Design and technology firm, IBI Group, has been granted planning permission for a new orthopaedic centre of excellence at Guy’s Hospital in Southwark.
Work is scheduled to begin on site later this year after the design was given the green light by city planners.
Commissioned by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, the centre’s design team also includes Curtins, Mace, and Troup Bywater + Anders.
Improving the patient experience is at the centre of the design, with solutions to minimise patient movement while maximising privacy and dignity.
With an internal footprint of 6500sq m over eight floors, the centre will provide eight new state-of-the-art operating theatres including support accommodation and discharge areas.
Teaching facilities for medical students and their peers will further support excellence in teaching, research, and innovation.
We’ve risen to the challenge, and successfully identified innovative clinical planning solutions, offsite construction techniques, and a high-quality palette of materials to ensure the new centre fits sympathetically with its surroundings
With a restricted hospital site bounded by London Bridge station and iconic buildings including The Shard; the design team was challenged to develop effective and innovative spatial and clinical solutions, one of which will lie in the use of individual ‘Medi Rooms’ providing patients with a one-stop approach to their pre- and post-operative care.
IBI Group studio director and orthopaedic centre project manager, Garry Howard, said: “Within a highly-constrained physical site, the project has tested our design skills at all levels.
“But we’ve risen to the challenge, and successfully identified innovative clinical planning solutions, offsite construction techniques, and a high-quality palette of materials to ensure the new centre fits sympathetically with its surroundings.”
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust operates one of the most-successful orthopaedic surgery departments in London, providing elective, non-elective, and trauma services.
The new centre will provide a full range of elective orthopaedic procedures.