Sector
Health
Value
£1.6m
Region
London
Status
Completed
Delivery Team
Background
The Perfect Circle team was appointed following our successful involvement with the A&E department upgrade at Homerton Hospital. The project was procured via SCAPE Consultancy, a direct award framework that drives collaboration, efficiency, time and cost savings. We were required to refurbish an existing ward at the Hospital, harnessing our knowledge of the healthcare sector and relationships with the hospital's estate teams and contractor.
Requirements
Our brief was to design improved clinical environments and staff welfare facilities, focusing on how to enable a better flow of staff, patients and equipment through the available space. The project was extremely time sensitive and required us to work within a live medical setting.
Challenges
We were required to work within the confines of a busy operational hospital when designing and planning the works, which placed significant logistical constraints on the project. With the Lloyd Ward being at the centre of the hospital site, transportation of construction materials and equipment from the compound to the site was especially challenging. Sterilisation of items being transported in was also critical to meeting infection control requirements.
Working within the confines of the existing ward limited the scope available to design improvements to its performance. We needed to adopt intelligent approaches which improved the layout, utilisation of space, condition and aesthetic of the ward.
Outcomes
All design options focused on meeting the client’s aspiration for a more aesthetically pleasing and better functioning ward to benefit patients. This required engagement with clinical stakeholders to understand current issues and address these within our design.
We took an existing design template used on previous ward refurbishments within the hospital and identified how this could be improved to the benefit of this project, with a focus on simplifying layouts to aid movement within a busy ward. This provided an updated design framework to be applied to all similar future projects over the next five years.
Flow of patients, staff and equipment around the ward were improved by our allocation of bays to be used for the storage of trolleys, preventing them from obstructing flows of people and equipment through the ward when not in use which was a problem encountered by staff before the refurbishment.
We purposefully placed the reception area at the ward entrance, enabling a more effective management of circulation of visitors through the ward by ensuring they are greeted and directed upon entrance. Similarly, a centralised welfare area for staff enables their efficient movement through the ward.
Having our team novated to the contractor allowed us to respond quickly to issues arising and to support with logistical planning; for example, we assisted with planning movement of construction materials to the ward using sterilised containers.
Given the limited timeframe available for completion of design and construction, we attended site regularly to address any delay risks. Our team leveraged their knowledge of the hospital and existing stakeholder relationships to complete designs within just three weeks. This enabled a timely start of works on site, within programme, leading to completion of construction within budget and the available 12-week programme. This was a significant achievement given the scale and scope of the project. This success has resulted in two further appointments at Homerton Hospital.
