HEALTHCARE
WHY THE DEMAND FOR OFFSITE SOLUTIONS FOR HEALTHCARE CONTINUES TO RISE In this article, David Harris, Managing Director of Premier Modular – one of the UK’s leading offsite specialists – looks at the renewed focus on offsite construction and how it is helping to address some of the biggest challenges for healthcare providers.
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here is definitely a surge in interest in offsite construction in every sector but particularly in healthcare. The speed and quality benefits of taking a manufacturing approach to construction are clear and have been well documented – but are now more relevant than ever before. The pressure on health services and particularly on emergency care units has continued to rise year on year – and then the pandemic hit.
Complex, specialist and highly-serviced facilities The buildings required to expand capacity in the NHS can be complex, specialist and highly-serviced facilities, and needed on already extremely constrained hospital sites. There is also the critical issue of minimising disruption to the provision of existing hospital services during construction.
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These requirements are increasingly being met using innovative offsite solutions and modular buildings supplied for short-term rental or long-term leaseing. These buildings can be installed on severely restricted sites, in up to half the time of site-based building methods, with much less disruption to patient care, greater certainty of completion on budget and on programme, and to stringent quality standards. With superior design, highly-efficient processes and a robust and flexible building solution, offsite construction can deliver comfortable, welcoming patient environments. There is complete flexibility to meet short- and long-term capacity requirements, in compliance with NHS best practice for building design – and on some of the UK’s most challenging sites.
The increasing use of offsite in the healthcare sector Significant Government investment in healthcare is underway – as well as in infrastructure and education – and now with a welcome presumption in favour of offsite. Flexibility is key. Offsite specialists can deliver turnkey projects manufactured and fitted-out off site – and have the expertise to marry modular with in-situ construction methods to create hybrid solutions to meet individual project requirements with optimum efficiency. Offsite construction can provide purpose-designed healthcare facilities and extensions for permanent applications, or high-quality buildings to meet short-term increases in service demand or for decant use during scheduled redevelopments.
