COMMENT
Standardisation’s role in reducing risk for contractors
Standardisation in the design and construction of new hospitals has gained increasing traction in recent years, with the cost and time-saving benefits cited as two of the biggest benefits. On pages 37-40 three senior infrastructure and construction professionals from Mott MacDonald discuss whether – with fewer contractors now willing to take on hospital projects as a result of the risk – potentially jeopardising the ability to deliver new healthcare facilities at the scale and speed required, the risk can be reduced by ‘standardising the design to remove the variability’, affording greater cost and programme certainty. One of the authors says: “Decision-making in
healthcare focuses on getting a hospital built quickly, leading to rushed, premature decisions, such as building a hospital without properly understanding what the need is, and jumping into designing a new hospital too quickly. Standardisation helps in understanding problems objectively, and making better decisions earlier in the process.” The article’s writers point to the ‘very digital approach’ being taken by the Australians, who they say have ‘really focused on standards – standard rooms, standard equipment, and standard data sheets – and have mechanisms in place to publish and update them’. This allows documents to be submitted electronically, with the design automatically checked against standards for compliance.
Cover Story
New elective surgical hub at Colchester Hospital marks MMC milestone for MTX
MTX Contracts has delivered one of Europe’s largest Elective Orthopaedic Centres at Colchester Hospital using modern methods of
construction.The new 11,000 m², three-storey facility for East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) includes eight dedicated orthopaedic operating theatres and 72 patient beds. The Essex and Suffolk Elective Orthopaedic
Centre (ESEOC) is reportedly the UK’s largest MMC development of its kind, built in five phases using 293 offsite-manufactured structural steel units. Designed to handle up to 10,500 cases annually, including 4,000 day cases, it provides state-of-the-art surgical and recovery spaces, including ensuite single rooms, X-ray facilities, a therapy gym, and training areas. MTX was appointed as the main
contractor through a two-stage contract, working with ESNEFT to develop the design to RIBA stage four. Planning permission was granted in June 2021, and construction began in April 2022. A mobile crane was used to lift the prefabricated steel units into place. Once each floor’s shell was completed and concrete screed installed, MTX fitted out furniture, fittings, and MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing), much of which was pre-manufactured as modules. Theatres are located on the ground
May 2025 | Volume 79 | Issue 05
floor, with wards above. The building’s layout ensures efficient patient flow, dedicated sterile access, and natural light for recovery. Theatres feature clean air canopies by Medical Air Technology, Merivaara surgical lights, and Bender UK touchscreen control panels. MTX also managed extensive groundwork, including sewer diversions and basement construction for plant rooms, water tanks, and attenuation systems. MTX managing director, David Hartley, said: “This project is a milestone for MMC as the biggest project of its kind in the UK, and we are immensely proud to be at the forefront of construction technology in creating the new Elective Orthopaedic Centre at Colchester Hospital.”
Pandemic lessons in Japanese hospitals
see page 25
Benefits of a standardised approach
see page 37
Safe Systems of Work in focus
see page 45
MTX Contracts Ltd Innovation House Brooke Court Lower Meadow Road Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 3ND T: 0161 694 0123 E:
info@mtx.co.uk www.mtx.co.uk
May 2025 Health Estate Journal 5 A similar approach has been taken in Denmark, and
while the work there has had ‘mixed results’, the authors believe there is much those designing and building hospitals in the UK can learn. This edition is one of the four published annually with an IFHE ‘branding’, and the two ‘IFHE’ articles this month – from Japan and Germany – focus on equally topical 21st century themes. The former (pages 25- 28) discusses a study in which 257 Japanese hospitals provided interesting survey responses on some of the key infrastructural and other adaptations they made to address surging patient numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the latter (pages 31-34) explores the positive impact of advances such as robotic surgery and AI in treating a a wide range of illnesses. The author highlights, however, the need for equitable access to such treatments for all and – in increasingly ‘digitally- enabled’ hospitals – the need to ensure that patients’ personal information is not misused or compromised. Equally, such technology’s adoption should not – he argues – be driven purely by the commercial benefits, but rather should ‘respond to real needs, and enhance the quality of care’.
Jonathan Baillie, Editor
jonathanbaillie@
stepcomms.com
Standardisation in the design and construction of new hospitals has gained increasing traction in recent years
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