HEALTHCARE CONSTRUCTION Jonathan Brindley and ModuleCo


Jonathan Brindley is Sales and Marketing director of BladeRoom Group, a group of companies that includes ModuleCo, ModuleCo Pharma, and BladeRoom Data Centres. He has almost two decades of experience proudly supporting the NHS and private healthcare sector, in that time assisting in the delivery of over 100 critical healthcare facilities of all types and scales. He was the ModuleCo project sponsor for the Operating Theatre and Ward Complex at The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital.


ModuleCo, which dubs itself ‘one of the most successful providers of high-quality, fast- track modular healthcare facilities in the UK’, is part of the BladeRoom Group of companies, which has a history dating back to the early 1980s, with a company that provided modular commercial catering equipment facilities. In the early 2000s, utilising the knowledge and experience gained over the previous 20 years, the founders of the business moved into the modular healthcare and laboratory markets, providing fast-track facilities to the NHS and private sectors. The group has delivered ‘mission-critical’ modular facilities to the UK and overseas markets, including data centres, healthcare, and pharmaceutical facilities, valued at over £500 million. Its in-house team has delivered over 250 modular projects in the UK and overseas, including 107 operating theatres, 14 laboratories, 120 data centres, 30 hospital wards, and 14 imaging suites. Other facilities provided range from hybrid theatres, PET-CT/ MRI, units, and cytotoxic pharmacies, through to HCID isolation wards, intensive care, acute medical wards, and Central Sterile Services Departments.


witnessing an increasing and encouraging trend of NHS Trusts asking for more sustainable solutions – and long may it continue .” Jonathan Brindley added: “We’re also starting to see the ways that our ‘Factory-first’ approach is revolutionising the way that NHS Trusts can access, and in turn benefit from, a new facility. By setting the tone for exceptional build quality, we can help to vastly improve the patient experience, an accomplishment which was further compounded when the design itself went on to win ‘Offsite project of the year’ at the 2020 Building Awards. Our biggest sense of pride comes from the impact that it has had for Phil and the team at ROH, who are now directly benefiting from an award-winning, world-class facility, with a 60-year design life, which (like its illustrious surroundings) will stand the test of time. Our facilities truly are ‘Manufactured for Life’. Most importantly however, we kept our promise, and not a single day of disruption was caused to the Trust’s ongoing operations, or the existing theatre department.”


Jonathan Brindley is right – if you look at the challenges that our Grade II listed building has historically faced, the adaptability of modular facilities presents a real opportunity for us to improve our patient experience, but equally to expand, scale, and develop further, by adopting similar principles, even with the historical challenges of our uniquely beautiful backdrop. On 14 December 2020, just eight weeks from the day that we placed the order, our brand new facility was ready to be used, and, overnight, gave us the capacity to welcome and care for an additional 2,500 patients.


Importance of ‘putting patients first’ Within a matter of weeks, Phase One was so successful that we initiated the launch of Phase Two, so we now have four brand


62 Health Estate Journal May 2021


new, state-of-the-art theatres, a 20- bedded ward, and 12 additional single rooms with their own en-suite bathrooms. The facilities are of such high quality that they promise to revolutionise our patient experience, bringing me nicely to where this all began.


I fundamentally believe that both health professionals and patients share a common desire – faster and more successful recoveries. For that to be a possibility, it is essential that the stage is set correctly, and this is where I believe the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital is the most extraordinary organisation I’ve ever worked for. From the frontline care workers to the Finance director, you won’t witness any project or initiative embraced unless we all understand the impact it has on patient care, and, with our most recent work, we’ve taken that quality to a different level. Every last aspect of our new facility is designed to support a quicker and more successful recovery, and I would defy anyone to walk inside and identify it as a modular build.


Surgeons ‘queuing up’


The operating theatres are so exceptional that we have surgeons – quite literally – queuing up to use them, while the recovery rooms include noise-reducing features, regulated temperature, and no sign of the vibrating floors associated with typical modular facilities. Between us, we have created the optimal conditions for the recovery of the patients in our care. That’s something to be proud of, but equally, as far as I’m concerned, it’s also just the beginning. What we have achieved, together as team, is a genuine sense of accomplishment – through authentic collaboration and a blueprint for future projects. Today, when ModuleCo sits in on our project meetings, there are times when we agree on all points,


and days that we don’t. This is what great partnerships are made of, but this much is also true: we are both unrelenting in our commitment to quality patient care, and the evidence now sits at the very centre of the ROH for everyone to see. If this facility was like performing surgery at the very heart of our building, then it is perhaps very fitting that its creation was born from the well-being of our patients, alive at the very heart of its endeavours.


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Phil Begg


Professor Phil Begg is the Executive director of Strategy and Transformation for The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. He has over 40 years’ experience working in the NHS, and is an Honorary Professor in Life and Health Sciences at Aston University. He played a critical role in delivering the new operating theatre and ward complex.


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