EllisDon, a Canadian construction company, sought an easy-to-use digital pull planning solution for the largest government-funded health care project in British Columbia.
Hoylu for Construction, a digital planning software solution, is being used to plan and manage the $1.2B project.
Hoylu has helped the EllisDon Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) project team be more innovative and efficient on the project.
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www.ellisdon.com
Construction
EllisDon is an employee-owned, $5 billion-a-year global construction services company. With over 5,000 salaried and hourly employees across fifteen national and international offices, EllisDon has become a leader in every sector and nearly every facet of the construction industry.
Sticky notes and whiteboards were once the go-to tools for construction planning. Whiteboards provided a clear visual representation of projects, and sticky notes made it easy to assign tasks and move them around the board.
But today, many in the construction industry are turning to digital tools to plan and manage complex projects in a more innovative way. This includes Canadian construction company EllisDon who invested in Hoylu’s easy-to-use, cloud-based planning software.
Digital pull planning was new to EllisDon project team during COVID. The company initially used a visual collaboration platform but when Superintendent Ben Quintin tried the solution, he found it cumbersome and hard to use. Quintin searched for other options and reached out to Hoylu for work on the Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) Redevelopment in New Westminster, British Columbia.
The $1.2B project includes phases of redevelopment, new construction, and expansion. The project is complex and requires high levels of planning and coordination. Hoylu is helping the team be more efficient and effective.
One of the key challenges of the project is the need to keep the hospital operational during construction. EllisDon is using a number of innovative construction techniques to help ensure that the project is completed on time, within budget, and with minimal disruption to patients and staff.
Some high-level challenges:
The EllisDon RCH project team has been using Hoylu for over a year. The team started small by creating a pull plan for the interior concrete structure. They now have pull plans for each floor — over 20 in total that are managed by multiple superintendents.
“One of the biggest benefits of Hoylu is that it has helped improve communication with the trades.
“In the past, we would use sticky notes to track our progress. This was a time-consuming and inefficient process.
“With Hoylu, we can easily share information with the trades, and they can see what we’re working on in real time. This has helped to improve collaboration and coordination on our projects.”
—Ben Quintin | Superintendent | EllisDon
The transition from face-to-face meetings and sticky notes to Hoylu was a bit of a learning curve. There was some resistance at first, but once the team got comfortable with it, they saw the value.
“We’re now able to guide and coach new users on how to use Hoylu effectively,” said Quintin. “And we developed a standard EllisDon way of using Hoylu. We’ve learned a lot as we’ve gone along, and we’re now sharing our knowledge with other projects. We’re even hosting visits to our sites so that other teams can see how we use Hoylu.”
“Overall, we’ve been very happy with Hoylu. It’s helped us to improve our planning and communication, and it’s made our projects more efficient. We would definitely recommend Hoylu to other construction companies.”
—Ben Quintin | Superintendent | EllisDon
Hoylu is helping the EllisDon RCH project team innovate and collaborate more clearly by providing a central platform for planning and sharing project data. This has led to increased productivity and improved decision making. Other benefits are listed below.
“We have almost 80 people on staff here, and I think 50% of them are somehow involved with using Hoylu. So even if one person saves an hour a week over the course of a year, it speaks volumes.
“I also try to picture all these sticky note boards that we would need to have all over the job for 13-14 floors altogether. Where would we put all these boards? We wouldn’t have the wall space.”
—Ben Quintin | Superintendent | EllisDon
Overall, Hoylu has been a valuable tool for the Royal Columbian Hospital project. It has helped the team to be more efficient, effective, and innovative in planning and managing the project.
Hoylu for Construction is a comprehensive project management solution that addresses the specific needs of the construction industry. It offers a range of features, including real-time collaboration, automatic updates, visual project planning, and team communication. With Hoylu, construction teams can plan, execute, and manage projects more efficiently, reduce the risk of errors, and stay connected and informed about project changes.
As cloud-based software, Hoylu is easy to use and accessible from anywhere, making it an essential tool for construction professionals looking to streamline workflows and improve project outcomes.
Interested? Contact us for more information.
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