Off-Site Construction Team Wins Two Awards For Ground Breaking Healthcare Project
The team responsible for the off-site construction of
the new Acute Admissions Unit (AAU) at Watford General Hospital - the UK's
largest AAU and now one of the best-performing emergency care services in the
country - has won two industry awards.
ProCure21 partner
and main contractor Medicinq Osborne, and off-site specialist and Portakabin
subsidiary, Yorkon, have been awarded the Building for Health Award at the
Builder and Engineer Awards, and Best Off-site Health Project at the Off-site
Construction Awards.
Constructed as
part of a £29m ProCure21 contract awarded to Medicinq Osborne, the new building
for West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust was manufactured and substantially
fitted out off site by Yorkon in a £12m contract. This reduced the build programme by around
six months and minimised disruption to patient care on a very busy hospital
site.
Designed by Murphy
Philipps Architects, the AAU is pioneering a new model of care for emergency
cases, with rapid assessment and consultant-led diagnosis. It is now among the
best-performing emergency care services, with one of the lowest re-admission
rates in the country.
Commenting on the
awards, David Johnson, Director and General Manager of Yorkon, said, "This
project successfully demonstrates how an innovative approach to construction
can help main contractors deliver quality buildings on time and on budget, to
the benefit of the client. Yorkon and Medicinq Osborne had a genuine
collaborative partnership with openness and transparency throughout. To complete a project of this scale and
complexity in the timescale and on such a challenging site was a huge
achievement for the team, which we are absolutely delighted has been recognised
with these two industry awards."
Steve Cottrell,
Regional Manager of Medicinq Osborne said, "The new AAU in Watford
has made a huge difference to people in the area already."
"These awards are
testament not only to the innovation shown throughout this project, but to the
whole team involved with the Delivering a Healthy Future project at Watford
General Hospital, from early concept to completion, handover and opening of the
new unit. This includes clinicians,
patients and their families, as well as the Trust project managers, local
authority, and Yorkon and Medicinq Osborne's construction teams."
The off-site
approach enabled manufacturing and fitting out to begin before demolition works
had been carried out on site. This
parallel working reduced the programme by around 50 per cent and allowed a
postgraduate teaching facility located on the site of the AAU to remain in use
for much longer.
The building was
craned into position at the rate of ten 14m-long modules per day in less than
four weeks for the final stages of fitting out and commissioning.
The unit provides
120 beds for emergency admissions, two cardiac catheterisation laboratories,
diagnostics including x-ray, ultrasound and CT scanning; a new hospital
pharmacy with robotic dispensing, and a roof-top plant room. The building is finished in wedgewood blue
with contrasting white render and grey aluminium cladding for a contemporary
appearance.
