FAST-TRACK PROJECTS
The key team members on the project, left to right: Cliff Howell, Karen Thompson, Lesley Watson, Louise Testa, Lucy Roberts, and Shaun Ashworth.
ward conversion was undertaken by local building contractor, D&G Builders. Cliff Howell said: “We installed bedhead trunking, a Wi-Fi nurse call system, cubicle curtain tracks, and overbed lighting, with D&G calling on a number of suppliers to supply components extremely quickly. D&G did an excellent job, supported by electrical contractors, AMEON, and mechanical contractors, James Mercer.”
Just a preface Although, as Cliff Howell put it, ‘a fantastic achievement’, the ward conversion project was just a preface to the much bigger challenge of erecting and fully fitting out the demountable Nightingale surge hub in Car Park B at the Royal Preston Hospital. He explained: “The eight emergency surge hubs were initially nationally procured through the NHSE/I Estates & Facilities team using a company called ES Global Solutions. The structure for our hub, however, was supplied by Losberger de Boer, a specialist in temporary and permanent space solutions for events, commercial, emergency response, and defence use. ESG undertook the internal fit-out, while we had a ProCure22 Principal Supply Chain Partner, IHP, as main contractor.” He continued: “At the project’s inception,
after we’d provided the data on the car park, 4 January this year saw IHP, ESG, and Losberger de Boer undertake a site
survey, and ask us numerous questions about where they could get services for the emergency hub from. We told them there were none in or around Car Park B; the hub would have to be completely standalone – effectively a field hospital.” Cliff Howell explained that the proposed location – formerly a patient and visitor car park – was chosen largely due to its proximity to the main hospital entrance, its size, and ease of access. He said: “Car Park B is right at the front of the hospital, opposite the ED.” The surge hub is about 1,600 m2
in area,
20 metres wide, 10 metres high, and 100 metres long. Shaun Ashworth explained: “It took the contractors three days to achieve a watertight structure, following which ESG and IHP began fitting out the interior and creating the bed bays, using timber dividing partitions lined with Altro Whiterock. We positioned the partitions back to back, with a service void in between for elements such as the nurse call system, wiring, and containment.”
Nurse call system sourced The surge hub needed a fully functioning nurse call system. The Trust managed to obtain a Wi-Fi system from another facility at the University of Central Lancashire. Cliff Howell said: “The new surge hub is effectively a fully functioning ward. An entirely standalone facility, its only connections to the outside world and the hospital are an IT fibre link, and a fire alarm repeater.” At the rear of the demountable unit are generators, boilers, ventilation plant, water tanks, and wastewater
tanks. The water tanks are filled up twice a day, and the wastewater tanks emptied three times daily. The gas oil- fired generators and boilers, and water tanks, were all supplied and installed by ESG – within a self-contained service zone – as part of its turnkey package. I asked how major an undertaking this was. Cliff Howell said: “The various contractors were working on the infrastructure for the project’s duration, all coordinated by IHP and ESG.” The building’s roof, Shaun Ashworth explained, is a thin waterproof flexible membrane; below it is an insulated quilting material. He said: “The gap between the insulation and the outer membrane was filled with hot air from the ventilation plant, to prevent snow loading.”
‘The sheer speed of it’ I asked about the biggest challenges on such a fast-track and complex project on a live acute hospital site. Cliff Howell said: “It was the sheer speed of it, and getting hold of all the equipment, the labour, and the materials, to build and fit out the hub. We had to ‘think on our feet’, especially since there were no proper drawings – just a basic layout drawing from the NHSE/I Estates & Facilities team that had designed the original Nightingales back in 2020. They very quickly adapted those drawings to suit these demountable units, and IHP and ESG, working with us, had to adjust them to fit the shape of our hub.” I wondered how difficult it had proven
to get the boilers, water tanks, generators, and the extensive steel superstructure needed for the ‘shell’ of the hub to the car park location. Cliff Howell said: “It was quite a challenge – the site is off the main circulation road, which runs in front of the Emergency Department, main entrance, Children’s Department, and Day Treatment Centre, so many of the deliveries had to come in out of hours.
Multiple deliveries “The steel framework arrived in multiple deliveries, supervised by Losberger de Boer, which also fitted the roof, before ESG and IHP co-ordinated the internal fit-out.” Shaun Ashworth said: “The walls have an insulated plastic panel outer, but are partitioned on the inside with Hoardfast, to
Above: The hub is now being used for non-COVID patients; those admitted are patients who no longer require acute care, and are typically waiting for support packages to allow them to go back home or to another more appropriate care setting.
Right: Karen Thompson said that to get the surge hub built and fitted out in the extremely short timescale given, all the departments pulled together – ‘pooling their previous experience of what wards like this needed.’
46 Health Estate Journal June 2022
Courtesy of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Courtesy of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
