The Department of Health and HM Treasury recently gave the final sign-off for building to start of the new £225 million PFI-funded hospital at Pembury near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, set to be the UK’s first large acute hospital with 100% single in-patient rooms.
The new seven-storey hospital, set to occupy a 65,000 m2 floor area, will incorporate planned and emergency surgery facilities, orthopaedics, a “women and children’s zone”, day case theatres and outpatient services. The clinical environment will be designed with patient safety and infection control procedures to the fore, with, for instance, each patient bedroom designed to minimise slips trips and slips. The door to each en-suite, for instance, will be on the same wall as the bed, meaning patients need not cross an open floor area to visit the bathroom.
Architects Anshen & Allen, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and PFI design and build partners Equion Consortium say the design will make the most of the hospital’s location, with views over the surrounding woodland a prominent feature. Inpatient and outpatient facilities will also be segregated to “address issues of patient privacy and dignity”, while separate planned and emergency areas should reduce infection risks.
The consortium is responsible for the hospital’s design, build, finance and operation, Laing O’Rourke for the construction, and Interserve FM for undertaking the £75 million hard FM services contract.
Demolition on the lower half of the current split Pembury site is well under way, while the buildings on the site’s upper level, mainly housing women’s and children’s services, will continue operating throughout the construction period. These services, including maternity, paediatrics and “mother and baby”, will be among the first to move into the new building.
