DiGiorgio Associates and Monitor Builders complete first phase of Community Health Center

The team of DiGiorgio Associates Inc. (DAI) and Monitor Builders Inc. (MBI) have been performing projects on an integrated design/build basis together for over 26 years. DAI and MBI share a simple philosophy regarding health care design and construction: to treat every health care client as if they were their own care provider. What sets DAI/MBI apart is that as practitioners of empathic design, seeing and hearing from the patients' point of view enables the team to properly plan, design and build patient-centered healing facilities. In turn, requirements and standards for potential buildings can be better addressed. The DAI/MBI team recently completed the first phase of work with Harbor Health Services Inc.-Harbor Community Health Center on a Community Health Center fit-out and renovation in a mill building. This Design/Build project focused on fast-track construction, with an aggressive 10 week schedule from site selection for phase 1, including Department of Public Health approval and licensure, to meet grant requirements of a March 1 opening. The design and construction scope for the Harbor Community Health Center project consists of total demolition, adding exam rooms and support functions, counseling rooms and dental treatment rooms, supporting a patient-centered medical home model. The construction cost for phase 1 and infrastructure was $650,000. Anticipated construction costs for phase 2, to be completed in June 2014, is $800,000. Total square footage for both phases is 7,000 s/f. DAI and MBI are also currently working on several other design/build healthcare projects, including an $8 million emergency department addition and renovation for Harrington HealthCare at Hubbard in Webster, Mass., a $2.5 million acute care unit/central sterile renovation at Harrington's Southbridge campus, a $3.9 million renovation for a single bed patient floor at Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia, N.H., and a $1.5 million laboratory renovation at Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, ME. The team recently completed design and construction of a $300,000 off-site clinic for Brockton Neighborhood Health Center in Brockton, Mass., and a $450,000 renovation for Manet Community Health Center in Hull, Mass. Over the past 26 years, DAI and MBI's integrated Design/Build approach has resulted in long-term partnerships with a number of health care providers across the region. Our firm is able to offer our clients a menu of services or a single source for quality, integrated facility services, freeing our clients from the day-to-day management of lengthy projects.