Premier Modular has been awarded a £9.8m contract to build a 62-bed priority assessment unit at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey for the NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by BDP and delivery architects P+HS, the two-storey scheme will provide a new priority assessment unit.
The speed of offsite manufacturing and fitting out will allow for earlier occupation to support the increased demand for emergency care.
Premier will be supported by strategic delivery partner Claritas Group.
The project was procured through the Crown Commercial Service framework.
The new unit will be fitted with medical gases, datacomms, security systems, CCTV, nurse call systems, and fully integrated with the main hospital.
The offsite solution has been engineered to maintain patient flows between the existing facilities and the new unit, with continuous level floors throughout.
The assessment unit will be finished in vertical rainscreen cladding in shades of grey and brickwork to complement adjacent buildings.
The building envelope has been designed to be highly thermally efficient to reduce running costs and carbon emissions, and the picture windows will have solar control glass and integral brise soleil sunshading.
A building energy management system (BeMS) will optimise energy use.
Premier develops bespoke building solutions for highly constrained hospital sites that may be completely inaccessible for in-situ construction.
Careful logistical planning
Akshay Khera, architecture director at BDP, said: “This project is an example of how striking and unique architectural design, that is also in keeping with its surroundings, can be successfully married with delivery via offsite construction, bringing many benefits including speed, quality and efficiency.”
Dan Allison, director of Premier Modular, added: “This scheme is ideally suited to offsite construction. It allows the Trust to meet an urgent need to expand capacity for emergency care and the development of a very constrained site.
“The new building will be located in a courtyard and close to the emergency department which will require careful logistical planning.
“We will be maximising construction and fitout work offsite to radically reduce disruption to patient care.
“This means we will only be on site for just over six months.”
The project is due for completion in summer 2021.
