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Sectors

Health

We work with health care providers to understand the issues they face so that we can deliver the facilities they need to do their jobs.

In some cases this means designing for new build projects that are able to embrace the latest thinking on energy conservation and sustainability, and in others it means working on sites that were built long ago. The challenge here is to add as much value within the constraints of the existing fabric, while allowing the hospital to function smoothly around us as we work.

At Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge we played a key role in a £17 million project to provide new accommodation for its key workers.

We were appointed by Sanctuary Housing Association to provide building services design services up to tender stage on a performance design basis, with post-contract duties covering quality and workmanship review, site inspections, and meeting attendance for the duration of the onsite work. This called for the construction of 290 fully furnished multiple-bedroomed flats, with broadband access, digital TV provision, and solar panels.

The work we did for St Andrew’s Hospital in Northampton required mechanical, electrical, civil, and structural engineering design services for a new hospital building. The challenge was to equip Malcolm Arnold House with state of the art health and safety features, but to do it in a way that was totally discreet. The hospital provides a service for disadvantaged children and young people with learning disabilities, associated challenging behaviour, and mental health problems. The design of the hospital had to be safe and secure, but it also had to avoid being intimidating or oppressive for those who live and work there.

Each of the four wards has been built with ten beds, Each ward also has an extra care suite for patients who need to be closely supervised away from their peers. The new wards allow patients to be accommodated according to their age and level of need. Generous staff-patient ratios also ensure high levels of supervision.

Because of the immobility of many of their patients, hospitals are particularly susceptible to the threat of fire and we have carried out specialist fire risk assessments for a number of hospitals and advised on best practice and the need for remedial work where required.