Raymond Millar, Construction Director at The McAvoy Group, describes how a new ambulatory care facility was built offsite in less than a year – an unprecedented programme for the scale and complexity of the project.
Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital opened in 2015 and is England’s first purpose-built specialist emergency care hospital. However, the existing facilities did not suit the type of service provision offered by ambulatory care – which was operating in a converted ward.
The Trust believed the most effective solution would be a dedicated, purpose-designed unit built offsite to achieve earlier occupation. Award-winning healthcare architects P+HS had worked with both the Trust and The McAvoy Group previously and were brought into the team to develop the design. The new building had to follow the architectural principles of the existing hospital. This has a bold, striking and simplistic design, and is finished in the Trust’s corporate colours of blue and white.
Virtual reality was used to assist the user group in assessing the building design and layout. This helped to inform stakeholders about how the proposed spaces would be used on completion. Nurses could ‘walk through’ the building for familiarisation.
This digital solution gave the client full awareness of the space and how different specialisms would interact. Robert Sanderson, Deputy Director of Capital Projects at the Trust said:
“Having a VR model of our proposed 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. We will aim to use VR on future development projects, following its success with this scheme.”
The structure for the new wing was manufactured offsite by McAvoy in a £15million contract using the latest modular technology to minimise disruption to patient care and reduce the build programme by half.
The building was craned into position just 10 months after the initial meeting with the Trust. This was a highly complex scheme on a live hospital site. The design of the existing hospital has been integrated into the extension. A hybrid solution was developed which incorporates both offsite and site-based building methods – a three-storey offsite structure with an in-situ built curved link on each floor, rooftop plant room and full-height stair towers.
The project features a number of innovations. It used larger, bespoke modules up to 14.85 metre long that were specially engineered to provide a structural flooring solution that seamlessly integrates the existing hospital building on each level. This met the key requirement for efficient patient flows.
Mechanical ventilation, heating and cooling systems were installed in the ceiling voids in the McAvoy factory – an industry first in the healthcare sector. Dr Eliot Sykes, Clinical Director for Surgery and Elective Care, added: “The new ambulatory care unit has already made a very real difference to our patients.
It will significantly enhance our ability to manage peaks in demand whilst still providing dedicated ambulatory care. Offsite construction has been brilliant in terms of build quality and the pace of construction.
We were amazed at the rapid progress from our first meeting to commissioning, and for a building of this scale. Feedback from patients has been extremely positive. They love the design, the amount of natural light and the progressive model of care. This is an outstanding facility for the Trust and is really unique in the UK.”
