Facility name: Kendall Regional Medical Center
Location: MIAMI, FL
Project classification: Hospital – Vertical Expansion
Project type: Acute Care
Project number: 3594100019
Lesson Learned number: 111
Impact: Cost, Schedule, Scope
Lesson Learned/Best Practice
Fire alarm systems integrate with access control, fire suppression and HVAC systems. Many times the design for these other systems are not complete or not represented on the drawings until after the EDI process. During the Kendall Bed Tower Expansion and Temporary Helipad the following issues arose due to lack of information or drawings.
- Relays for automatic doors we not included.
- Relays for hardware power supplies (vertical rods in double doors) were not included.
- Relay for access control head equipment was not included.
- Not enough heat detectors included in the elevator machine room and top of the elevator shaft. There must be a heat detector within 24″ of a sprinkler head. The fire sprinkler drawings were not available during pricing.
- Relays for exhaust fans. Not all the fans that required shutdown relays were shown as requiring them.
These were all changes that required RFIs, drawing revisions and re-submittals to the county for permitting.
Suggested Actions for Future Projects
Information for a full design needs to be available during the EDI process. Bringing fire alarm, access control and fire suppression on board at the beginning of EDI would eliminate most of the scope gaps, change orders, drawing changes and delays. Therefore eliminating delays during construction.
Actions Taken / Current Status
HCA comment: The best practice is to bring in the Fire Alarm and Controls vendor early during the EDI process based on the design schedule specifics for a given project.