Ready for redevelopment A blueprint for the future

Whether dealing with a retrofit design process or one for a new building, the process can be quite involved. It’s important to first have the right team in place including the architect. From there, the design process has several phases.

The Schematic Phase

The first step is to create a functional program document. As Bill Bryan of Extendicare says, “it’s a narrative for the function of the building.” This is given to the architect to determine what should be done. Bill notes that it’s always best to start with the room layout as, “the rooms are the fundamental building blocks of the whole building and they define the shape of the rest of the building.”

At this point questions will be raised including how many households your building will feature. The Ministry of Health sets out guidelines that state that you are not allowed to have more than thirty two people in a household, which is defined as an area that has all the amenities including dining room, activity area and so on. You can of course have multiple households in a long term care facility. As Bryan notes, “this drives much of the building design.”

For example, if you had space for 92 residents, that is equal to six households. You can choose to put two households on one floor and make it a three story building. Determining the households you will need defines the shape of the building and its contents.

When designing for a retrofitted building, it may not be necessary to have this functional program document since the shell of the building is already in place. However, you do need to have your team evaluate the existing structure to determine what needs to be done. With a retrofitted building, it’s extremely important to have the floor plan drawings in order to make a proper assessment.

Secondly, you have to look at the design guidelines in order to define your building. Bryan states that, “the number of beds that your building has relative to how many households you have has a significant impact to the design of the building.” In the Ministry of Health guidelines, there are multiple rules about the number of spaces per resident in not only the living area, but in the dining room, activity room and more. In addition, looking at the client’s needs will also affect the design.

For example, maybe they want to add a courtyard which then in turn changes the design of the building. Another thing you need to consider is the budget. Managing the functional document and the Ministry of Health guidelines within a set budget can be difficult.

The architect then negotiates with the client to develop a concise floor plan, site plan and elevation for the building. From here, you can estimate a budget based on area per resident and cost per square foot.

The Design Development Phase

During this phase, other team members such as mechanical and structural engineers are involved. In this phase, the design is still very much like an outline and is open for possible change.

Here the engineers and other team members work with the client and the architect to determine what systems are needed and how that could affect the design. An example of this is to incorporate Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) features into the building. Other options such as using energy-saving geothermal heating will also change the design. As Bryan mentions, “when you walk into a building you see the walls and floors, not the mechanics behind it such as air flow and heating.”

Other items that have to be addressed include phone systems, computer networks and security. Looking at current best practices in these areas help inform choices for today, but also keeping an eye on technological trends for the future may help make better choices for incorporating newer technology down the road. For example, installing the more advanced CAT 6 Internet cable, instead of the currently used CAT 5, will ensure a new build will be ready for faster Internet speeds.

More consultants are then brought in to help further the design. A kitchen consultant will be brought in to not only design the kitchen but determine how the flow of food will occur. Items of consideration include how the food gets from the truck to the kitchen, where it is stored, where food is prepped and cooked and how it reaches the dining room. Bryan remarks that, “every space needs to be scrutinized and challenged.”

Concurrently, during the design development process, the civil engineering team works to determine issues like permits and codes, water pressure for the site, and more. With a retrofitted building, the civil engineering team deals with issues such as whether an addition to the building fits within zoning regulations.

The main difficulty for a retrofitted building is space. Older buildings often don’t have the space. The area per resident may only be for example, 400 square feet per resident while new standards are between 550 and 620 square feet per resident. “In order to keep the same amount of beds in an existing building, you almost have to do an addition to that building or move the beds out and build somewhere else,” comments Bryan.

Once the design development is complete, a cost consultant can determine a more exact price.

The Working Drawings Phase

During this phase, the bulk of time is spent developing working drawings, which outline in great detail how the facility should be built. It takes about twelve to sixteen weeks to create these drawings. The drawings combined with the job specification, which is a narrative, forms a package which is bid out to contractors.

Preliminary drawings are then sent to the Ministry of Health for approval. Detailed ones follow later in the process. They are also sent to the local building department in order to receive a permit as well as the fire marshal’s approval. There is often a lot of back and forth in this stage, and amendments made to the documents in this stage are shared among all involved parties.

From here the tenders are received from the contractors and the best bid is chosen. After the permits are received, building is ready to begin.