Danny Van Hove
Department head of infrastructure / Construction coordinator
After the University Hospital, AZ Sint-Lucas is the largest hospital in Ghent. It is the merger of what were originally 3 autonomous Ghent hospitals: AZ Heilige Familie, AZ Sint-Vincentius and AZ Volkskliniek. AZ Sint-Lucas has 905 beds, more than 200 doctors and over 2,000 employees. Danny Van Hove is Service Head Infrastructure/Building Coordinator there. "On the one hand, I manage the Buildings Department, a small internal engineering office with 3 engineers (electricity, dynamic techniques and construction) and 2 architects, who monitor the design, tendering and execution of construction projects. On the other hand, there is the Technical Maintenance Department, which manages the operation of the buildings until the next reconversion phase."
"At the time of the first merger - in the late 1990s - a master plan was drawn up with a dozen projects. I joined in late 1999 and the first project - a new construction section of 18,000 m2 - started in 2000. The project team had already been assembled: De Vloed for the architecture, Sweco (ex-Libost Group) for the stability and Ingenium for the techniques. We have been working together ever since. The second project was the integration of the campuses of AZ Heilige Familie and AZ Sint-Vincentius, which used to be neighbors but worked completely separately. We were then the first in Flanders to subdivide the buildings with numbered streets instead of the former color codes. After the merger with AZ Volkskliniek, it was decided to also fully integrate that operation on the Sint-Lucas campus. Recently, with buildings C and W, there were two more major new construction projects. Since 2000, we have realized more than 80,000 m2 of new construction and renovations with this construction team. In addition, we entered into a separate contract with Ingenium for the energy master plan that is committed to the operational reliability of the systems and energy-saving measures."
"Because we do a lot of additional projects and activities in-house, my engineers cannot work out the major projects all by themselves. Ingenium takes care of this by drawing up specifications, plans and tender dossiers, in consultation with De Vloed. They then follow up the actual tendering and execution of the works. They are the link between the principal, the contractor and the designer in all major projects.
"Because of the long collaboration, we have a good understanding. We know each other and know what to expect from each other. Bram, our contact person at Ingenium, is also someone who, thanks to good agreements, ensures that there are few tensions or problems. And if they do occur, a solution is always found through consultation.
"Ingenium is an engineering firm with a lot of competence and experience. They listen to us and take into account our wishes as builders. They respond flexibly to our world, which is changing rapidly. The fact that both in my own team and at Ingenium the people we work with have been the same for a long time ensures continuity and stability. There has to be a match, of course, and that is definitely the case here. Moreover, the ratio is also right between the fees we pay and the service we get in return."
