Darwin Group completes groundworks for Southmead Hospital’s £49.9m Elective Centre

By Lina Kurdi | Published: 20-May-2024

Healthcare construction expert Darwin Group has completed groundworks and is set to deliver prefabricated units

Darwin Group has now completed groundworks for the £49.9m Elective Centre at Southmead Hospital, a North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) told Building Better Healthcare

The specialist healthcare construction firm is set to deliver prefabricated units onto the site to construct the building. 

The state-of-the-art facility is due to open in Spring 2025. 

The Elective Centre 

The Elective Centre is a joint project between several NHS organisations:

  • North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT)
  • University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) 
  • Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board
  • NHS England

Tony Hudgell, Director of Operational Estates and Facilities at North Bristol NHS Trust, said: “The Elective Centre is an exciting development that will have a positive impact for patients across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.”

“It will provide capacity for an additional 6,500 operations to be carried out across Bristol, improving surgical waiting times for patients,” Hudgell continued.

Modular units will be constructed offsite to deliver the project up to 60%  faster and with up to 90% less waste

“The centre is being constructed from prefabricated units to reduce the build time and waste and it is great to now see the building taking shape,” Hudgell concluded.

The new centre will include:

  • Four surgical theatres
  • 40 beds for patients to recover
  • 12 medirooms (where patients prepare for, and recover from, surgery)
  •  X-ray facilities

The additional capacity will enable more patients to be seen in existing theatres at NBT and UHBW sooner as the new Centre will help in reducing waiting times. 

The centre will enable an additional 6,500 operations to be carried out across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, every year. 

Further, As the centre will be separated from emergency services the surgical beds will be kept free for patients waiting for planned operations, reducing the risk of short-notice cancellations.

Update on the construction of the Elective Centre 

On Monday, 13 May, a crane was brought onto the construction site of the new Elective Centre at Southmead Hospital to prepare for prefabricated units to be lifted into place to create the building.

Darwin Group completes groundworks for Southmead Hospital’s £49.9m Elective Centre

These works will see lorries transporting the units onto the site at staggered points every day for four weeks.

Further, modular units will be constructed offsite to deliver the project up to 60%  faster and with up to 90% less waste than traditional building methods. 

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