MTX has designed, installed, and commissioned, a new five-storey modular extension at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, completing the entire project in 49 weeks.
London Northwest Health Care NHS Trust required a new modular development to provide acute ward accommodation for 48 bed spaces, along with 15-bed isolation wards and ancillary rooms. The new facilities were to be housed over five storeys of modular accommodation, including a curtain glazed main entrance and top floor plant room, with the main building to be constructed on a transfer structure to allow continued movement at ground floor of ambulances serving the new facility.
The new modular wards are positioned in a tight space between the hospital’s existing operating theatre suites and emergency department. One of the key priorities for the new ward was a good connection to the existing emergency department. This link was provided by a main link corridor approximately 50 metres long, with an open plan link area.
Planning of the foundations was a challenge – due to the existing location at a main substation, and the need to route HV and LV cables and the main medical gas oxygen supply to the hospital. To greatly reduce disruption to the Trust, and as a result of the concentration of loads at column positions, an augered pile solution was designed, incorporating 172 piles with diameters ranging from 325-450 mm.
The main accommodation is split over three floors, with a 24-bed design to Level 3 and Level 4, while Level 5 comprises a ‘state-of-the-art’ isolation ward with 15 isolation rooms, including positive pressure lobbies. Each floor is served by two lifts. The lift lobbies feature eye-catching graphics and décor incorporating the name of each floor; the floors are named Crick, Darwin, and Elgar.
Repeatable room designs were utilised throughout, with four bed multi-wards, single bedroom accommodation, and standardised isolation rooms. Each floor is served by a modern reception area, featuring a curved desk, feature decoration, and TV displays. Touchdown staff bases were also incorporated into the layout design, giving nurses and clinicians an excellent observation point over the wards.
All floors were designed and installed to achieve the response factor (2) required under HTM guidance for night ward accommodation, using a hollow rib deck construction infilled with reinforced concrete. Internal finishes are of a high standard throughout, with all doors to the isolation ward fully encapsulated. The building is externally finished with Formica Vivix Rainscreen cladding, with the plant room featuring a contrasting louvered screen.
A time-lapsed video shows the key stages of the development, and can be found at MTX's Youtube Channel: https://youtu.be/8YwKjwOPuvM
