Healthcare construction during a pandemic

Over the last 12 months, we’ve managed and delivered healthcare construction projects worth over £8.5 million.

Here’s a snapshot of how we’ve negotiated the last year…

Pivoting projects to create emergency COVID-19 wards

The influx of critical care patients saw one of our projects take an unexpected turn in 2020. The project, which we were undertaking at Hull Royal Infirmary, was initially a 13-week fit out of a modular building, designed, and developed to be two new general wards.

Mid-project, with the COVID-19 threat rising, the requirements changed, and the ward uses were updated. We had to quickly re-evaluate our plans and mobilise our teams to turn the space into a specific respiratory ward and dedicated COVID-19 ward.  

The agility and flexibility of our specialist team meant we were able to quickly pivot and deliver the job. The project thrived through maintaining effective communication with the client, daily meetings and check-ins with the on-site and management team, development of innovative design solutions in direct response to project requirements and fast track delivery of bespoke manufactured equipment.

Availability of materials

One of the main challenges throughout the pandemic has been the availability of materials. A shortage of building materials was an issue nationally and in East Yorkshire, we certainly weren’t immune, but we navigated the issue to ensure none of our projects were affected.

As a rule, we use local relationships with a range of suppliers to procure materials as much as possible. This will always be the case – pandemic or not. It’s only through the best supply chain relationships and collaborative and transparent relationships with our clients that we’re able to continue to complete projects on time and within budget.

Carrying out essential work in a live healthcare environment

As a specialist construction management services business for the healthcare sector, we applied our extensive experience to ensure that there was minimal disruption to the staff and patients during our projects throughout the pandemic when live environments were involved.  

In the ever-changing COVID-19 environment, we were careful to balance stakeholder requirements with budget and timescales. We also ensured that the healthcare environments were kept as safe as possible, considering infection control, staff requirements and patient safety at all times.

We added extra toilet blocks on site for each subcontractor to ensure teams had separate toilet facilities, and we split shift patterns to reduce the number of people on site at any one time and increased hygiene and cleaning processes in place. We did everything we could to keep our sites safe. And it worked.

What’s next?

This last 12 months have certainly been unpredictable. We’ve learnt a lot and the industry has remained incredibly robust and agile. We have continued to grow and have recently been awarded a series of significant jobs at Hull Royal Infirmary, including the ICU and pharmacy refurbishment – so we are mobilised and ready for the future.

Interested in finding out how we can get your scheme off the ground? Get in touch: enquiries@helix-cms.com or telephone: 0845 468 0081