RECENT NEWS

Interserve Project Services has awarded a £2.8 million contract, under Welsh Health Estates’ Designed for Life: Building for Wales framework programme, to Yorkon, to build and fit out off-site a three-storey outpatient decant facility for the University Hospital of Llandough in Cardiff.

One of the south’s leading building services engineering consultancies has a fresh face at the top.

North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust has selected a partner for the £100 m redevelopment of West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven (above – an artist’s impression of the new hospital interior), a project it says will significantly boost the local economy and help regenerate West Cumbria.

The recently opened £4.5 million Health Design and Technology Institute (HDTI) building at Coventry University features both interesting architectural features and an environmentally sustainable design.

Local Partnerships, the body established to support and improve public services and infrastructure at community level, has formally come into operation.

Nelson Mandela launched the Sheppard Robson and John Cooper Architecture (JCA) competition-winning design for a new specialist children’s hospital in Johannesburg on 31 July.

Terrapin’s off-site construction technology has facilitated the rapid completion of Welwyn Garden City’s new walk-in health centre, the Spring House Medical Centre.

A new £10.5 million site extension is set to open this autumn at the South West’s largest private healthcare facility.

Tribal has appointed former Army officer Stephen Vinall as the new managing director for its health consulting practice. He joins from PIPC, a global consultancy where he led the Government and Public Sector practice.

Mansell has been begun work on a £3 million, three-part refurbishment contract at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Secure power systems company Dale Power Solutions has established a facility near Aberdeen to support its growing sales and customer base north of the border.

Following significant growth in its business with the NHS, wireless communications company Call- Systems Technology (CST) has appointed David Wyllie, reportedly one of the UK’s leading healthcare communications experts, to head its healthcare division.

Staff at Lymington New Forest Hospital in Hampshire, including cleaners, caterers, porters and housekeepers, are reportedly the UK’s first to gain from a new training programme aimed at raising skills in public services.

The Association of Building Engineers is launching a pilot Advanced Apprenticeship scheme developed in conjunction with Asset Skills and offered on behalf of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).

Asbestos management firm Clifford Devlin has published “a simple A5 guide” to managing asbestos in the workplace, which outlines who is responsible for managing the substance in non-domestic premises and what those responsibilities are.

Steel erection and metal deck flooring in progress on the south portion of the new wing at Victoria Hospital, Kircaldy, Fife.

Questioning patients recently in hospital on elements such as ward overcrowding, the standard of lighting, potential noise distraction to nursing or clinical staff, and whether flooring was safe, will form part of a six-year research project led by the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) and the University of York aimed at improving patient safety across the NHS.

IHEEM has been granted a further five-year licence to register engineers at three levels – Engineering Technician, Incorporated Engineer, and Chartered Engineer.

A further category of membership – University Affiliate – is being launched by the Institute, aimed at the engineering departments of universities, primarily to provide a link between academia and industry.

IHEEM is appealing for volunteers to fulfil a number of important roles, including mentoring less experienced colleagues to assist in their professional development. Chris Parker, the Institute’s recruitment/membership manager, explains.