Contemporary design for ‘landmark’ centre

The PFI project was “a hugely challenging task” in terms of access, proximity to local residents, noise, dust and vibration control, but Morgan Ashurst, which recently helped deliver the new £250 million University College Hospital redevelopment in London, one of the biggest hospital projects in the Government’s PFI programme, says it was determined to make Musgrove Park one of its most successful projects to date. The project entailed the company designing and building a new, “state-ofthe- art” £18 million oncology centre – The Beacon Centre – for the Taunton hospital, with the new facility set to put an end to local cancer patients having to make the 100-mile round trip to Bristol and back for treatment. The design features triple-glazed windows to all openings, including skylights, with a key architectural feature being a semi-circular atrium at the centre of the building with a curved staircase. The curve is “echoed” in the layout of the outpatient ward and administration area, the walls of which are concentric circles to the line of the atrium. Occupying 4,500m2, the two-storey, steel-framed building includes three ward spaces tailored for day patients, inpatients and outpatients. The day patient ward has space for up to seven beds and 15 chairs. There are eight examination rooms in the outpatients section, and accommodation for up to 18 beds for inpatients. A fourth department for radiotherapy contains two linear accelerators, and space for a third, to provide radiotherapy treatment and all supporting examination, consulting and office spaces. The building incorporates additional plant space on the second floor. Despite the design having been completed prior to their introduction, the building is, Morgan Ashurst says, fully compliant with Building Regulations Parts L and F. Construction included hard landscaping around the new building’s perimeter, linking into the existing hospital at three points, plus demolition of an existing ward block. Morgan Ashurst’s building work also involved the diversion of life-critical services, the laying of new gas, water and high-voltage mains, and construction of an “energy centre” to provide emergency power generation in the event of a power cut.

‘Linac’ challenges

Construction of the Beacon Centre’s radiotherapy department, which contains the linear accelerators to provide radiotherapy treatment, was a significant logistical challenge for the construction team, as Morgan Ashurst senior construction manager Dave Vonk explains: “The ‘linacs’, which are set in two concrete bunkers to provide radiation shielding, each consist of a 1.5 m concrete roof slab and walls, up to 2.5 m thick. A third bunker has been built and fitted out as a ‘shell’, to build in additional capacity for a third linear accelerator as and when it is required. The bunkers were cast in situ, using Peri formwork systems to decrease erection and dismantling times, and to ultimately speed up the construction process. “The primary problem in the construction of the bunkers was access. Several of the concrete pours involved were 300m2. This required up to 16 concrete delivery trucks on ‘turnaround’, with space on site for only two vehicles, and parking for just two more.