Developing a New Health Facility in Alexandra: Episode 5

It’s been a while since the last update.? When this happens it’s usually because 1 of 2 things has happened.? Either we’ve been exhaustingly busy and the new health facility is progressing at a pace which leaves little time for writing descriptive passages on the process.? Or it’s because something has gone wrong. Very wrong.

At this point we should bring up ‘social media’.? The connectedness of the modern world makes it wholly impossible to do anything without it being recorded and commented on.? Probably on some digital noticeboard where eager locals like to comment on anything and everything that happens nearby.? This is particularly true if it’s a great, big new building that’s led to the odd diversion and footpath closure.? More on this soon.??

Speaking of footpaths, they’ve been reinstated and we’ve begun laying the asphalt for the car park as conditions have been favourable.? A nice dry day is needed for this as asphalt mixtures contain oil, which doesn’t mix favourably with rainwater.??

What does like rainwater are the various plants we have at the ready.? The landscaping work has begun and the timing is quite perfect, as both evergreen and deciduous plants benefit from the opportunity to establish a root structure before Winter arrives.? The soil is still warm and welcoming, and the plants will take root (literally) before the oftimes harsh frosts of an Alexandria winter morning arrive.

As for the building itself, the ground floor is now practically finished.? It has that wonderful new smell that accompanies recently completed joinery, and we’re getting used to unannounced visitors turning up to explore the interior.? This is actually rather nice and the unsolicited feedback offered can be most reassuring of a job well done thus far.?

Upstairs on the first floor, the joinery is being installed and the interior vision for the health facility is starting to materialise.? It’s now possible to get a ‘sense’ of the facility and appreciate the scale of the project.? As joinery is added, the human scale of the space is established and it highlights just how big the project is and why developing a health facility is such a complicated undertaking.? Building health facilities might be for the faint-hearted but they are not for the faint hearted. If you get what we mean.

Soon, we’ll begin the interior decorating and adding all those finishes which help establish the character of the facility.? Before that though, and before the Council Inspectors come again to inspect what’s been going on, we’ve been at the mercy of ‘local inspectors’ who publish their reports on the social forums mentioned at the start.??

One such ‘report’ was brought to our attention recently.? It was on the Alexandra NZ Noticeboard and Facebook and reads:?

“Can I just say that the contractors who have been working on the new medical centre have done a bloody sterling job.? Every time I drive past, I think ‘what a fantastic, clean and tidy looking building’.? So just a shout out recognising that you’ve all done a really nice job”.??

To the person who wrote this, thank you.? We like to think one of the advantages Medispace provides is a holistic oversight of the project and we take the responsibility for many of the little things that usually fall through the cracks (or more often get blown all over the place - like construction dust).? This includes making sure we keep the construction area as clean and tidy as can be.? It might seem obvious but we know that all too often, it’s the type of task everyone assumes rests with someone else, which means it doesn’t get done.? We’re aware every project is being constantly judged and ‘how we build’ reflects on investors as much as ‘what we build’.

Anyway, this does seem to be going all too well thus far and we might be in danger of making others think this is easy.? Don’t worry though, there’s still time to counter that

…just wait until episode 6.?