Hospital plan up for approval

At a special meeting Monday, the board of directors for Sonoma Valley Hospital will be asked to approve a design-build contract that will cost millions less than original estimates.

The contract will lock down the project scope, timetable, work plan and the target price, which the team of Otto Construction and Nacht & Lewis Architects will commit not to exceed.

The meeting will be held on June 7, at 6 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room at 177 First Street West.
“By having the competitors all get in there with their own engineers, coming up with solutions, we created a viable project and reduced the range of estimated costs by 30 percent,” said Carl Gerlach, outgoing hospital CEO.

The original price tag for the project was in the $35 million to $38 million range.
Significant savings will be realized, Gerlach said, by upgrading, no replacing, the hospital’s central utility plant.

Once the design-build team is confirmed, planning will accelerate to comply with the State deadline of occupancy by January 1, 2013.

Hospital officials said the contract is the culmination of months of planning to hone the scope, conceptual design and cost of the project. Having agreed on the those points, officials said, the hospital will be spared costly changes or surprises as the project progresses.

The next stage of the work will be the final layout of the ER and OR, with full input from physicians and hospital staff.