§ 24. Application of article to mental hygiene construction. The provisions of this article shall not apply to the department of mental hygiene or to mental hygiene facilities constructed, acquired, reconstructed, rehabilitated or improved pursuant to the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement act, or to contracts entered into by the trustees of the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement corporation or by the state housing finance agency in relation thereto, or to real property held in the name of the state for the corporate purposes of such corporation, except that the provisions of this article shall apply, so far as practicable, to such mental hygiene facilities or real property as are constructed, acquired, reconstructed, rehabilitated or improved by the commissioner of general services under an agreement made with the trustees of the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement corporation; and except further that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to affect the power of the department of mental hygiene or the trustees of the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement corporation to enter into any short form contract in accordance with section twenty of this chapter for minor work of construction, reconstruction, alteration, or repair of any mental hygiene facility being used by the said department or under the jurisdiction of the said trustees.