Three contracts completed on time and on budget

The Requirement

One of Europe's biggest and busiest paediatric hospitals, Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, had a requirement for three new buildings:

• an office building for the hospital's surgical division
• a multi-purpose building providing facilities for outpatients, and offices for orthopaedics and the medical department
• project offices.

The Solution

The three contracts totalling more than £1.5m were awarded to Foremans for the provision of the purpose-designed facilities using recycled and refurbished building modules.

Working closely with main contractor G&J Seddon, Foremans sited the office building for the hospital's surgical division on a steel gantry above a traditionally-built administration block.  The modular approach allowed the Trust to expand the office accommodation despite the constraints of this busy hospital site.

A three-storey, 24-module multi-purpose building provides:

• a new main entrance for the hospital's busiest outpatients department
• public facilities
• clinical area
• administrative offices for the orthopaedics department and the medical division.
  
  

This created additional space for consultations in the decanted areas.

In just four months from receipt of order, Foremans completed a two-storey facility for the project team managing the £175m redevelopment of the hospital.

The buildings could be in use for up to ten years until the new state-of-the-art Alder Hey Children's Health Park is completed.

Comments from the Client Team

John Williams, Capital Projects Manager, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust:

"The Foremans approach achieves the balance between quality and value.  The quality is as good as new manufacture, both internally and externally - but the recycling and refurbishment of building modules is far more cost-effective and sustainable given the strategic direction of the Trust."

"Foremans performed well on each project, delivering all three schemes on time and on budget.  We would definitely recommend the approach to other healthcare providers."

Andrew Wilcox, Contracts Director, G&J Seddon:

"Our partnership with Foremans has worked very well.  Their approach gives us certainty of completion on time, ensuring we will meet the Trust's deadline for handover and occupation.  It is also much faster than traditional build.  We are pleased with Foremans' performance and look forward to working with their team on further projects."

The Advantages of Recycled Modular Buildings

The use of pre-owned modular buildings continues to increase as more clients and contractors recognise the cost, speed, sustainability and quality benefits of this innovative accommodation solution.

Once a modular building has been identified for use, it is reconfigured and completely refurbished to individual project requirements.  The building is then delivered to site where it is craned into position in just a few days, ready for final fitting out, testing and commissioning.

This can reduce programme times by up to 70 per cent for earlier occupation, and because work off site is maximised, the approach is ideal for constrained sites or where disruption would be an issue during construction.