Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The need 

Additional overnight ward capacity was required to for the Trust’s Emergency Village programme which supports the Emergency Department. A 3-storey, purpose-built building currently houses Critical Care and Same Day Emergency Care facilities, the addition of a further ward would help the hospital to ease waiting list backlogs. 

The plan

In collaboration with the hospital team, a plan was created for a 24-bed modular ward, bespoke to the needs of the Trust, with 3 single rooms plus 21 beds in shared rooms and all necessary support rooms and facilities. 

The solution

Our solution of a bespoke modular Healthcare Space with a 904m² footprint was to be built using modern methods of construction at our modular manufacturing facility in the Netherlands. At the same time, preliminary and ground works could be performed on-site helping to shorten the overall timescale. 

The modular ward would be transported to the hospital for on-site construction and commissioning. A 70-metre corridor would be created provide a link from the new facility to the hospital building. All construction followed HTM standards and associated HBNs for a clinical building that is used to provide ward space. 

One of our principal designers created the full facility design (unit designs, drawings, specification). Our team have overall responsibly for project management, site survey and planning. We partnered with HCT Construction Consultants who provided a principal contractor with responsibility for CDMC to ensure compliance with CDM 2015 Regulations.

The outcome

Vanguard commissioned the facility within 5 months of the start of the project and continue to perform the on-going maintenance and servicing of the unit.  

Our partnership with HCT Construction Consultants

We partnered with HCT Construction Consultants to provide the CDM management and project management. The initial site survey (November 2021) made it clear that, due to the proposed position of the new facility, this project would require an extensive level of site management to ensure essential hospital services were not disrupted, whilst targeting a quick build to minimise the on-site construction phase. HCT brought a wealth of experience from numerous NHS construction projects delivered over the years.Vanguard and the HCT team integrated seamlessly with Atlas Healthcare Facilities and Property Management (a wholly owned subsidiary of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation) and the Blackpool Victoria Hospital clinical and management team.  Weekly meetings were established from the outset with all key stakeholders in place and with full onsite support from the Vanguard team and sub-contractors from February 2022 in advance of the facility delivery.