The newly created trust has set out its service improvement plans, several of which require investment in estate management.
UHBW was formed in April from a merger of UH Bristol and Weston Area Health Trust,
BAM Construction has been selected for the five-year improvement programme through the government’s Procure 22 capital framework for health projects.
BAM and UHBW are conducting feasibility studies into estates developments. These are examining emergency and urgent care. Although total investment will be dependent on what schemes ultimately progress, it is possible that it could exceed £100m to deliver the full range of improvements that are being sought, the contractor said.
BAM’s team has already started on site for its first scheme, a cardiac catheterisation laboratory (cath lab) facility, which includes extending the trust’s cardiology ward capacity with extensions to two existing wards. This should be completed by around September 2020.
Dermot Parkinson is BAM’s lead for the UHBW schemes. He said: “We are working now in a very constrained site with little space for storage and deliveries, and have to keep the hospital working of course while we are here. This means careful attention to such matters as access routes, which emphasises how important day-to-day understanding is across the project for us all.”
UHBW associate director Carly Palmer said: “Our five-year strategic and annual operational capital programmes will take in a wide range of construction schemes, from internal refurbishments, complex internal redesigns and new build developments. This is an integral part of our modernising our hospitals so that patients receive the benefit of cutting edge healthcare, centres of excellence across a wide range of specialist and increasingly personalised services.
“Our work with our construction partners is therefore of great importance, so selecting a partner that fully understands our needs and supports our approach is vitally important.”
Other firms working on UHBW schemes are architects Stretto, Stride Treglown, Avanti and BDP, and engineers WSP, Hoare Lea, Hulley & Kirkwood and QED. Building services contractors on the team are T Clarke and Briggs & Forester.
BAM construction director Graham Kingdon said: “Despite being one of the world’s most modern construction groups, our pedigree in healthcare goes back over a century, and our understanding of this vital sector is extremely strong. Our philosophy has always been the same: you cannot succeed alone.
“No matter how much modern technology one uses, it is collaborative working with all the partners that allows you to listen properly to a complex and sensitive client like a hospital, and translate that across the designers and supply chain down to the last detail so that you deliver exactly what is needed.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
