ENGINEERING
Preparing Weston Park for gene therapy challenges
Jonathan Morton, Engineering director of BES, the specialist in design and construction of sophisticated healthcare, pharmaceutical, and biopharma environments, discusses the company’s current pharmacy and aseptic suite project at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield.
In any hospital that treats acute conditions, the pharmacy plays an important role in ensuring that complex, and often tailored, medication is prepared for patients. With skilled professionals handling potentially hazardous substances, these high-specification environments require a specialist approach to design and construction. Emerging cell gene therapy treatments mean that there is now a need for such facilities to be constructed within hospital pharmacies to enable the use of viral vectors in targeting advanced medicines to the affected part of the body. Weston Park Hospital, part of the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, specialises in cancer treatment. The hospital is in the process of realising a two-phase refurbishment project designed, engineered, and constructed, by BES, to create a new Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) and Clinical Trials (CT) aseptic suite, along with a refurbished pharmacy Chemotherapy Aseptic Dispensing Unit. The hospital was already planning a new Chemotherapy Aseptic Dispensing Unit, and was able to make a business case for adding the aseptic suite as part of the same project to aid its clinical trial capabilities and enable gene therapy preparations. The pharmacy and aseptic suite project is designed to ‘futureproof’ the hospital’s drug preparation capabilities on site.
Advanced therapy medicinal products
The new gene therapy preparation area being installed at Weston Park Hospital as part of the pharmacy Chemotherapy Aseptic Unit is an ATMP suite. The term denotes an extremely sophisticated field of emerging biopharmaceutical medicines, with preparations tailored to the specific requirements of individual patients. An ATMP classification includes regenerative medicine, personalised treatments, and the development of nanomedicines using a gene therapy medicinal product, a somatic cell therapy medicinal product, or a tissue engineered
22 Health Estate Journal July 2021
The newly created Inner Support Area has been designed to take advantage of existing external glazing, while new internal vision panels have been installed to allow full visibility throughout the suite.
product. The exacting science of these preparations requires equally sophisticated storage, reconstitution, and handling procedures specific to each product. Their potentially hazardous nature also demands complex toxicity management to prevent contamination of the medical treatment, or avoid any risk of particle release outside of the controlled area.
Project scope
BES has been appointed as both principal designer and principal contractor for the project, with responsibility for maintaining BAU (business as usual) within the fully operational hospital. The BES team will plan and carry out all construction works in the live healthcare environment, considering the needs of clinicians, service-users, and patients. The avoidance of any interruptions is a critical success factor for the project.
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The pharmacy aseptic suite will be developed in two phases. Redundant office area on the sixth floor will be refurbished to create a new, high- specification Chemotherapy aseptic dispensing facility in Phase 1. Once this has been fully validated, the hospital’s pharmacy team will move across to the completed accommodation, and the former pharmacy will be refurbished as the new aseptic suite with sophisticated clinical trial (CT) and ATMP preparation facilities.
Multidisciplinary approach The project will draw on BES’ previous healthcare experience and track record in the pharmaceutical sector. The hospital wanted a specialist that understands NHS processes and procurement requirements, but was also keen to benefit from any opportunities to adopt
The BES team will plan and carry out all construction works in the live healthcare environment, considering the needs of clinicians, service-users, and patients
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