Delivering Big Projects from the Big Room

While the concept seems simple on paper, the practice of design and construction teams working together from a central operations hub requires thoughtful consideration and coordination beyond traditional project delivery. Ingenuity and continuous improvement are at the heart of any Big Room. At the end of the day, innovation is the biggest benefit of co-locating.

In 2016, Shepley Bulfinch embarked on the design and construction of a 670,000-square-foot addition that replaced much of Banner Health’s Banner University Medical Center’s existing hospital in Tucson, Arizona. At the time, we were using a number of key elements of the integrated project delivery (IPD) method, a method proven to drive success in the design and construction of complex projects in a collaborative environment. Among our team, the process was affectionately called The Big Room.

Big Room, Big Benefits

Coordinating many individual firms on any single project is highly complicated. The Big Room brought key project stakeholders together in one place, including the owner, so that team members could literally turn to one another to get answers. No more chasing emails, phone calls, or navigating different time zones to reach team members.

On the Banner project nearly 10 years ago, we co-located all of our architects, designers, engineers, contractors, trade partners, and project management within an existing vacant space with minimal finishes while the project was constructed below us. While we worked mostly on our laptops and extended monitors, interactive work sessions utilized writable walls, boards, and even tracing paper, or “buff.”

Co-location alone does not solve the problem of how to design and document a project: there must be a process that directs the right input at the right time. After close to a decade of this approach, we have developed and refined our approach to the Big Room.

With the help of Banner Health Senior Project Executive Mark Barkenbush, we have reflected on the Big Room over the years. No two Big Rooms are the same, and the following represents a small a cross section of tactics that worked well or that we improved upon. Some were small interventions with big impact, and some were unexpected. They all share one thing: impact on successful collaboration and teaming.

Equitable Communication and Distribution of Information

One of the responsibilities in the Big Room is to be an “open book.” This means schedules, estimates, and progress drawings are shared on a common file server, promoting transparency and shared responsibility. As project leaders, it is our responsibility to make others aware of the information that is available and — that it is understood.

Everyone Needs a Kitchen

Offering a shared space for coffee, meals, and conversation makes a difference in how well team members connect.

Soften the Edges Where You Can

Installing carpet seems to have low value on the surface. Looking back, it made the Big Room an easier space to be in, reducing noise levels and making it a more comfortable space to spend all day in.

Be Active in Decision Making

Engage the group to actively participate in creating solution-built ownership and buy-in. The most successful stakeholder meetings were those that were interactive. While this is not always possible, it is one of the opportunities for accelerating the schedule in a Big Room setting.

Additional Benefits on Big Room Projects

One of the best things about the big room was the unexpected emergence of leaders from every firm. Perhaps because co-location creates a brand-new entity with evolving processes and limited or undefined hierarchies, there was plenty of opportunity for individuals to step up and take on new responsibilities. Some of the other benefits included allowing coordination and innovation to take place during design; the ability to fast-track the project; and opportunities for more focused user meetings over a shorter duration.

See the outcomes of our first Big Room project.