CONSTRUCTION
Six-month project delivers £7.3million cancer care unit
Shaun Tuffin, Construction director at LST Projects, discusses the challenges of constructing a new £7.3 million cancer care ward above a live hospital building in Southampton within just six months.
University Hospital Southampton offers an extensive range of specialist services – from neurosciences and oncology to pathology and cardiology. A new £7.3 m cancer care ward, which was funded by the Trust’s capital programme, opened at the end of 2020 following a six-month build. The ward accommodates 27 inpatients, and comprises 11 single-bed side rooms with enhanced ventilation for those who are immunosuppressed, enabling more patients to undergo bone marrow transplant treatments. It also provides oncology and haematology patients with comfortable and spacious surroundings to be cared for whilst undergoing treatment.
The facility will make a huge difference to care services, especially for patients with haematological conditions such as leukaemia, myeloma, lymphoma, and sickle cell disease. The number of patients with these conditions increases year on year, and having more beds will enable them to be treated promptly and within specialist facilities. LST was appointed as the main contractor to build the new cancer care ward. Spanning 1,800 m2
, the
two-storey extension has been built on top of an existing single-storey building, which houses another oncology department serving more than 150 people every day. The new structure has also
The two-storey, 1,800 m2 extension has been built on top of an existing single-storey building, which houses another oncology department serving 150+ people every day.
been ‘futureproofed’ to accommodate a further two floors at a later date.
Time-critical build
A delayed start, largely driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in the exceptionally tight construction programme. From a standing start in May 2020, the project had to be handed over by 27 November last year. The timing was critical, as the hospital required patients to move from another ward into the new
facility by 14 December 2020 to increase bed capacity by Christmas. To accelerate the project, and minimise the risk of any delays because of the pandemic, the steel frame was procured in advance of the main build. In addition, building materials were ordered well in advance, and according to the work sequence, to enable them to be stored at our head office ready to be delivered to site as and when they were required.
The new £7.3 million cancer care ward, funded by the Trust’s capital programme, opened at the end of 2020 following a six-month build.
The main build involved the installation of extensive steelwork, which was craned onto the roof and vertically spliced to the existing steel columns. Prior to installing the steelwork, two suction excavators were used to remove 160 tonnes of stones and slabs from the existing inverted concrete roof. The excavators were on site for a full week removing the material, which was unloaded into large skips. The original plan was to recycle the stone and slabs for re-laying onto the new roof, but the cost would have been higher than that of procuring new material. As a result, the stone was reused as hardcore for foundation work instead, and a further 160 tonnes of stone procured and installed on the roof, followed by solar panels. LST was also responsible for the design and build of a specialist air-handling unit for the supply of clean filtered air for cancer patients, which was installed onto the roof.
March 2021 Health Estate Journal 63
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