The final phase of the £45 million New South Wing at Northern Ireland’s Altnagelvin Hospital has been completed. Designed by HLM Architects in association with Hall Black Douglas, and built by Farrans (Construction), it is the most recent element of new build clinical accommodation in a £150 million masterplan of redevelopment works to upgrade and provide new facilities.
The UK’s first hospital to be built post-Second World War, Altnagelvin celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The architects say the new wing and entire masterplan will “deliver outstanding accommodation and facilities for the next 50 years and beyond”. The South Wing was procured in two phases using Performance Related Partnering (PRP). Delivered on time and within budget, it provides replacement facilities for key services including maternity and neonatal, oncology, adult acute inpatients, and rehabilitation. The first phase of the development featured in the RIBA Healthcare Sector Review 2009, and was highly commended in the World Design & Health Awards. The new wing’s deep-plan form incorporates “generous wards”, together with what the architects describe as “a light and airy ambience”. The 22,000 m2 of accommodation is configured around landscaped courtyards “to complement and enhance the modernist aesthetic of the original buildings, while maintaining and maximising the fine views from the new and existing wards”. Visitors arriving at the main entrance are greeted with a triple height atrium. Composite curtain walling, an integral part of the design, has helped to create an environment “flooded with natural light”, while maximising the durability of the external façade. The South Wing’s design provides level access at patient drop-off areas, and disabled car-parking bays located immediately adjacent to the three main entrances that link through to patient and staff/bed lifts and stairs. Measures incorporated to reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint include sensor-controlled low energy lighting, sensors on wash-hand basins and taps to reduce water consumption, natural ventilation, and use of high U value materials. Major artworks and sculptures are positioned at key points. Western Trust chairman Gerard Guckian stressed the project’s importance: “This phase of Altnagelvin’s multi-million pound project will create a platform around which the complete redevelopment and refurbishment of Altnagelvin’s Tower Block will take place over the next eight years. It will leave the hospital with some of the UK’s most technologically advanced facilities.”
