CONSTRUCTION
A ‘Nightingale’ hospital with a difference completed
The NHS Nightingale Hospital in Exeter was the last of the eight Nightingale UK hospitals to be built. Writing exclusively for HEJ, project manager Andy Witnall, from contractor BAM, explains why it is different to others.
Bulk excavation completed to the west elevation, with some of the 80 metres of retaining wall. BAM installed 700 linear metres of land drains to dewater the area, due to a high water table. Right: The empty Homebase store before work started on 8 May.
If you told me it was possible to build a brand new hospital in 57 days, I would not be the only one who blinked several times before saying it could not be done. Nevertheless, it was successfully achieved, and right in front of my eyes. We knew that rapid Nightingale facilities were going up elsewhere in the UK, one being built by our colleagues in Harrogate, and some in under two weeks. For reasons I shall now explain, circumstances in Exeter took us to a whole new level of amazing.
Nightingale Exeter is a brand new, 116- bed hospital. Of those 57 days it took us to create it, nine were for initial demolition works, and commissioning is included in that timescale. But why not in eight days? Because NHS Nightingale Exeter is different to its seven predecessors. While other Nightingales had some infrastructure in place already, our starting point was a slab, four walls, and
a roof that itself needed some attention. It was an old Homebase DIY store, which had lain disused for some years. There was virtually no M&E to inherit, nor drainage, or mains services. What has in effect thus been created is not an adaptation, but a brand new building with minimal derogations to HBNs and HTMs (Health Building Notes and Health Technical Memoranda).
Start day channelled ‘fighting spirit’ Our commencement was VE Day – Friday 8 May, and the team needed to channel some of that fighting spirit. In all 468 people worked on site at peak, with over 2,500 people involved in total, clocking up a colossal 170,000 plus hours of working time, while operating in accordance with the industry’s social distancing protocols despite the site’s constrained nature.
We began by demolishing old staff
areas, bulk storage, and external features such as the garden centre and redundant plant. The new facility was procured with the support of the Devon STP with the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust as the contracting authority. They knew that Exeter would be different from the start because it would be put into use immediately. Not only does it have COVID capabilities, but it is being used right now to help treat patients with other serious conditions in the Devon and Cornwall areas and further afield. Unique among the new Nightingales, it was conceived as a hybrid facility to be flexible and adaptable. While Nightingale Exeter isn’t currently needed for COVID patients, it is able to use its CT scanner to help local GPs and hospitals provide people with safer and faster access to tests for a range of conditions. Facilities currently available there include an ultrasound department and a cardio ward.
Preparing the floors for vinyl in one of the wards, installing the suspended ceilings, and commissioning M&E equipment. 34 Health Estate Journal September 2020
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