The February dinner presentation was a joint presentation by Langdon Baker and Brent Fayne of Smith and Anderson Engineering Consulting, and Norman Fisher of HDR Architects. Langdon is an Associate Principal at Smith and Andersen.  He graduated from the University of Toronto for with a degree in Engineering Science in Biomedical Engineering.  Since then, Langdon has worked as a Manager and Consultant on client capital projects, engineering and maintenance. He is also affiliated with ASIS International (American Society for Industrial Security), Building Industry Consulting Service International, and Professional Engineers of Ontario.

Brent has been a Senior Project Manager at Smith and Andersen for the past seven years.  He graduated from the University of Toronto for with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Brent is a member of the USGBC and is a LEED Green Associate.

Norman Fisher is a qualified architect and LEED AP with over 25 years of experience in master planning, programming, and the design of science and healthcare enabled facilities. These projects include P3 healthcare, research and teaching laboratories, clean room, high containment and manufacturing facilities. Norman has successfully delivered projects for some of the world's largest health research focused companies and leading institutions, both in North America and Europe.

Together, these three presenters delivered a presentation summarizing some of the high levels of thought and technological design that went into making the Humber River Hospital the crowning achievement that it is today.

The 1.8 million square foot healthcare facility contains a total of 656 patient rooms and was designed and constructed in a span of only 3 years and 8 months. This is an impressive time period when one considers the complexity of the building. The Humber River hospital also boasts the second largest green roof in Canada and was listed as a Bariatric Centre of Excellence.

During the design stage of this project, three key principles were used to achieve the desired vison for excellence: Lean, Green and Digital.

Creating a "Lean" building, in the eyes of the design team, meant increasing the efficiency of the overall operation by removing duplicative or redundant work, eliminating unnecessary variation, standardizing rooms and digital integration. A large portion of the focus for this was placed on how the hospital was organized. In an 8 hour shift, the average nurse spends only 18% of their time on patient care, having to spend the rest of their time gathering supplies, moving between patients, filing and organizing data. The goal was to increase the time spent on patient care. The corridors between patient rooms were constructed in a way that allowed for minimal travel by the hospital staff to move between patients, supplies or any other items they may need. Creating many locations with intersections between parallel corridors allowed for more efficient mobility and increased focus on patient care as a result. Standardizing the layout of the hospital rooms also allowed for increased efficiency for the staff since they were familiar with the layout of the rooms. The rooms were also organized so that the beds were located near the front of the room, allowing for the nurses to access patients quicker and more conveniently.

In order to meet their goals to make the Humber River Hospital a successful green project, they aimed to reduce the use of water, materials and waste, while increasing green roof area, indoor air quality, natural light, envelope quality and site landscaping. This can be a lot to ask from a facility such as a hospital. However, the project team made it work. The design team managed to achieve 15 LEED points under credit EA 1, had 49% energy cost savings compared to MNECB and a 40% cost savings compared to ASHRAE 90.1-2007 standards.

Achieving this level of sustainability came with its fair share of challenges. The building's ventilation systems require 100% outdoor air to operate in order to increase infection control and provide a high level of indoor air quality. The team was also tasked with designing and completing this property in only 44 months. This means that some of the major mechanical equipment had to be ordered before the designs were finalized.

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Michael Peterson, B.Eng.