The operating and patient recovery facilities at a private hospital in Bath are undergoing a major refurbishment by Beard Construction.
The five-phase project will see three operating theatres at Circle Health Group’s Bath Clinic revamped and a fourth created from an existing endoscopy suite. The associated patient recovery and anaesthetic rooms will also be transformed, alongside new staff changing and toilet areas and the installation in a new roof of the significant new infrastructure needed to power and operate the state-of-the-art equipment in the new facilities.
The challenges of the £3.5m refurbishment are calling upon Beard’s extensive experience of working on medical developments.
Three of the four operating theatres will always remain in use while the work is undertaken and the entire project will take place alongside the clinical environment of the hospital – with minimum disruption to the on-going, 24/7 patient services.
Beard is also pulling together and managing a range of expert sub-contractors providing specialist equipment including medical gas supplies, surgeons panels, hospital building management system panels and nurse-call systems.
The work is on track to be completed by July 2023.
Three of the theatres sit in the basement of a two-storey building with patient recovery facilities on the floor above. Beard has re-felted, insulated and re-purposed the crinkle-tin roof above this building to hold the new infrastructure needed to run the operating theatres and recovery areas below. This roof area will also house new a standalone air-heating unit as well as parallel unique and isolated power supplies.
The installation will include several 300-tonne crane lifts, as the control systems are lowered into place above the patient recovery areas.
The project is currently in phase one, with phase zero seeing the roof conversion and installation of system infrastructure and the stand-alone endoscopy unit converted to a fully-fledged operating theatre.
The remaining four phases will now work through the conversion of the existing three operating theatres.
Beard Swindon director Jamie Harwood said: “Beard’s commitment to minimising the impact of our work on the local environment has already been taken to new levels on this project.
“To carry out this extensive refurbishment alongside or above a working, clinical environment is exceptionally challenging. But we’re working with the hospital staff and our sub-contractors to make it happen.
“The final product will transform the operating environment and facilities for patients and staff at Bath Clinic.”
A spokesperson for Circle Health Group said: “The refurbishment work taking place at Bath Clinic is making good on our promise to offer our patients the very best facilities and services. As the hospital enters its 40th year treating and serving the community, this investment project is a commitment to continuing to deliver outstanding care to patients in Bath and further afield for another 40 years.”
