15 May 2015
Leading Foundation Trust Chooses Yorkon Off-Site Solution to Expand Ward Accommodation
Frimley Park Hospital chose a Yorkon off-site building solution from the Portakabin Group for a new 34-bed emergency care ward to help address the increased pressure on health services particularly during peak periods.
The two-storey ward building which provides beds for critical and elderly care was handed over after just four months on site. The use of off-site construction ensured any disruption to the hospital was kept to an absolute minimum and radically reduced the programme time to allow earlier occupation to the benefit of the local community.
Frimley Park Hospital, part of Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, was the first hospital in the UK to be rated 'Outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission. It serves around 400,000 local people in Surrey, Hampshire and East Berkshire and has experienced significant increases in GP referrals and emergency medical admissions.
The new ward building has expanded capacity and was manufactured and partially fitted out off site in York which cut the programme time by around half compared to site-based building methods.
Commenting on the use of a Yorkon off-site solution, Greg Hinde, Capital Project Manager at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust said, "Speed was the principal driver for choosing modular building for this scheme. Site-based construction just would not have enabled us to have the building up and running as quickly. The new wards have been well received by staff and patients. We think the design of the work stations within the bed-bay areas works particularly well and facilitates patient contact. The overall design and layout is very open and spacious, and provides a fantastic environment for patient care and for staff to work in."
"The team at the Portakabin Group was great to work with and we would not hesitate to recommend this approach to other trusts needing to expand capacity, quickly and cost effectively."
Simon Ambler, Director of the Portakabin Group, said, "The pressure on health services and particularly on emergency care units continues to rise year on year. As a result, we are seeing increased demand for a range of healthcare buildings - wards, theatres and diagnostic facilities, which are being strategically planned by trusts anticipating their needs for the coming winter months and peak periods."
"These buildings are complex, specialist and highly serviced facilities required to expand capacity on typically extremely constrained hospital sites. These requirements are increasingly being met using off-site solutions - in up to half the time of site-based building methods, with much less disruption to patient care, greater certainty of completion on budget and on programme, and to stringent quality and NHS standards."
Facilities in the new building at Frimley Park Hospital include single en-suite rooms and six to nine-bed wards, clean and dirty utilities, kitchenettes, staff rooms, offices and stores. Externally it was finished in light grey with a dark grey trim and it has a flush, column-free façade.
The use of an off-site solution for this ward building also helped to address the site challenges. This was a highly restricted, sloping site in close proximity to other hospital facilities which had to remain in use throughout the construction programme. A retaining wall was constructed as the site sits lower than the adjacent road - and this blue light route had to have access for emergency vehicles maintained at all times.
The pre-installed Yorkon concrete floor system was specified throughout the building for a robust and high performance finish. The new wards are linked to an existing ward building at both ground and first floor levels which required precision engineering of the steel-framed modules.
The Portakabin Group has an extensive track record in the healthcare sector, having completed a wide variety of bespoke building projects using Yorkon off-site solutions, including ward extensions, self-contained theatre blocks, emergency care units, haemodialysis centres, offices, community clinics, and complete hospitals, delivering all the advantages of off-site construction.
For further information about Yorkon off-site building solutions for hospitals and clinics, call 0845 2000 123, email info@yorkon.co.uk or visit www.yorkon.co.uk.
Editor's Notes
1. The advantages of off-site construction for healthcare projects include:
- Programme times reduced by up to 50 per cent for earlier handover and occupation, with a positive impact on patient care
- Reduced disruption to staff and patients with safer, quieter and cleaner construction
- Buildings can be easily extended vertically or horizontally and expanded without decanting
- A robust pre-installed concrete floor option for enhanced performance for high traffic areas, to accommodate sensitive hospital equipment and to reduce sound transmission
- Material wastage reduced by up to 90 per cent
- Up to 90 per cent fewer vehicle movements to site
- Improved quality and reduced future maintenance
- A high level of design flexibility internally and externally
- Improved thermal efficiency for lower running costs and reduced carbon emissions
- Greater assurance of delivery on time and on budget.
2. Yorkon and the Portakabin Group are registered trademarks. Portakabin is a registered trademark which must only be used to refer to modular buildings that are known to have been manufactured by the Portakabin Group. Please note, Portakabin is not a generic term.
