OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION
Via ‘VR’, stakeholders can feel and experience the clinical and patient environments, and are now able to validate instantly whether the layouts work for them.
new facilities was invaluable. It allowed us to demonstrate the clinical environment to our staff and stakeholders, equipping them with all the information they needed while the project was under construction adjacent to the main hospital. As a Trust, we are committed to utilising the latest digital technology, and will aim to use VR on future development projects wherever possible, following its success with McAvoy on our Cramlington scheme.”
Clash detection facilitated BIM was valuable throughout the design process to help co-ordinate the architectural design, structural design, and complex building services. This facilitated clash detection to maximise offsite production and reduce construction work as much as possible on this fully operational hospital site. The McAvoy production team also took drone footage of manufacturing in the factory, to ‘bring’ offsite to the client in Northumbria, allowing its team to assess progress remotely. This was presented to the user group at project meetings alongside the VR model, to help the team understand the space, process, and progress.
Dr Eliot Sykes, Clinical director for Surgery and Elective Care, added, “This technology allowed us to ‘walk through’ the patient pathways to test the design, and was invaluable during the commissioning period, for example, for emergency scenario training. It was widely used throughout the project, at our request, and is a far better way of communicating about the design – whether to the executive team or the users. We found the time lapse and drone footage of progress in the factory and on site also provided by McAvoy really powerful for engaging users.”
Understanding the benefits of offsite There are clear benefits to building new healthcare facilities in a factory, which have been well documented. Build
152 Health Estate Journal October 2019 ‘‘
One person wearing a headset would ‘drive’ the VR, with others in the group looking on.
Advances in virtual reality (VR) have allowed McAvoy to actually put clients and end-users into their virtual building as part of the design process
programmes can be reduced by up to 50 per cent for earlier handover, to help NHS Trusts reduce waiting times. The quality of factory construction can far exceed in-situ building methods. Offsite is much less affected by poor weather or damage to materials on site – and the Cramlington site is very exposed. The approach is less reliant on sub-contracted labour, but instead uses a highly trained, permanent, and multi-skilled workforce, manufacturing buildings in safe, purpose- designed factory environments. This has a hugely positive impact on the quality of construction, and, importantly, there is less disruption to staff and patients – which is critical when working on a fully operational hospital site where space is constrained.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust had previous experience of modular construction on other sites, and so fully appreciated how the speed of offsite manufacture can impact positively on patient care.
The construction challenges A significant challenge was to tie the new wing into the main hospital streets at each level for a seamless transition and efficient patient flows. The floors had to be level throughout the wing and into the existing hospital on three levels. However, the modular structure has different ceiling heights to the in-situ constructed hospital – approximately 3.9 m versus 5 m. McAvoy responded to this challenge by developing and engineering floor
A hybrid solution was developed by McAvoy which incorporates both offsite and in-situ building methods.
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