Off-site and system building solutions specialist, MTX Contracts, has completed a new £2.2 million ‘state-ofthe- art’ modular mortuary facility at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in North Wales.
Having been contracted to design and build the new standalone, 550 m2 modular facility, MTX began work on site last June in a scheduled 28-week building programme, but handed over the building to the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board earlier than planned, in December, ‘well within budget’. An attractive building, the new mortuary is externally finished with bespoke coloured spandrel panels and a Kingspan micro-ribbed cladding system, providing a clinical, modern look, while remaining sympathetic with the building’s purpose. Built to achieve a BREEAM ‘very good’ rating, the mortuary also features a louvered screen wall along the first floor roofline, with a matching Kingspan parapet that effectively hides the external plant area without screening it off entirely. Rooftopmounted solar PV panels supply some of the department’s energy requirements. Incorporated within are a post-mortem room, body fridges, offices, changing rooms, and a viewing room and observation area, all serviced by a dedicated first floor plant room. Local Building Control has recognised the building’s quality and finish by awarding it ‘Winner of the Denbighshire County Council Building Control Building Excellence Award 2013 in the Best Healthcare/Community project category’, and has now nominated it for the National Award for ‘North Wales Building Excellence 2013’, to be announced later this year. Working for the main contractor, Laing O’Rourke, MTX has, over the past year, been awarded a number of projects at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, as part of the Health Board’s £90 m refurbishment and remodelling of the hospital, expected to be completed by 2018. In the spring of 2012, MTX completed a suite of five new ‘modern and future-proofed’ operating theatres there (HEJ – August 2012). While the multi-phase broader refurbishment project was primarily initiated to remove asbestos from older parts of the hospital, the Health Board has taken the opportunity to refurbish many other areas, including the operating theatres, the mortuary, and the Pathology and A&E Departments. MTX project manager, Scott McCaskie, said: “We always enjoy working with Laing O’Rourke. The project team worked really well together, and the Trust was very proactive in ensuring any issues were ironed out easily, and without delay. The building, on a green belt site at the rear of the hospital grounds, was highly specified, both internally and externally.”
