Main Manufacturers:	Allsteel, Gunlocke
Floors:	4
Square Feet:	88,696
Workstations/Offices:	500
Conference Rooms:	16
Break Rooms/Lounges:	18
Exterior/Patios:	2 floors

 

CBI Completes A Massive Medical Office Building Project During Dynamic Times

Despite a number of disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, CBI helped City of Hope, a private hospital and research center in Los Angeles County complete an important project—furnishing a new 88,000 square foot Medical Office Building.

Q&A with CBI Leaders Sydney Eagan & Nastassja Brown.
During a recent conversation with the project leaders – Sydney Eagan, Senior Account Manager, and Nastassja Brown, Project Manager, we learned about how CBI helped this healthcare organization, on the frontlines advance its mission during a critical time for global health.

What was this organization’s challenge?
The organization designed and built a four-story, 88,000 square foot Medical Office Building for their doctors, researchers, executive team, and medical staff—room enough to consolidate staff members from across their dispersed campus. They needed to create an upscale office space that could accommodate lounge areas, meeting spaces, open collaboration areas, and a variety of private offices and workstations.

What was the timeframe?
Our involvement took 16 months. Design concepts began in February 2019 and the installation was completed April and May 2020. Medical staff began moving in during summer 2020.

 

What was CBI’s role in the project?
We worked directly with their facilities and design teams to create furniture plans and detailed specifications to accommodate a variety of workspaces. We were involved with furniture budgeting and designed workstations and private doctors’ offices, including customized designs for all executive offices. In addition, we located all electrical, provided project management and support for the procurement, logistics, and installation of all furniture in the space. This included a detailed schedule of execution for the two-month installation process.

What challenges did you face as you supported this massive project?
Usually, job sites are nearly 90% complete by the time furniture is delivered and installed, but that wasn’t the case. This was new ground-up construction, which meant we orchestrated a very complex installation project in a phased program alongside many other trades—including electricians, painters, flooring installers, HVAC, plumbing, and landscapers. It was an extremely busy job site with a lot of moving parts. We had to ensure project timelines stayed on track amidst this highly dynamic work environment. All executed during a world pandemic.

The unique curved shape of the building design required us to make numerous adjustments, which added to the complexity.

How did you adjust work processes in light of COVID-19 safety recommendations?
Working during the pandemic added a new layer of management hurdles. Because of possible exposure to patients who are extremely immunocompromised, the organization was required to do contact tracing on everyone who arrived on the job site. Everyone on the installation team had to arrive early to perform temperature checks, gear up with personal protective equipment, and submit a driver’s license and photo for security.

During the workday, everyone had to follow specific safety requirements—including wearing masks and gloves at all times. Additionally, there were daily safety meetings, daily screenings of all crew members, phased and staggered installations to accommodate social distancing, field project managers on-site to manage installation crew’s safety protocols, and thorough sanitation of all areas once completed.

What did the client say about CBI’s work and their experience working with you?
City of Hope project representatives were very impressed with our professionalism, our thoroughness, and how easy we were to work with. They said it was a smooth process, and they really appreciated how our field project managers would simply take care of things before there was an issue. They complimented our staff (both onsite and in the office) for always being knowledgeable and friendly and credited our team for keeping critical processes on track, on time, and on schedule. Overall, they were very happy.