Client: NHS Trust
Contractor: Holbrow Brookes Construction Consultants
Type of works: design and manufacture of a Wernick modular building for use as a 44-bed isolation ward.

A new two-storey, 2,000 square metre floor area, 44 bed isolation ward completed in the miracle time of 26 weeks is up and running at Warwick Hospital. Commissioned by the local NHS Trust through Holbrow Brookes Construction Consultants, the tender was won by Wernick Buildings on price, but also on the ability to deliver the building to an exceptionally tight deadline. Only Wernick was able to guarantee that the stipulated completion date would be met.

Why the urgency? Swine Flu was expected to hit the UK hard early in 2009. With the serious concerns of the pandemic in mind, the 72-bay, £3.4m modular building is equipped throughout as an infection controlled isolation wing with all the fittings that this type of ward requires, such as passive infra-red (PIR) controlled lighting and taps and air-tight door operation. All ward areas are also equipped with medical gases, wet system central heating, comfort cooling, and supply and extract filtered ventilation. In addition, all mechanical systems in the building are controlled by a state-of-the art computerized building management system. Two large bed lifts between the floors were also included in the design.

John Stevens, the Estates Manager at Warwick Hospital, commented, “My colleagues and I were very impressed at the speed and build quality achieved on this complex project within the confines of a working hospital. Modular building ticks all the boxes as far as we are concerned”.

Completed on time, the building has a brick finished exterior up to its mid-band and above that is rendered to the roof line. The trussed roof is tiled.