GRAHAM-BAM Healthcare Partnership appointed for £95m Ulster Hospital scheme

Published: 21-Apr-2016

Joint venture to deliver new Acute Services Block, the largest live healthcare project in Ireland

South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust has appointed the GRAHAM-BAM Healthcare Partnership, a joint venture between GRAHAM Construction and BAM, to deliver Ulster Hospital’s new £95m Acute Services Block – currently the largest live healthcare project in Ireland.

The Acute Services Block is part of the trust’s wider redevelopment plan for the Belfast hospital, replacing the outdated existing main ward block and other specialist acute services within the wider hospital estate. This building will sit adjacent to a new £86m ward facility presently being constructed by GRAHAM-BAM Healthcare Partnership on the same complex, scheduled to complete in autumn this year.

The GRAHAM-BAM Healthcare Partnership was appointed to the four-year, £185m construction framework in 2013. It has now been appointed as main contractor to deliver the second facility – an eight-storey, 31,000sq m Acute Services Block, incorporating specialist wards, support services, assessment unit, inpatient imaging department, and a new emergency department, which will have capacity for 110,000 attendances per year.

The scheme has been designed to achieve a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating and will use flat slab construction to integrate the structure with its services and the clinical spaces. The building’s high thermal mass will reduce operational running costs and the delivery of the structural and acoustic solutions will further support the healthcare services.

Hugh McCaughey, chief executive of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, said: “We are investing heavily in our modern and fit-for-purpose facilities so we can give our patients the best-possible treatment. The redevelopment of the Ulster Hospital will enable us to implement a new service model with future focus on the management and treatment of acutely-ill patients within the hospital setting. We’ve appointed GRAHAM-BAM Healthcare Partnership to the second phase of our redevelopment programme because of their extensive skills and expertise within the medical field, which we believe are pivotal when creating a specialised high-quality scheme.”

Peter Reavey, director at GRAHAM-BAM Healthcare Partnership, added: “This is a state-of-the-art building designed to provide specialist care at the highest level, from operating and post-operative care facilities to high-tech containment laboratories. We will be drawing on our strong track-record of delivering world-class medical facilities as we prepare to start the 39-month construction programme, which is expected to complete in summer 2019. We look forward to working closely with the trust and delivering this important facility for the area to the high standards they – and we – expect.”

GRAHAM-BAM Healthcare Partnership is already working on the first phase of the hospital’s redevelopment programme. The current seven-storey new-build Inpatient Ward Block will accommodate a procedural area on the ground floor with four upper floors of 288 en-suite bedrooms within 12 inpatient wards. The 30,000sq m development has been designed to achieve the highest building and infection control standards.

The hospital has been design by Avanti Architects and Kennedy Fitzgerald.

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