OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION
procurement process, who, based on trust and openness, are able to play a proactive part in the identification and development of projects.
Increasingly, I am finding relationships of this nature between Trusts and established supply chains occurring, and I am convinced that this will be critical to the long-term effective delivery and future support of estate development, providing opportunities to bridge funding gaps through designing phased delivery into schemes, or presenting innovative cost-neutral funding opportunities from within the supply chain.
Discovery
During roundtable discussions held by my team with all the in-house and supply chain teams at the Trust, the previously realised need for a 28-bed ward was confirmed, a need that had to be fulfilled against a strict timeline to access limited funds. Together, we also defined a need to build a three-storey structure to maximise available floor space at the hospital, although it was still unclear who or which departments would occupy floors one and two in future.
With funding in place for a single-storey ward, this was the perfect scenario to focus on answering just the immediate need, and to then capitulate into the world of ‘financial estates planning’, and revert to ‘gain generic funding, identify precise project, spend funding’ thinking, without acknowledging the development restrictions of the hospital site. Queen’s Hospital is situated in a residential area of Burton upon Trent, dating back to 1884; the hospital has developed organically over time, gradually covering the majority of available space at the site, making prudent planning of future development critical. For me this drew many parallels with numerous hospital sites I have visited and worked with throughout the UK, where adoption of space for development has left general circulation and parking at a premium.
An operating theatre at the new Treatment Centre.
Akin to many brownfield Trust sites in the UK, the ever-decreasing capacity to build at the site underlined the need for a sea change in approach, and a proactive policy of ‘planned development based on demand’ – to prevent ‘roadblock’ developments under-utilising precious space. To assist the Trust in not reverting to ‘financial estates planning’, my team and I tabled a phased delivery of the building to maximise floor space on campus, provide the 28-bed ward without quality compromise, and install the two upper floors to be ‘mothballed’ for development in a future funding cycle.
Satisfying urgent short-term need A solution like this, I feel, demonstrates perfectly how offsite construction can satisfy short-term urgent need as part of a long-term development plan by overarching funding cycles. This is something that my team and I are passionate about helping Trusts to deliver; by doing so we ensure that estate challenges are met with the correct solution, rather than one compromised by funding challenges in the short term.
Design, build, and future- proofing the solution
With an outline scheme identified for an initial phase, the building was commissioned by the Trust, and our designs presented and approved for production based on a 28-bed ward to ground floor, and open space to the two upper floors. Upper floor use was intended as administration space to allow the decant of offices in other areas of the hospital, thus generating space in the existing buildings for conversion to clinical space. Confirmation of that use was to be provided as a secondary phase in a future funding window.
My team designed the ground floor in full consultation with clinical teams, with us chairing regular weekly onsite design meetings at the hospital to ensure engagement of all parties, and underpin the burgeoning strategic partnership. While design specification for the ground floor ward and overall superstructure footprint were confirmed, upper floor internal designs remained fluid for some time after building module manufacturing had commenced in an offsite factory.
A surgical scrub room. 72 Health Estate Journal March 2021
A shower room.
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