OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION
In designs we developed through open discussion and collaboration, the first floor was designated as two orthopaedic operating theatre suites and two X-ray suites, with the second floor now designated for occupation by specialist outpatients, breast screening, and ultrasound departments.
A significant challenge As the structure was designed and previously installed for use as administration offices, this presented my design team with a significant challenge – operating theatres would normally be sited at ground floor level, with a sub-floor of reinforced concrete to minimise deflection of floors. Similarly, X-ray suites with ceiling track-mounted equipment would need any deflection removing from the ceiling track to ensure a clear image and correct equipment operation within manufacturer tolerances. As this specification was not included in the installed superstructure, other build methods may have needed an element of dismantling, re-design, reinforcement, and re-assembly, with associated cost and time implications.
However, my design team consulted with our structural engineering teams, and we implemented two innovative ‘retrofit’ solutions to answer both challenges. Neither solution required dismantling of the superstructure, and both were fitted on site prior to the commencement of internal fit-out and installation of specialist equipment. Flexibility of the offsite build system allowed cost and time for these changes to be minimised.
The new reality for UHDB When UHDB identified the need for a 28-bed ward for winter alleviation the original aim of the project was to answer that requirement promptly. The Trust initially defaulted to ‘financial estates planning’ by planning delivery of additional accommodation in the form of a 28-bed ward within the ‘in-year’ time constraints of the available capital funding. I find it extremely refreshing that, led by Kevin Downs and Paul Brooks, they paused, stepped back, fully engaged with internal teams, and externally with strategic supply partners, and took a holistic view of the site. Allowing us to have early input assisted the Trust in creating a greater vision that extended beyond the unworkable capital funding allocations of the present. This altered approach – of encouraging early engagement with supply partners, identification of alternative procurement routes, new modern methods of construction, and, crucially, a Board that empowers people to take decisions – has opened the future to ‘planned development based on demand’ over an extended period through ‘strategic partnership’.
74 Health Estate Journal March 2021
The immediate reward was delivery of a high specification, multi-discipline, three- storey, permanent clinical facility across two construction phases – a development that, with a comfortable ‘tried and tested’ procurement route, and traditional build methods, would have been near, if not impossible, to deliver with the same budget and timeframe. Of benefit longer term to UHDB though is the knowledge that it is no longer restricted to funding cycles to develop an estate that will properly serve the needs of patients, staff, and visitors.
UHDB now has a tried and tested delivery vehicle that is adaptable, agile, and transparent, and ultimately removes the shackles of ‘financial estates planning’, allowing it to deliver its long-term strategy regardless of the amount or timing of funding allocations.
The way forward
The quality of the new Treatment Centre building delivered at Queen’s Hospital, and the manner of its delivery, for me bring into ever sharper focus the clear advantages that the offsite construction sector has to offer as a far more agile, responsive, construction model than previous ‘solutions’ adopted within the NHS. As demonstrated by UHDB’s collaboration with us at Catfoss, modern methods of construction, and specifically offsite modular when used particularly within the NHS – where care delivery models evolve and change so quickly and so often – offers real flexibility. Even during the build, the ultimate use of the building can, and does, evolve. Companies such as Catfoss in this sector have proven experience. We have, and continue to, deliver high-quality clinical buildings rapidly against demanding programmes for both permanent and interim use. These are buildings that are readily adapted during or after the delivery process, easily scaled up through extension, and can be relocated when necessary, providing Trusts with a flexible forward strategy. That flexibility ensures that the finished solution is one that provides the ability to easily adapt spaces in future years, leaving a permanent building that can serve a multitude of uses. This is something that on a personal level I find extremely satisfying when completing projects such as the new Treatment Centre at Queen’s Hospital. Recognising that they can design, implement, and occupy, offsite constructed modular buildings in a significantly reduced timeframe compared with traditional build, while planning for future demands, like UHDB, many NHS Trusts throughout the UK are adopting offsite construction of new facilities as the cornerstone of both their urgent need, and their long-term estates
strategy, as they recognise the flexibility of the system in working with capital funding cycles.
Although often initially being used to meet demanding delivery timeframes, and to unlock equally demanding criteria for funding releases to combat the challenges of annual seasonal epidemics such as winter flu and pneumonia, and, most recently, the current COVID-19 pandemic, I find myself having an increasing number of conversations with Trusts that are now acutely aware that they are opening partnerships with ‘strategic suppliers’ like Catfoss, who are able to assist with long- term strategy, while acquiring an excellent foundation for quick expansion in the future.
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Ben Foreman
Ben Foreman has been managing director of Catfoss since 2015, and is also a director of development company, noviniti. He joined Catfoss in 2004 as a site operative, quickly acquiring a wealth of knowledge in delivering and installing bespoke building systems, and rapidly rising to lead the Operations division. Having developed a deep product knowledge and established himself within the business, he went on to a highly successful period of his career with Catfoss promoting and selling modular construction to multiple market sectors, leading to his promotion to the board in 2010. Appointed managing director in 2015, he has since led and developed Catfoss into the specialist healthcare building provider it is today. He says he is ‘passionate that every NHS estates team that Catfoss works alongside receives a high-quality building, that provides the required space for the current need, but also forms part of a long-term development plan’.
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