SITE VISIT
MMC brings new Surgical Elective Centre to Oxford
The new Surgical Elective Centre (SEC) at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford – designed and built by MTX – is a persuasive example not only of how such buildings ought to be constructed, but also how NHS waiting lists could be significantly reduced by the adoption of innovative approaches to surgical workflows and patient care. Health Estate Journal editor Matt Seex reports.
On a very hot, sunny day in early July, Health Estate Journal drove to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford to visit the site’s new six-storey Surgical Elective Centre (SEC), which has been designed and constructed by Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) specialist MTX for Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust. Occupying a former car park, the 14,500m2
SEC was
constructed using 365 bespoke, precisely designed steel structural modules, manufactured offsite and assembled at John Radcliffe Hospital between July and September 2025 over an eight-week period, effectively creating a weatherproof, ready-for-fit-out, six storey clinical building (including a sub-basement) in less than three months – an impressive feat. Indeed, the MTX team proudly point out that, a mere 10 months prior to our visit, there was nothing on the site at all. The SEC is the latest project
MTX has completed at John Radcliffe Hospital. Previous builds include the five-storey, 5,450m², 48-bed Oxford Critical Care (OCC) unit, comprised of 148 modules, which was completed in 2022. On the day of our visit, the SEC – which is due to admit its first patients this autumn – was a hive of activity, as specialist teams worked to fit out the surgical floors and make the Centre ready for patients and staff, as well as continue construction on the raised three storey walkway that will link the SEC with the rest of the hospital. Donning hard hats, hi-vis vests, and safety boots, HEJ had the pleasure of a guided tour of the build courtesy of MTX’s project director Adam Robertson, and marketing manager Lizi Membery.
A surgical model for the 21st century
The John Radcliffe Hospital sits on a sloping site, and the land earmarked for the new Surgical Elective Centre was no different. MTX quickly realised that this offered an opportunity to create a sub-basement under the SEC; one that could be incorporated into the progressive surgical workflow model that MTX and OUH wanted to implement. Also of note is the height of the building: the six-
storey SEC is nestled amongst a spread of older one, two, and three storey buildings, constructed when space was at far less of a premium than it is today. The new SEC has been designed to expand surgical
capacity in the Oxford region and, specifically, to reduce waiting times for elective surgery – which is to say, planned, non-emergency surgeries that have been scheduled in advance. Therefore, in creating a space that will offer cutting-edge, world-class surgical procedures, MTX and OUH also wanted to showcase an innovative surgical workflow – inspired by a number of fact finding
Top: Exterior view of the new Surgical Elective Centre (SEC) at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Above left: The first module of the SEC is lifted into place by crane. Above right: New electrical substation a short distance from the SEC.
October 2026 Health Estate Journal 47
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