Balfour Beatty has announced completion of the latest phase in the development of the new £23m Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Welwyn Garden City.
The four-storey facility, being built for the Assemble Community Partnership, is approximately half way to completion and consists of 8,542sq m of clinical and community space. It will provide a 24-hour urgent care centre which will treat a wide range of minor illnesses and injuries; an outpatient unit; a diagnostics centre providing MRI, CT scans and X-rays; GP services; a purpose-built area for outpatient children’s services; a breast unit; ante/post-natal care; and much more.
Working in partnership with award-winning architects Penoyre & Prasad to implement an environmentally-friendly building, Balfour Beatty is providing a green roof, solar panels, air source heat pumps and natural ventilation, which will reduce energy consumption in the operation of the building.
In addition, hospital diagnostic rooms are designed to enable multi-use so they can be interchanged at any time. To ensure existing healthcare services remain unaffected by construction works, the new facility is being constructed next to the existing hospital, with services to be transferred when complete.
Dr Hari Pathmanathan, a GP board member of East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The opportunity to design a hospital building and its services around the needs of our patients, now and in years to come, is a huge privilege. The building itself will be really impressive but, more importantly, the services it provides will improve the quality of patient care for my patients and many thousands of others every year.”
Kevin Atkinson, Balfour Beatty’s director of operations for London new build projects, added: “We are committed to applying our experience and ingenuity to create a space that is safe, modern and flexible so that the local health services can be better tailored to meet an individual patient’s needs.”
Building work began in April 2013 and is scheduled to be completed in spring 2015.
