At the heart of the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Calgary, Alberta is a large outdoor garden space that is accessible year-round. It’s surrounded by two concrete forms – a seven-story podium building and a six-story tower – that elegantly curve into one another to embrace the natural space.

It is the largest standalone cancer facility of its kind in Canada and the second largest in North America. With 100 exam rooms, 160 inpatient beds, outpatient clinics, more than 100 chemotherapy chairs, three surgical suites, wet and dry research labs, 12 radiation vaults and 15 linear accelerators, it’s one of the most comprehensive cancer treatment centers in the world.

The building is a remarkable concrete structure that spans nearly 1.4 million square feet, with five underground levels and 13 stories above ground. The project team poured 124 million litres of concrete mix, taking 1.1 million hours to construct. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, PCL performed 7.8 million work hours, 4.9 million of which followed strict safety protocols.

For any concrete pour, it’s essential to inspect the formwork before the pour. The inspections make sure the poured concrete matches the design and prevents potential concrete failure.

The number of concrete pours this project required, and the complexity of the overall build made conducting and tracking the formwork inspections both uniquely challenging and critically important.

To address this, PCL found a solution using the Autodesk BIM 360 Field tool, which our team had successfully used for deficiency management on other projects. We expanded its use to formwork inspections for this project.

Instead of taking notes during an inspection and relaying results via email, form inspectors inputted their findings directly into BIM 360 Field. This created a single source of truth that everyone involved could monitor and update. The tool allowed the team to create, assign and manage formwork issues and track field performance with dashboards and reports.

This made communication around formwork quality control much more efficient and sped up the project's inspection and closeout. The software alerted workers of any potential deficiencies in real time, which drove quality improvement over the project’s life.

Linked to the Foothills Medical Centre on the University of Calgary campus, the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre is LEED Gold-certified.

The landscaping includes slow drip watering systems and drought-resistant plants that require less water. Bathrooms feature ultra-low flow toilets, sinks and showers. The health care center uses 100% outside air, resulting in better indoor air quality, while remaining energy efficient. With the client and design partners, PCL formed a tight-knit team to deliver this ambitious, mission-critical project. It was a true team effort, with 14,000 people working nearly eight million hours over five years.