Wernick Buildings says it is ‘not unaccustomed to installing healthcare buildings in a tight spot’, but recently received a challenge from Leicester Royal Infirmary that required, at least in terms of modular buildings, ‘nothing short of surgical precision’.
The hospital needed two wards to accommodate inpatients as part of the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust’s five-year estates strategy. With nearly all usable space taken up, the choice of location was ‘very limited’.
The site ultimately chosen posed several major obstacles: not only bordered by the Windsor, Sandringham, Osbourne, and Robert Kilpatrick buildings, the new ward building would also be situated under, and be linked to, a bridge between the Windsor and Sandringham buildings, effectively being ‘boxed in on all sides’. “From the project’s outset,” said project manager Louise Naylor, “Wernick had a can-do attitude in terms of delivering against a challenging programme and budget.”
The building was initially designed and then modularised by Wernick Buildings’ technicians, and comprises 80 units which make up the mainly two-storey block, rising to three to link into the existing ‘skywalk’.
Keeping the hospital running during the installation was ‘quite a logistical feat’. Designated lorry routes saw module deliveries kept to a strict schedule. “The biggest obstacle to the installation and movement around the site was the bridge and its supports,” explained contracts manager, Ian Mellor. “If we even grazed it, the whole site would have had to shut down.”
Thankfully, a ‘well thought through’ process for positioning the units prevented such an eventuality. Ground floor units were craned onto the foundations, and pushed into position using forklifts, while installing the second floor units saw employed a temporary system of skids, allowing the modules to be slid along the top of the ground floor units. The link to the bridge was then craned in. This approach ensured minimum disruption to movement around the hospital. Even the skywalk was only closed for minutes at a time – while units were being craned over it. The 80 modules were delivered to site over a two-week period, followed by an intensive fit-out.
Meeting spatial standards identified in HBN 04, the two 28-bed wards, each comprising five four-bed bays, and eight side rooms, were completed in 12 months. En suite WC and WC/shower facilities are provided throughout.
Shortly after the building’s completion, Louise Naylor said: “Patients especially like the en suite facilities and increased availability of side rooms. The new facilities have really enhanced the privacy and dignity elements of care that the hospital can offer.”
