Finland’s Bridge Hospital Built On Time with Tekla

Finland’s €303 million Bridge Hospital was the biggest construction project in the history of Helsinki University Hospital. Find out how 50 stakeholder firms used one Tekla Structures model to deliver this complex project on schedule.
 

When Finland’s Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) management decided to concentrate operations at its Meilahti campus, they realized they’d be undertaking the biggest construction project in the hospital’s history. The Bridge Hospital’s name reflects the connecting structure that links the facility’s towers, wards, and day hospital into one central complex. 

The €303 million project’s floor area is over 71,500 square metres for a net building volume of over 360,000 cubic metres. The structures include more than 8,000 precast concrete elements and 4,000 tons of structural steel. 

Completing the project involved coordinating a massive number of project stakeholders. An estimated 562 subcontractors and 3,400 people have been onsite at HUS Bridge Hospital. 

Fifty Stakeholder Firms, One Tekla Structures Model 

To coordinate all this precision work, 50 stakeholder firms collaborated using one shared Tekla Structures building information model (BIM). They used Tekla Model Sharing to work simultaneously from the same BIM and avoid clashes. 

The Bridge Hospital’s BIM included roughly 200 sub-models representing 16 integrated design disciplines. The BIM coordinator used Solibri to coordinate the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) models. 

Onsite crews used Dalux software to access a continuously updated digital model of the project. This enabled about 100 workers on any given day to receive information and coordinate their field activities. 

The BIM coordinator enhanced the combined site and production models to make them easier to use for a range of onsite user groups. Whenever the need for changes arose, the shared model updated field crews accordingly.  

Aleksi Jutila was the project manager for Finnish engineering consulting firm A-Insinöörit Oy. He described how working from one shared BIM facilitated having fabricator Peikko Group join the project. 

“The precast concrete fabricator was also able to directly take the information they needed from our 3D model for the production of elements. Even when precast element measurements vary, they use the same type of detailing and reinforcing.” 

“We automated their modeling and drawing output in Tekla and managed to reduce the time spent on drawings from 70% to only 10%. At the same time, the number of mistakes decreased, and quality of drawings improved.”  

“Altogether the teams on the project took up challenges eagerly and with open minds,” Maria Lennox, BIM director of contractor SRV Rakennus Oy said. “They took the existing tools and ‘bent’ those to find a workable solution that met the project needs.” 

Construction Underway Before Design Process Final 

The tight, four-year completion deadline required the design and construction phases to run in parallel rather than sequentially. Construction was already underway before the design process was final. 

The parallel approach made precisely rendered models vital. For example, designers used modeling techniques almost exclusively to create 3,000 room charts. 

Design models also included building service systems such as user interface (UI) terminals, electrical outlets, and furniture in their projections. Architects used mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) models as reference, enriching the architectural model.  

The design included challenging elements like massive glass walls and roofs, and post-stressed shaft units. The models also had to take the complex construction needs of operating rooms and diagnostic imaging units into account. 

“The connections between the existing hospitals and the Bridge Hospital are all on different levels and the structures are at oblique angles,” Jutila explains. “It would not have been possible to create the new hospital without 3D modeling.” 

As of January 2023, Helsinki’s Bridge Hospital has begun treating patients. Its emergency area, surgical and intensive care units, outpatient clinics, day hospital, and inpatient wards are all open for business. 

BuildingPoint Can Help 

Whether your structures are intricate and demanding, like the Bridge Hospital, or more sequential and conventional, BuildingPoint, through its partnership with Trimble can show you how to put the Tekla Structures suite of BIM software to work at your company to create, combine, manage, and share 3D models with your project stakeholders. 

Tekla Structures’ constructability and collaboration tools will enable your teams to streamline their project work. They’ll bring in more projects on time, within budget, and exceeding client expectations. 

Why not reach our to our BuildingPoint Team today to discuss how Tekla Structures can bring constructible processes to your construction projects?