Contract awarded for £8m Lancashire day surgery hospital
Preston-based Warden Construction has been appointed to create an £8m day surgery hospital at Matrix Park, Buckshaw Village in Chorley.
With planning permission granted by South Ribble Borough Council earlier this year, the new facility will improve access to healthcare provision within the local community and further afield.
The hospital, which starts on site in July, will include two theatres, first and second stage recovery bays, a diagnostics suite including a static MRI scanner, outpatient and physiotherapy departments.
In addition, the facility will have parking for 80 cars and eight electric car charging stations.
On behalf of WW Medical Facilities and its client Ramsay Health Care UK, Warden has started detailed design on the prime 80,000 sq ft plot on Matrix Park, which is also home to a number of businesses including a Waitrose distribution centre, Rutherford Point and a number of small to medium office and commercial enterprises.
The new 24,000 sq ft steel-framed building is largely single storey and will be clad in a mix of traditional brick with an aluminium-clad feature entrance.
By creating a high-quality patient environment, the contemporary design aims to create a calm and welcoming building, with full height glazing to maximise natural light and a quiet, contemplative landscaped garden adjacent to the waiting area.
The facility will integrate with other health services in the wider Preston area, and has been designed to provide a flexible building to suit changing medical practices and futureproof any subsequent adaptations as much as possible.
On completion, following the 12-month build programme, the operation is expected to create around 52 highly-skilled jobs for the region.
Richard Kenworthy, Warden managing director, said: “Facilities, such as this scheme at Matrix Park, are crucial in maintaining exemplar medical provision to the community, particularly in response to the significant extra pressure our health service is currently facing.
“Once complete in Summer 2021, we expect this new day case hospital to be of vital benefit and provide an essential high-quality operation which fully meets the needs of the region both now, and during any increased future demands.
“Securing this contract, despite the difficult climate, is a real testament to our teamwork. With unprecedented challenges over the course of the last couple of months, the team has really proven that resilience and collaboration are key to embracing ‘business as usual’.”
Neil Whittingham, director at WW Medical Facilities, said: “The delivery and success of this important project for Ramsay Health Care UK requires a dynamic partnership between health care project professionals and contractors who can coordinate the fast track delivery of complex medical and surgical facilities.
“Our decision to award this contract to Warden Construction was based on their knowledge and experience as a design and build contractor in the health sector, to drive as much value for money as possible to eliminate waste, coupled with their immediate understanding of the quality of the product and performance of the health care environment we require.”
The project team consists of Identity Consult acting as employer’s agent with Warden Construction design and construct team consisting of P+HS Architects, WML Consulting, JRB Environmental supported by approved building inspectors, Ball and Berry, plus planning consultant ELG Planning.
With an expanding healthcare portfolio, Warden Construction is also currently on site on the Little Hulton Health Hub, an integrated health centre which will bring together podiatry, speech and language therapy and diabetes clinics, along with a smoking cessation service and mental health services to around 13,000 of the Salford community population.
