Projects with an eye to the future

In the most recent projects, at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, and at the Western Eye Hospital in the Marylebone Road, the Trust harnessed the construction expertise and experience of main contractor Longcross, selecting the company for its ‘proven track record in delivering schemes in live working environments on time, on budget, and to a high standard, while causing minimal disruption’. HEJ reports.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust operates from five hospitals in West London, including Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea, St Mary’s, and The Western Eye, in addition to private healthcare facilities. Recent refurbishment work has taken place at St Mary’s and The Western Eye. St Mary’s, which is located in Paddington, was originally founded in 1845, and opened its doors to patients in 1851. A general acute hospital that diagnoses and treats a range of adult and paediatric conditions, St Mary’s has pioneered the use of robotic surgery, and was the UK’s first healthcare facility to be equipped with a da Vinci robot for keyhole surgery. It is also one of the UK’s Academic Health Science Centres. At St Mary’s, significant refurbishment has taken place in the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) building, including major works to the first, second, and ninth floors. The first floor refurbishment project commenced in September 2009, and was completed in October 2010, and entailed the conversion of an existing fracture clinic, clinical decisions unit, rapid assessment area, the Douglas Observation ward, and the Joseph Toynbee ward, to create a new acute assessment and admissions unit. For this, it was necessary to divert and strip out all of the existing services. There then followed the creation of new layouts within each space, with specific ‘point of use’ services and facilities installed to create new ward spaces, offices, and patient/visitor areas.

 Minimising disruption