​Security Forces Medical City

It is one of two medical cities (the second is located in Jeddah) ordered by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, in order to provide specialized and advanced health care facilities to the Ministry’s staff and security officers. These medical cities are part of a plan to provide integrated medical services across the country, including patient transfer from other hospitals. This is a vast project comprising three hospitals at the heart of the facility, comprised of:
 

• The main hospital (1,068 beds)
• The women’s and children’s hospital (500 beds)
• The Hospital of Hope (100 beds)
• 2,750 housing units, including villas, as well as family and single-occupancy housing for staff
• Utility buildings* that will ensure self-sufficiency in the case of unforeseen external conditions 

Linesight were engaged by the ABV, the main contractor, as external cost consultants, for a number of key reasons:  

• Considerable expertise and proven track record in large-scale healthcare facilities
• Local market knowledge 

Managing variations and validations

Before our engagement, and following the announcement of the winning tender, the client decided to move the entire project from the original site to a new location, with different ground conditions and site layout. It was at this point that Linesight came on board and was tasked with overseeing the many variations that resulted from this move. This necessitated a complete revision of previous assumptions from the tender stage, as well as a complete re-measure, rate revision and cross-check exercise. In turn, this facilitated the provision of a full report on the cost of each building to ensure the quantity and cost provided by ABV at tender stage was accurate and sufficient 

Design and transmittal cost control

It is imperative that the design cost is kept within budget, which we have ensured primarily through the evaluation of submitted designs and provision of cost reports with recommendations and potential risk areas. Our team also evaluated the possibility of cost recovery, providing detailed reports assessing whether the cost increase/decrease had come from scope change or variation. The Client used this assessment to form part of a $500M claim for additional works.  

In order to improve cost efficiency and identify potentially superior solutions during the project’s early stages, we provided cost advice to the design team before the submitting of Transmittal**. In addition, we conducted value engineering exercises for ABV and advised on the cost of potential claims and variations. 

Forging enduring relationships 

Building a strong relationship with our clients is crucial to the success of all projects. We pride ourselves on forging positive and enduring working relationships. We do this by finding the correct solution to the Client’s particular problem and meeting all stakeholder expectations. Our ability to provide broad knowledge of the medical sector gained from previous large-scale projects helped with building the Client’s trust in Linesight, as did the professionalism of the entire team. These factors led to us being appointed as leader of the project’s team of cost managers.  

Specialized contract advice 

We were key advisors to the client on the legal matters of the contract, which involved understanding, analyzing, checking and identifying the most cost-effective solutions. The signed contract was a lump sum; however when we compared the contract against local legislation, we found discrepancies that benefitted our client (e.g. the contractor is entitled to payment for works actually carried out, contrary to the original lump sum contract). 

Introducing costX 

In order to overcome measurement variances between Linesight and the Client in-house cost management team, we presented their associated quantity back up using the CostX Program. As the Client cost management team did not use CostX as their primary quantification tool, a CostX Viewer was used by the Client. 

Identifying alternative solutions through cost analysis

During the design process, we were able to identify alternative solutions that would lead to improved efficiencies, both in terms of cost and time, through extensive cost analysis processes. Areas in which this was particularly relevant included structural design alternatives for the main hospital, alternatives to infrastructure pipework and various façade options for the main hospital and residential villas. 

Project specifics 

• We have helped the client become more informed about the overall value of the entire project through cost monitoring of the design at every stage
• We introduced alternative solutions during the design process to increase the cost efficiency of the project
• We achieved clarity and the ability to track quantities measured, via the use of CostX software, which also provided a unified system for preparing cost related documents 

* Utility buildings include chiller & boiler plants, standby power plant, electrical substations, engineering offices, vehicle maintenance workshop, plant nursery, warehouse, central laundry, medical gases, workshops, waste water treatment plant and irrigation reservoir 

** Document Transmittal is the process used, usually on a construction project, to formally dispatch Technical Documents such as Drawings from one party to the other. It is therefore a contractual process and the transmittal documents themselves are contractual ones