ESTATE REDEVELOPMENT
and the main contract. Its three main sub-contractors were Reavey for electrical, ARB for mechanical, and Blanchard Wells as frame contractor. Mark Maffey said: “Prior to appointing the project
architect, the Estates project team launched a design competition to establish who we could work optimally with, and who best understood our aspirations for the project.” The practice appointed was Sonnemann Toon Architects, with Hoare Lea for MEP design, White Structures for structural, and McPhersons as cost advisor.” Mark Maffey explained that the demolition and initial
structural work took from October 2022 to February 2023 to complete. He said: “The building we demolished was of brickwork construction, so we crushed the masonry materials on site for re-use. The original building was on waste ground on a vibro raft foundation, through which we drove 196 piles, 15 metres deep, and averaging 300 mm diameter in size. The floor plates and roof were formed as 300 mm deep flat slabs.
An addition to the brief “Despite the brief to relocate the two wards only requiring a two-storey facility,” he explained, “we had a three- storey building built, taking the opportunity to add a spare floor. This decision was driven because there was a planning precedent, and because at no other point in the building’s life will it ever be as cost-effective to add an additional floor plate. The ground floor is currently empty, but plans are afoot for it to have a rehabilitation function – with both inpatient and outpatient diagnostics to complement the other floors.” Mark Maffey continued: “The occupied floors are designed as two wards with identical bed configurations. Both (Keats on the first floor, and Conan Doyle on the second) comprise 25 beds, with 16 patients in four-bed bays (each with two en suites), and nine in single en suite rooms. Currently we are commissioned to deliver care to 43 patients, but we capacity modelled for the future – hence we have delivered an additional 7 beds within the overall 50-bed unit.” The Project manager added: “There is a sizeable first
floor rehabilitation gym, patient dining spaces, two first floor external patient spaces – a courtyard and a terrace,
and other ad hoc sitting spaces outside of the sleeping areas. These encourage patients to regain their mobility and move to other areas of the building for activities – with staff, family, and friends. Both floors house staff meeting, MDT, and working areas, staff rest facilities, and ward managers’ offices, with 12 staff touchdown spaces per ward.” Alongside its ward, the second floor has an ADL suite comprising a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen – where patients can practice activities they might do at home. I asked Maggie Stoppard about the key clinical priorities for the two new wards. She explained: “The plans were already signed off when I arrived at the Trust, but the team had done an amazing job – particularly in that therapists and nurses can all now work together on one floor, whereas at the RSH, the gym was a five-minute walk away. We can hold more therapy sessions, and with the more spacious layout, can do walking practice along the wider corridors. Alongside the enhanced gym, the ADL suite enables us to gauge patients’ progress toward regaining their mobility before they leave us. “The ADL unit is used in a variety of ways,” she added. “The kitchen, for instance, is used several times a day
Both of the new wards (Keats on the first floor, and Conan Doyle on the second) incorporate 25 beds, with 16 patients in four-bed bays (each with two en suites), and nine in single en suite rooms.
February 2025 Health Estate Journal 43
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