Royal Stoke University Hospital has handed Portakabin Hire a £13.5m contract to expand ward and theatre accommodation for orthopaedic services.
A complex 4,000m2, two-storey building will be constructed to increase capacity at the hospital, to the benefit of patient care. Portakabin has a window of less than four months to complete the installation.
The building will be craned into position as 124 steel-framed modules that will be delivered to site complete with wall finishes, internal partitioning, M&E services and flooring already in place. Cranage is made trickier by the proximity of other wards and the A34 highway, which will restrict vehicle movements.
Due for completion in spring 2015, the purpose-designed facilities will include 56 new in-patient beds, two theatres, recovery room, ‘dirty’ and ‘clean’ utilities, single rooms with en-suite bathrooms, staff changing rooms, reception, 'kitchenette', offices and an integral plant room.
John Simpson, director of corporate services at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, said, “We appointed Portakabin for their capabilities to deliver this challenging scheme on time and on cost. It is being built to a very short construction programme so we can have the new facility up and running as early as possible, meeting the increasing demand for services and enhancing patients’ experience.”
He added: “We have been very happy with the performance of the Portakabin team so far. The company’s manufacturing centre in York is an impressive operation which maximises off-site working. This is important to help us minimise disruption to patient care on a fully operational and highly constrained hospital site. Seeing the building in manufacture also gave us the reassurance of the resources, the quality of the Portakabin approach and their commitment to delivery on programme and on budget.”
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