Recently, Hardypond started work on an office expansion at Coastal Women’s Healthcare in Scarborough. Hardypond first worked with Coastal over a decade ago when they initially needed to outfit their office space, the anchoring suite of a large medical office building off Route One in Scarborough. When another tenant left the building, Coastal Women’s Healthcare saw an opportunity to grow. Hardypond has helped them with smaller renovations over the years and it is particularly exciting to now help them expand their office and practice. It helps that Hardypond knows their space so well – working with a structural engineer Hardypond was able to create a plan that avoided unnecessary costs and kept within the budget while maximizing the use of the space. This multiphase project will include building two new outpatient procedure rooms, new nurse stations, new bathrooms, a conference room and break room, as well as a reconfiguring of the existing offices. In total, Hardypond will help Coastal Women’s Healthcare add 4,700 square feet to their practice.
While the project is fairly straightforward, it is not necessarily simple. Hardypond is always working to meet the needs of its clients and often is coordinating complex construction work while the buildings are still occupied. For this project, the practice will remain open and the doctors will continue to see patients while Hardypond is hard at work. Excellent communication and detail-driven project management are at the heart of Hardypond’s approach and will be essential to maintaining the schedule while minimizing the impact of this project for the doctors and patients at Coastal Women’s Healthcare. As part of that effort, Hardypond has installed a new HVAC system while also maintaining the original. Operating dueling systems will minimize the spread of construction dust. Once the dirty work is complete, Hardypond will remove the old HVAC system. “We have to be cognizant of the needs of their practice,” shares Hardypond President Deirdre Wadsworth. “Dirt and dust can’t impact them and we can’t have loud noise during business hours. This presents scheduling issues, but they are a great client to work with. Summer is their least busy season, which made it a great time for us to take over some of the exam rooms for renovation.”
Leading the project is Assistant Project Manager Kevin Quinn. Quinn has a background as an estimator and experience putting construction proposals together, however this project marks the first proposal that he himself will build off of as Project Manager, an exciting growth opportunity for his career. “Experience is everything,” shares Quinn. “I’m a hands-on learner. I need to see it and experience it.” Quinn has hit the ground running at Coastal Women’s Healthcare and completed the first phase which involved concrete cutting and installing underground plumbing. Throughout the project, Quinn has the support and guidance of Hardypond’s Director of Construction Services, Mark Childs. “Kevin is doing a phenomenal job. He’s a ball of energy and just wants to learn,” says Childs. “With his estimating background,
Kevin is very thorough and doesn’t miss a thing. He also looks for help and asks a lot of questions. Leading this project is a big deal for him.” Childs has long seen the potential in Quinn, having previously worked with him at another company. Childs recruited Quinn to join the Hardypond team to explore growth opportunities. “Kevin is a next-level thinker. I told him I thought he would excel as a Project Manager and that Hardypond had a place for him to do that. He’s not following a traditional path, but he’s running with it,” continues Childs.
For Quinn, he loves having the opportunity to learn. “The industry is always changing and there is always something new. Mark has been great and we have a good dialogue. We sit down and I can pepper him with questions.” Looking ahead, Quinn is focused on the upcoming phase of construction at Coastal Women’s Healthcare which will soon involve taking down a concrete wall between the old and new space. “Once the concrete wall comes down we’ll be in their space a lot more and it will be a new dynamic. We want construction to be the least disruptive as possible so regular communication and keeping everyone happy will be key.”
Stay tuned for another update on the project!