MTX, a modern methods of construction (MMC) specialist, is creating a 6-bed discharge lounge and associated support accommodation ward at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.
The facility is being constructed as a stand-alone building to enable it to be reused when the planned new hospital is built.
Bespoke ground floor and first-floor corridors link back to the main building and hospital ‘street’.
Construction also includes a new bed lift for easy patient access to the ground floor discharge area.
The two-storey build is located in a courtyard at the rear of the hospital site
Internal fit out of the new building includes HTM-compliant air handling systems along with power, medical gases and other bedside services.
The two-storey build is located in a courtyard at the rear of the hospital site, which will allow easier access for patients and staff.
Further the new location will take high volumes of site traffic away from the busy hospital ‘front door’ and Emergency Department areas of the site. It will also enhance privacy for patients being discharged.
The new discharge lounge was commissioned to support the on-going RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) failsafe programme of works within the QEH site.
The existing discharge lounge sits within a single storey area that will be demolished as part of the RAAC eradication works.
The contract was awarded by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust and MTX is working with the Trust’s multi-disciplinary design and construction consultancy partner exi, which is managing the RAAC failsafe programme at QEH.
The modular building has been fabricated offsite whilst complex enabling works and site preparation was undertaken prior to the units arriving on site
MTX was chosen after demonstrating an understanding of the complexity and specific site issues associated with QEH and building within an active blue light area, as the company successfully delivered a new Endoscopy building on the QEH site in 2023.
MTX Managing Director David Hartley explained: “The modular building has been fabricated offsite whilst complex enabling works and site preparation was undertaken prior to the units arriving on site.”
“Re-routing of existing services and the constraints of a tight courtyard site surrounded by live hospital wards and the Macmillan centre meant craning in modules would reduce overall site/construction time and fit within the tight RAAC programme, whilst minimising disruption to the existing site operation and services,” Hartley continued.
“Successful completion of other projects with the Trust laid the foundations for the award of this contract, to continue improving patient facilities at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,” Hartley concluded.
It comes as Queen Elizabeth Hospital has been confirmed to be one of the seven NHS Hospitals that needs a complete rebuild due to RAAC.
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