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The facts:
Client: Belfast Health & Social Care
Trust
Location: Belfast, Ireland
Sector: Healthcare
Start year: 2006
Completion year: 2012
Cost: £95m (Phase 2)
Services: Architecture
The project:
Capita Symonds was appointed to provide a landmark
facility for patient care which will set the standard for critical
care isolation suites, and offer a sustainable solution, that will
allow spaces to be converted for other clinical uses and for future
expansion.
Based on the Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut, USA, the 12
storey building houses an accident and emergency on the ground
floor, four operating theatres, 48 critical care beds, education
centre and burns unit.
The layout has been driven by the philosophy of having visitor
accommodation and circulation around the perimeter, separated from
clinical and patient areas by glazed screens. This layout allows
the family to be close to their relatives, without disrupting
clinical procedures. It also minimizes the risk of infection.
The new facility is on a small site in the centre of a busy
hospital facility. This meant that our design had to make the most
of the available floor plate and resolve difficult issues relating
to the interfaces with existing infrastructure e.g. fire access.
Capita Symonds also had to collaborate closely with the contractor
to keep disruption, to the surrounding clinical spaces, to a
minimum.
Capita Symonds value-managed the design to ensure best value for
money.