How Build Health International Is Improving Patient Access to Healthcare
Healthcare is a fundamental human right, but many people worldwide cannot access life-saving care due to cost, availability, or other factors. Build Health International (BHI) wants to change that.
BHI partners with local governments and global health nonprofits to provide affordable and high-quality healthcare infrastructure to those in under-resourced markets. BHI takes a holistic approach to planning healthcare facilities, focusing on four key areas: beyond infrastructure, local talent, energy efficiency, and sustainability.
In 2023, BHI worked with dozens of partners to deliver 35 projects in over 20 countries. And that’s just scratching the surface of its growth, as BHI looks to scale its efforts in 2024.
An Equitable Approach to Healthcare
Since 2010, BHI has designed and built equitable healthcare facilities that can be operated and maintained in resource-constrained settings. Their investment in healthcare infrastructure is helping save lives, especially in developing countries faced with high maternal and postnatal mortality rates.
BHI has used Autodesk Revit, Navisworks, and BIM 360 on more than 200 global projects. When Autodesk Construction Cloud launched, they saw the opportunity to connect the full project lifecycle—and all the project data—from design through handover.
“Our impact has scaled rapidly over the last few years,” says Fatlum Troshani, Project Engineer at BHI. “When we evaluated Autodesk Construction Cloud, we did it through the lens of future growth and investment.”
BHI wanted to understand its data to decrease costs and incorporate sustainable design processes from beginning to end to maximize access to the care. Relying on its longstanding partnership with Autodesk, the Autodesk Foundation, and Symetri, BHI worked to understand its tool usage and how to incorporate Autodesk Construction Cloud into workflows to achieve these goals. With the selection of Autodesk Docs, BIM Collaborate, and Build, part of Autodesk Construction Cloud, BHI could improve document management, coordination, and project management to connect teams and get a better view of the whole project lifecycle.
“By leveraging data, we can further support our mission,” says Sarah Sceery, Deputy Director of Partnerships and Administration at BHI. “We can be more efficient in project delivery, and better communicate with our partners to provide more support and services for communities in need.”
Standardizing Data Capture
BHI’s first step in standardizing data capture was surveying its project teams and partners on the ground to understand day-to-day pain points, limitations, and areas for improvement. Teams were using a variety of tools, including WhatsApp to communicate, making it difficult to find information across each phase of the project. This assessment gave BHI a starting place and a good indication of technology gaps to address.
The next step was to train teams without slowing down their project development timelines. When training new team members on Autodesk Construction Cloud, BHI developed a customized training and implementation plan to drive adoption, standardize use across disciplines, and create clear workflows and guidelines, from conceptional design to handover.
This paved the way to “How We BIM,” a playbook that builds on “How We Build,” a resource co-developed between BHI and the Autodesk Foundation, that outlines the BHI design process from early conceptual planning through construction documentation and to construction administration and project handover.
With a system to capture knowledge consistently and a platform in place, BHI can equip its teams to design and build quality projects for its clients.
Aligning Teams, Starting with Design
To keep everyone, from architects to clinicians, on the same page from day one, BHI uses Autodesk Construction Cloud as its common data environment, and Docs as its centralized document management system. This eliminates barriers and allows for ongoing communication between partners.
“Our architects are constantly communicating with the doctors and nurses to obtain feedback so we can design the right facility for that specific community’s needs and resources,” says Fatlum. “We’ve seen situations where beautiful facilities are designed and then go unused or are used differently than intended.”
To ensure form meets function, BHI uses BIM Collaborate Pro to collaborate on designs between project teams and Docs to host all design versions in one place to track updates and deliver buildings that meet the exact needs of its customers.
Clearing up Clashes Earlier in Preconstruction
BHI uses BIM Collaborate for model coordination and clash detection to identify clashes, such as a pipe intercepting a beam or cabinet, during preconstruction to minimize issues, RFIs, and design revisions downstream. With BIM Collaborate, BHI can deliver construction-ready models to the field 20% more efficiently.
On a transformative project in Nigeria at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), BHI used BIM Collaborate to improve multi-trade engagement within the coordination process by keeping communication in one place. BHI is leading an eight-building expansion at ACEGID which has been a key facility for controlling infection diseases across the African continent including Ebola and COVID-19 which includes new research, teaching, and housing facilitates.
"We can be more efficient in project delivery, and better communicate with our partners to provide more support and services for communities in need.”
Sarah Sceery
Deputy Director, BHI
“With the accessibility and ease of BIM Collaborate, we can work with our MEP subcontractor to find clashes, whether plumbing or electrical, faster because we were looking at the same model and making changes in real-time,” says Fatlum. “There was a lot of coordination between our teams on this project that would have been difficult to manage otherwise.”
With a simplified approach, BHI can make faster decisions and deliver better projects while saving time, increasing quality, and reducing costs.
Promoting Collaboration and Communication on One Platform
On the ACEGID project, BHI is partnering with Turner and Townsend and a local contractor to manage the build. With work being overseen by an external partner, having a single platform that allows for collaboration and communication is critical to provide visibility into all aspects of the project—from RFIs to submittals to progress tracking. With Build, BHI can see what’s happening at every stage as files and documents are linked and stored in a central location.
“One of my favorite features in Build is photos. I can see what’s happening on a project that’s 5,000 miles away,” says Fatlum. “Much of our work is collaborative; we rely on one another to be effective. Being able to share these experiences builds momentum, which starts locally.”
With Build, photos are attached to RFIs, Issues, or Submittals to track the progress of a project and provide visibility to stakeholders regardless of location. With RFIs in Build, BHI can assign multiple stakeholders to an RFI, simplifying the review process. They estimate between 15-20% time-savings with the enhanced review process, which allows them to resolve RFIs more quickly alongside partners and keep projects on schedule.
Leveraging Data for the Future
BHI is on a mission to improve worldwide healthcare. To do that, the organization needs to leverage its data to make better decisions that ultimately lead to more efficient projects and deliver quality and affordable healthcare to communities in need.
With consistent data, BHI can do just that by learning from previous experience to provide more services to people in more countries.
“When introducing new technology, there’s always pushback or a lead-in time for adoption,” says Sarah. “After seeing the capabilities of Autodesk Construction Cloud, our teams are excited about the possibilities to implement quickly, and we are confident this journey will enable greater impact to deliver equitable care.”