Construction of MOB Overcomes Schedule, Site Constraints

Avison Young provided early development services for Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a two-story, 50,000-square-feet medical office building, located in Concord, Massachusetts. These services included developing budgets and schedules, coordinating and monitoring all consultant activities during the design phase and managing the permitting and approvals process. The firm also acted as owner’s representation to Normandy Real Estate Partners during pre-construction and construction phases of this project.

Given that the tenant had to vacate its previous location by a certain date, the schedule was tight with no flexibility. In addition, the tenant added multiple enhancements to the project, which required completion during the same timeline. In order to ensure timely delivery of the project, the project team planned every step of the process, identified multiple critical paths and ways of reducing its durations and focused on procurement activities to ensure all the materials were ready when needed.

Sitework activities were located in close proximity to wetlands. Avison Young hired a wetlands resource specialist who monitored the work, provided expertise and acted as a liaison between the team and the Natural Resources Commission.

One of the conditions of the special permit included road improvements that affected Route 2, a section of the Massachusetts State Highway System. The permitting process was complex and involved multiple stakeholders such as MassDOT, Natural Resources Commission and the Town of Concord. In order to successfully meet this requirement, the firm engaged early on in the process with traffic consultants, civil engineers and wetlands resource specialists to strategically plan the work, and design and implement the improvements that satisfied all the agencies involved.

Click here to view the time lapse video which shows construction of the medical building completed mid-2013, less than one year from construction start.