ESTATE REDEVELOPMENT
Collaborative approach helpsTrust transform estate
Darren Laybourn, director, Strategic lead, Newcastle and Teesside, and Global head of Healthcare for construction company, Turner & Townsend, explains how a partnership approach involving close collaborative working between all the key supply chain players involved has helped mental health Trust, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, ‘transform its estate against a patient- centric vision for excellence’ over the past 14 years, in the process successfully delivering on its ambition to provide care to its service-users in truly fit-for-purpose 21st-century buildings.
Mental health facilities in England are undergoing something of a transformation, with Trusts across the country working hard to dramatically improve healthcare facilities and patient outcomes. One of the UK’s largest mental health trusts, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, has put the redevelopment of its assets for the benefit of patients at the core of its investment plans since its inception in 2006. Its ambitious plan came into being some 10 years before the reviews by Sir Robert Naylor and Lord Carter into the NHS’s healthcare estate, and showed real intent by the Trust to deliver transformation of its own estate against a patient-centric vision for excellence.
Inheriting an ageing estate At the time of its creation, the Trust inherited an ageing estate stretching from Berwick on the Scottish border to Sunderland. The challenge facing it was evident from the beginning – only 5-10 per cent of inpatient facilities were in ‘Estatecode’ condition A or B (i.e. ‘as new’ or operationally safe). Assets held by the Trust were in need of investment,
having been in use since the Victorian era. To patients and visitors, the buildings represented an outdated vision of what mental healthcare facilities were, while Trust employees were often working in environments not conducive to the provision of first-class rehabilitation and care.
The objective for the Trust in the last 14 years has been to completely modernise and reform services, to bring them up to a standard that enables NHS mental healthcare staff to provide first- class care in environments that promote better patient outcomes. With NHS budgets under increasing scrutiny, and the ever-present need to ensure value for money, reforming one of NHS England’s largest mental health Trusts required both a clear vision and resilience.
Collaborative approach pays off The Trust’s long-term collaborative approach, investment from a £50 million Private Finance Initiative (PFI), and a £200 m investment through the NHS ProCure21/P21+ construction frameworks, have paid dividends, with 90-95 per cent of the estate now in ‘EstateCode’
condition A or B. The overhaul of the Trust’s assets is an exemplar for future mental health estate strategies. Delivery of the award-winning estate was the result of a 14-year long partnership between our team, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Medical Architecture, CAD21, and other valued supply chain partners. Acting in our capacity as project and cost managers, our role has been to guarantee surety on delivery timescales, and develop a programme of delivery with a specific eye on continuous improvement, social value, and value for money. At all times the entire team has focused its energy on ensuring that the end-result remains absolutely focused on the long-term vision and medical needs of the Trust and its patients.
Delivering success
Cost and project management services were provided under the terms of the New Engineering Contracts (NEC3 and 4), which are designed to reflect emerging UK best practice within project management and procurement, and to help to establish a responsive environment that is conducive to flexibility, better value, improved delivery, and price certainty. Our experiences – and the lessons learned – on many of our major UK and international healthcare projects, such as Perth Children’s Hospital in Western Australia, continue to set the pace and standard across the NHS in professional practice.
On this ‘estates transformation’ programme, the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) via ‘Navis Works’ allowed for foresight of how rooms would look.
The role of a project/cost advisor requires consultants to go above and beyond, aiming to become a true trusted advisor – being proactively engaged in developing the optimum solutions around design, buildability, procurement, risk, value for money, and guidance on the public sector frameworks that are available to support project delivery. This status of trusted advisor is crucial for encouraging closer working relationships
April 2020 Health Estate Journal 51
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
