The McAvoy Group has been appointed to deliver a new wing at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington.

The firm has secured a £15m contract for the offsite construction of the wing.

Linked to the existing hospital, the three-storey building will feature a first floor to accommodate one of the UK's first purpose-designed Ambulatory Care units. The other two floors will be fitted out in the next phase of the development.

The dedicated, 2000m2 facility for ambulatory care will provide services in medicine, surgery, gynaecology and orthopaedics. Facilities include waiting areas; interview, assessment, and treatment rooms; plaster room with mobile x-ray; trolley bays; patient lounges; ultrasound; single ensuite rooms; nurse's station; staff rest room; clinical stores; utility rooms, and an open-plan office.

Robert Sanderson, Deputy Director of Capital Projects at Northumbria Healthcare FML said: "With this new development, the Trust is demonstrating a dynamic approach with its use of modern methods of construction. The quality of the facility to meet the clinical requirements is our main driver for a McAvoy offsite solution. We will also benefit from a huge reduction in the build programme – from at least two years to just 12 months. This will bring enormous benefits for reducing waiting times in A&E next year and the new ambulatory care unit will enable us to assess, treat and discharge patients more quickly."

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Raymond Millar, Construction Director of The McAvoy Group, added: "We are again pushing the boundaries of offsite construction. This is a highly complex project on a live hospital site. We are integrating with the design of the existing hospital and using offsite construction to deliver the building to a very short programme, achieve exceptional value for money and to the Trust's stringent quality standards. We have developed a hybrid solution which incorporates both offsite and in-situ building methods and are maximising fit-out in the factory for this first phase to enhance quality and reduce disruption to staff and patients."

The project will involve using larger, bespoke modules up to 14.85m long which have been specially engineered to provide a structural flooring solution that seamlessly integrates with the existing hospital building. Mechanical ventilation, heating and cooling systems will also be installed in the ceiling voids in the McAvoy factory, a industry first in the healthcare sector.

Designed by healthcare specialists P+HS Architects working with McAvoy as principal contractor, the new wing will replicate the appearance of the existing hospital which opened in 2015. It will have a faceted external facade to create curved ends to the wing and will be finished in blue and white render. This hybrid construction solution has a three-storey offsite structure with an in-situ built curved link on each floor, a roof-top plant room and full-height stair towers.

The new wing is due for completion in Spring 2019.

(CM)