Week 2

Week two was a short week because of Memorial Day!

Tuesday morning Rebecca, who I share a desk with, was finally back from her vacation. When we all got to work, we all grabbed our hard hats and did a walk through of the Cancer Institute. We then walked around and saw all of our projects going on around the hospital, making sure things were going as planned. When I got back to my desk I had a huge pile of samples I had ordered last week. I opened and organized those into their separate projects. For the rest of the day I worked on the Artwork for the Family Practice project.

Samples I pulled and orderedWednesday I worked on Elevations of the Artwork for Family Practice, went over fabric selections with Rebecca for the Cancer Institute, and worked on gathering some carpet selections for a private doctor’s office here on the UT Campus. The photo is of the piles of fabrics Rebecca and I were going through looking for fabrics for the Breast Center and the Main Entrance of the Cancer Institute.

Thursday was a busy day! When I got to work, Rebecca and I picked out some samples of carpet, paint, and baseboards for the Pathology department of the hospital. We then took those, along with samples of finishes that had been specified from Herman Miller up to the department for their approval. When we worked out the details with them, Rebecca had me do a finish schedule for the updates. After that, Heather, Back of the Cancer InstituteRebecca, and I worked some more on finding finishes for the Cancer Institute furniture. They took me to Long’s Drug Store for lunch and there I ran into Lindsay! It was fun to get to introduce people from work to another ID student. After lunch we met with a carpet rep then visited the Cancer Institute construction site. The picture to the right is of the back of the Cancer Institute. The building is going up fast! Next week they are going to start working on dry wall!

Like I mentioned last week, I work from home on projects for Mary Beth’s research on Fridays.

RebeccaHere is a picture of Rebecca. I share a desk with her! She went to Interior Design school here at UT and was also an intern at UT Med when she was a student! She likes to garden, read, and go to the lake. She is fun to be around and has some really funny impressions!

This week I had the opportunity to ask Rebecca about Project Organization here at UT Med.

To break it down in the simplest way, we can categorize most of the projects here into two categories. Internal projects, which are usually smaller scale and require little to no outside contractors, engineers, or architects, and large scale projects which do require outside work.

Internal projects, or small scale projects, usually are organized in the following steps:

   -  Client requests a project to Facilities Planning

   -  Discuss the scope of the project

•    Floor plans
•    Drawings
•    Schemes

   -  Ballpark price according to scope of project

   -  Client approval of price/project

   -  Construction (if needed)

   -  Finalize finishes

  -  Order product

   -  Manage construction/installation/furniture

   -  Follow up/punch list

   -  Closure/ project completion

Large Scale Projects are usually organized in the following steps:

   -  Outside Firm does the following:

•   Schematic design
•    Meetings with the client/ UT Med Facilities Planning

   -  Program

   -  Space planning

   -  Design development

   -  Construction Documents

   -  Project submittal to get building permit

   -  Construction

   -  Project Administration

   -  Inspection/ Certificate of Occupancy

   -  Furniture Installation

   -  Punch List

   -  Client move-in

Typically the information is communicated through e-mail, weekly meetings, postings on the Network server, or through phonecalls.

Our time management and scheduling depends on the deadlines of the project. We always find out who needs to meet what deadline, whether it is due to a doctor moving in, etc. Based on the time we have for the project, we coordinate with the contractors and dealerships to see what product is available for the time we have allotted for the project.

Last week I mentioned there isn't really a great way to describe the organization of the UT Medical because it isn't a typical firm. Well I discussed this more with Heather and Rebecca, and we came up with a little more organized way to descirbe the organization of the Facilities Planning Department here at UT Med.

Comments

[Teal N]

Hannah that is so cool you got to go on a walk through! Can you take progress photos and post them? I would love to see them.

[Abbey]

Jealous that you've gotten to wear a hard hat.

And your desk looks something like mine with all those samples! It's crazy. But I'm really enjoying working with the reps, they're all so helpful! Hope you're having a great week!

[Mary Beth Robinson]

Thanks for adding the organization chart graphic -- where the ID area is situated in relation to the overall facilities department is made quite clear. Essentially having one client, the breakdown of how projects are organized and executed looks relatively consistent. Having project construction next door is excellent! The ability to do frequent walk-throughs and see ongoing progress of active projects is invaluable. The experience of participating in project development through construction administration/management is unusual and really valuable. Thanks for the great report and introducing Rebecca -- wonderful to see her again!