July 24, 2008

PRISM Partners Inc.

PRISM Partners president Susan Conner and Vice-President Carol Bragagnolo examine plans for one of the firm’s projects. Their firm has a staff of 45 professionals ranging from engineers and architects to clinical operations specialists.

PRISM Partners spearhead $2.4 billion worth of healthcare infrastructure projects

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

A female-led Toronto project management firm, PRISM Partners Inc., is spearheading $2.4 billion of healthcare infrastructure projects across the province that are either in the planning or construction stages.

Headed by president and CEO Susan Conner, the company has a complement of 45 professionals consisting of project managers, engineers, architects, planners, interior designers, financial/business managers and clinical operational specialists.

It offers a full suite of project-management consulting services for public sector organizations, from upfront programming and planning all the way through design and construction and even building commissioning.

“In a nutshell, we offer a continuum of services from start to finish of a project,” says Carol Bragagnolo, the firm’s vice-president who is also a member of the Canadian Association of Women in Construction.

Specialty advisory services are available as well, to complement the company’s planning and project management expertise.

“We are able to catch things that might fall between the cracks, resulting in projects being over-budget or over-schedule,” says Bragagnolo, who has led teams of internal and external stakeholders and consultants through multi-million-dollar projects.

PRISM clients include hospitals and other healthcare institutions. Projects currently in the pipeline range in size from $500,000 to more than $300 million. They run the gamut from hospices to large-scale redevelopments.

As part of its arsenal, PRISM can provide advice in such specialized areas as the projects approvals process of the province’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Infrastructure Ontario (IO).

In some cases, the firm is engaged directly by a hospital to act as an owner’s representative on IO projects. Its role is to look out for the best interests of its healthcare clients.

In this capacity, PRISM has gained experience on complex alternative financing and procurement (AFP) projects: among them build-finance and full-scale design-build-finance-maintain projects.

“These are tricky project models,” says Bragagnolo, who has a master’s degree in hospital administration and 27 years of experience in the healthcare industry.

“In our specialty services arm, we have transaction advisers who can provide assistance to healthcare institutions in dealing with the intricate paper work that needs to be processed.”

When it comes to complex redevelopment projects, PRISM advocates adoption of an integrated team approach. That process currently is being undertaken on the Hamilton Health Sciences redevelopment project.

In that case, the PRISM team is being led by Conner herself, who prior to joining the company was vice-president of real estate solutions for the University Health Network. Over a 15-year period, she managed $1 billion in redevelopment projects.

Other projects currently in the PRISM pipeline include:

• Toronto Rehabilitation Institute’s redevelopment.

•Lakefield primary healthcare centre.

•Dorothy Ley Hospice in Etobicoke, a freestanding residential palliative care facility.

“That (hospice) project shows a different side of us,” says Bragagnolo.

Outside of the project management sphere, the firm is providing operational commissioning services to The Scarborough Hospital. The intent is to ensure a seamless relocation of clinical and operational activities.

“We’re helping them get ready to move into their new building.”

In addition to developments in major centres, the company also undertakes projects in smaller communities. A case in point is the Lakefield centre. PRISM makes a point of retaining local architects, where possible.

“One of the things that I really like about this firm is that we are into promoting local content, wherever we are in the province,” Bragagnolo says.

Print | Email | Comment