King’s College Hospital – from concept to completion

By Jo Makosinski | Published: 8-Feb-2023

In this article we look at how King’s College Hospital’s new £21m outpatient building was delivered via a modular offsite solution in just nine months

King’s College Hospital’s new 3,450sq m, £21m outpatient services building is now complete after a fast-tracked, nine-month build programme from concept to completion, led by Premier Modular.

The building is the trust’s largest development to date and includes a four-storey building linked to the original hospital’s Normanby Building via the ground floor, enabling seamless service continuity and patient flows between the old and new buildings.

The newly-completed outpatient facility will provide King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with much-needed additional space, helping to overcome capacity constraints as it continues to serve 700,000 people across four London boroughs, as well as offering specialist services for a wider catchment area.

The new building will also help to reduce waiting times and improve the patient experience for emergency unit care services.

A fast-tracked solution, with minimal disruption

Constructed offsite, the outpatient building was designed, delivered, and installed with minimal disruption to the live hospital site.

Co-ordinated cranes supported seamless installation of the 132 steel-framed modules, ensuring no disruption to the helipad and air ambulance helicopters.

And, despite the installation taking place during winter, meaning shorter days and potential weather delays, the modules were still installed at pace – with up to eight modules installed per day into the centre of London.

Overall, the install was completed in just 23 days.

Meeting specialist healthcare needs

With extensive healthcare building experience, Premier Modular designed and delivered 48 purpose-built consultation rooms, alongside eight procedure rooms for both clinical and non-clinical procedures.

The design was developed in collaboration with clinicians and patient representatives, enabling Premier to deliver a bespoke solution that met the trust’s specific needs.

The external façade was also designed to be in keeping with the existing buildings on the hospital campus.

The facade has been designed to complement existing buildings on the site

The facade has been designed to complement existing buildings on the site

The new spaces will support a range of services, including:

Eight therapy rooms

  • A gymnasium
  • Neuro gym
  • Respiratory clinic
  • Paediatrics gym
  • Dermatology facilities
  • Procedure rooms on the ground floor

The first floor consists of 18 neurology and neurosurgery rooms, six pain service rooms, as well as consulting, treatment, and procedure rooms.

On the second floor, there are 13 procedure rooms and 13 urology rooms, while the third floor houses medicine rooms and 10 consulting rooms.

Modern interior design lends a fresh and contemporary atmosphere, which also supports patients’ sensory needs.

A double-height – 6,525m – entrance feature enables high levels of natural light throughout the reception and waiting areas, providing a comforting welcome for patients.

Modern interior design lends a fresh and contemporary atmosphere, which also supports patients’ sensory needs

Modern interior design lends a fresh and contemporary atmosphere, which also supports patients’ sensory needs

A building for patients, now and in the future

Sustainability and environmental considerations were imperative for the trust throughout the project.

Exceeding targets for energy efficiency in line with the London Plan and new SAP 10 carbon factors, the building will see a significant reduction of regulated carbon emissions (48.16%) using a combination of low-carbon measures and energy from renewable sources. This includes:

  • High levels of quality insulation throughout to reduce heat loss and operational costs
  • A highly energy-efficient system for precise heating and cooling, which also features heat recovery
  • An efficient radiant panel system, powered by air source heat pumps, which offers a sustainable alternative to radiator heating
  • The building’s hot water is provided using a bivalent system, with 65% provided from air source heat pumps
  • Highly-effective LED lighting throughout the building, with daylight dimming control for rooms benefitting from natural daylight
  • A photovoltaic (PV) array of solar panels, which will generate approximately 45kWp of electricity output

The new facility is also designed in compliance with BREEAM 2018 Ene01 excellent requirements and has areas of green roof to encourage biodiversity.

Precision manufacturing, achieved through the project’s offsite delivery, has reduced the building’s heat loss, ensured fewer vehicle movements to the live hospital site throughout the build programme, and supported zero waste to landfill.

You may also like