Kier has handed over Royal Brompton Hospital’s new diagnostic centre (formerly known as the imaging centre) for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
This new specialist diagnostic facility provides MRI, CT, ultrasound, echocardiogram, interventional radiology, transoesophageal echocardiogram (TOE), and bronchoscopy scanning services under one roof for the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals estate, which makes up the UK’s largest specialist heart and lung centre, and is amongst the largest in Europe.
The Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust officially joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, ‘bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease’, in February 2021. The merger saw the Royal Brompton and Harefield form a new Clinical Group within the Trust.
Kier says the new diagnostic centre, procured through ProCure22, ‘will enhance patients’ experience, allowing patients and staff to effortlessly move between buildings and clinical departments via a convenient and secure route’. It added: “The state-of-the-art MRI scanners installed are the market’s most advanced clinical MRI scanners, and will help increase diagnostic capabilities, reduce scanning times, and improve overall patient experience.”
Working within an extremely tight footprint, ‘sandwiched’ between two existing buildings, Kier undertook extensive enabling works followed by the construction of a double basement while structurally supporting the existing occupied hospital buildings either side, and the highway to the front. Throughout construction, movement of the existing structures was carefully monitored to minimise any disruption to the live hospital environment.
David McKenzie, managing director, Kier Construction London, South & Strategic Projects, said: “We are delighted to hand over this state-of-the-art imaging centre at Royal Brompton Hospital, enabling it to enhance its specialist diagnostics services, while simultaneously increasing their education and research programmes. This project highlights our teams’ extensive experience and technical expertise in delivering complex healthcare facilities in live environments with extensive temporary works requirements.”
Piers McCleery, director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs and Diagnostic Centre Programme director, Royal Brompton and Harefield Clinical Group, said: “Part of our commitment to improving patient care involves providing the best facilities to deliver specialist heart and lung treatment, and research – and the new Royal Brompton Diagnostic Centre delivers on just that. This is one of the largest projects ever carried out at Royal Brompton and Harefield, and would not have been possible without huge contributions of time and effort from a large number of our staff.”
Photo caption from left to right: Professor Simon Padley; Christine Peacock; Stuart Davis, and James Philipps (Murphy Philipps architects); Catherine Buckley; Richard Guest; Professor Roxy Senior; Jagdesh Grewal; Paul Lidgate; Cathy West, and Matt Davis of Kier.
