Beard Construction is celebrating the first milestone on a £5.6m scheme to transform a redundant energy centre at Milton Keynes University Hospital into a state-of-the-art academic centre for University of Buckingham medical students.
The firm has completed the first phase of the multi-storey steel frame – the structural bones of the new building.
Located just off Fleming Drive, the new purpose-built two-storey academic will provide a medical education and training facility for students, doctors, health professionals, and nurses.
The cutting-edge teaching facility will house four simulated wards, a treatment room, two consultation rooms, a simulated operating theatre which will have a video link for live procedures, and a 150-seat lecture theatre.
It will also include the creation of ground-floor office accommodation, meeting rooms, kitchen facilities, and flexible study and seminar spaces.
Designed by Feilden + Mawson Architects, the new energy-efficient building will achieve a ‘Good’ BREEAM sustainability rating and photo voltaic solar panels will be installed on the roof.
Tom Harbottle, project manager for Beard Oxford, said: “The construction site is in a very-tight location which is right in the middle of the busy hospital grounds.
“Our focus will be on delivering the scheme with minimum disruption to patients and staff so that works do not affect the daily running of the hospital.”
The project, which is the result of a partnership between the hospital and the University of Buckingham Medical School, which is funding the scheme, is due for completion in November this year.
John Clapham, chief operation officer of the Medical School at the University of Buckingham says: “This is a fantastic state-of-the-art building right in the centre of the hospital grounds.
“Students and staff will benefit from first-class facilities which will hugely aid their training.”