HEALTHCARE
NEW HEALTH CENTRE DRAWS ON SITE’S INDUSTRIAL PAST BakerHicks, the multi-disciplinary design and engineering company, has completed its part in the successful design and construction of the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s (NHSGGC) new Clydebank Health and Care Centre.
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he new facility, situated in the health quarter of Queen’s Quay and in the shadow of the area’s famous Titan crane, consolidates a number of local GP and social care practices, as well as podiatry and physiotherapy, within a sustainable and fully accessible three-storey building. Appointed by hub West Scotland, BakerHicks provided the civil and structural design for the new £19m building, which was constructed by BAM Construction. The design incorporates a steel frame, long-span beams and the use of curtain walling and extensive glazing to create a light and open feel in the atrium and beyond. It also features an impressive cantilever above the main entrance. Working closely with architecture firm, Anderson Bell Christie, and the landscape architect, Harrison Stevens, BakerHicks’ knowledge and expertise were also used to help highlight the industrial past of the site, with the use of corten steel elements throughout. Queen’s Quay Clydebank is one of Scotland’s key waterfront regeneration projects. The
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once-thriving industrial site was famous for building the QE2 and Queen Mary. The plan now is to transform the 24-hectare site into a vibrant, mixed-use community. With the new facility being located on a brownfield site, it posed a number of civil engineering challenges, including contaminated soil, buried tracks and foundations. To overcome this, BakerHicks’ civil engineers devised a thorough land remediation strategy. Thick layers of made ground due to the site’s industrial past also required ground improvement measures with the use of controlled modulus columns (CMC) to accommodate foundation loads. The tidally-influenced river Clyde, plus surface water flooding from surrounding areas, meant the site levels had to be carefully designed to mitigate the risk of flooding. BakerHicks set the building level so as to prevent flooding from the river and designed an overland flow path through the site to allow the surface water to dissipate. Laura James, Head of Scotland at BakerHicks, says the new facility in Clydebank is another
