North Devon Hospital required a new building to reduce its orthopaedic surgery backlog. To increase its elective bed capacity as quickly as possible, the Trust opted for a modular building. A modular solution also complimented the spatial constraints on site.
Wernick Buildings
Project name: North Devon Hospital
Sector: Healthcare
Location: Barnstaple, Devon
Client name: Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Supplied by: Wernick Buildings
Project duration: 20 weeks
Accommodation type: Single-storey modular ward block
Size: 9 modules / 403 m²
Features: Hospital wards, staff room, kitchen, accessible bathrooms, reception
Requirement
North Devon Hospital required a new building to reduce its orthopaedic surgery backlog. To increase its elective bed capacity as quickly as possible, the Trust opted for a modular building. A modular solution also complimented the spatial constraints on site.
The Trust went out to the marketplace using the NHS SBS framework to find a modular building provider. They specified a building that not only met the Trust’s obligations under the Health Technical Memoranda (HTM) and Health Building Notes (HBN) but one that also exceeded full compliance.
For ease of use for clinical and maintenance staff from day one, the Trust required an ‘out of the box’ solution for building fit-out.
Solution
Just 20 weeks after the Trust placed their order with Wernick Buildings, they were welcoming their first patients. They named their new building the ‘Jubilee Ward’, yet the client couldn’t imagine that the space would be open and functional weeks before the Queen’s celebrations.
Over two days, Wernick installed the modules on the site of an acute care hospital at full capacity, intending to reduce disruption as much as possible.
A link structure between the main hospital building and the new modular building provides a continuous transition for patients.
The hospital now serves an extra 25 orthopaedic patients a week in the new £1.4m building: which Wernick completed with two four bed wards, two one bed wards, accessible bathrooms, ancillary rooms, and staff areas. Medical services supplier MIG provided specialist ward equipment.
Client comment
Marsh Pullen, Capital Contracts Manager for the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust commented: “Our experience of working with the Wernick team is very professional: they said they could deliver us a ward on time, on budget and they have, and that speaks volumes. There was a lot of harmony. Whenever we had a problem, it was overcome collectively – and that proactive attitude shows through in the outcome. Wernick has delivered us a fantastic ward which I’d put up against any ward in the UK for quality, speed of delivery, and affordability.”
