Project Planning Earns Murphy Co. Best Practice Award

The St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers presented a Best Practice Award to Murphy Company, St. Louis, MO, and five other team members, for pre-project planning for a $28 million, 70,000-sq.ft. expansion of Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital in St. Peters, MO. The project included the construction of a three-story patient tower, a pharmacy, and a central utility plant boiler room addition.

The St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers (SLCCC) recognized four projects during its annual Best Practices award ceremony in December 2009. These awards honor the implementation of practices that enhance project performance.

“Murphy exhibited outstanding use of pre-project planning in developing the strategic information that made the hospital expansion project so successful,” says Dennis Lavalle, president of the SLCCC.

The project was completed 35 days early, with a projected 4% savings below the approximate $24 million GMP contract, along with $1.2 million in unused design/construction/owner contingency outside of the GMP.

Murphy, BJC HealthCare, Tarlton Corp., Pratt Design Studio, KJWW Engineering Consultants, and Sachs Electric Co. comprised the lean construction team on the project. All members of the core group practiced the tenets of the lean methodology, including higher productivity, more predictable outcomes, shared risk, and the potential for shared profit.

Murphy Company delivers mechanical solutions to the industrial, commercial, institutional and heavy industrial markets. It operates offices in St. Louis, MO, Denver, CO, Colorado Springs, CO, and Fairview Heights, IL.