In Search of Greater Resilience – Rethinking the Healthcare Estate
The pandemic has brought about a major rethink of the healthcare estate and the locations where health services are delivered. This is happening not just in the UK but across the world. The aim is to improve resilience so that essential services are less disrupted and hospitals are not overwhelmed by future crises such as epidemics and pandemics.
Delivering more routine services through community facilities such as health centres and GP surgeries is critical. This will give main hospitals more flexibility and create spare capacity. Achieving this isn’t straightforward. It will call for creative solutions to provide new or expanded facilities within tight timescales and controlled budgets, frequently in challenging circumstances.
What are some of the practical issues that need to be overcome? First, work will often have to be completed in a live environment alongside existing facilities. Managing noise and disruption will be difficult. It’s probable that many sites will be quite tight for space and have restricted access.
Projects will have to be completed quickly and contribute to greater environmental sustainability and zero carbon objectives.
That’s a significant list of requirements!
Pre-Manufactured Solutions
Solutions will need to incorporate high levels of pre manufactured content so that as much work as possible is completed away from the construction site. This, again, raises choices over the offsite construction methods that offer the greatest benefits. Osborne explored some of these issues in greater depth in this recent Building Resilience Into Healthcare case study.
Possible solutions range from incorporating pre-manufactured bathroom pods into traditional builds, up to complete structures assembled from Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs). Kingfisher Court AMHU is an illustration of what’s possible. Speed of delivery was a priority for the Trust. By opting for 24,000 SIPs over traditional brick, Osborne erected a watertight envelope in under three months.
Public sector procurement increasingly favours offsite methods because of the greater speed and predictability they bring. The next priority will be to identify contractors with experience in using these technologies. Osborne has the experience of simplifying the build process to help you create better outcomes for your healthcare scheme and increase resilience across the NHS.
