary wall, which have the challenges of wet construction, wherein it takes more time to erect these walls. Besides, you need to chase them to run the electrical conduits and any other services. Dry wall partitions are lightweight and hence also become easier to implement in brown field projects where we are working in existing hospitals where structural load is an issue. The incremental cost of making walls using dry partitions can be offset to a large extent by quicker commissioning of the facility and early earnings.  Walls can similarly be coated with wallpaper (saving the cost and time of a tedious painting process. There are electrical bed head panel boards available now which have the flexibility of increasing and decreasing number of plug in sockets for equipment usage. We have used many of these in setting up a 23 bed ICU in South Mumbai in 100 days iflat, nclusive of demolition and structural repair time, as the building was more than 50 years old!