Helping to restore function and build confidence

Overview

The Brief

Ward 6C at Chapel Allerton Hospital was an old ward that had sat dormant for over 11 years.

With a strong track record for restoring old buildings and contending with the challenges of many high-grade listed buildings over the years, Leeds Teaching Hospitals knew that I&G were the contractors for them. We had already built a strong relationship with the team on several schemes throughout Leeds General Infirmary and St James’ University Hospital, a lot of which were delivered to extremely tight deadlines.

The Trust had confidence that we could deliver under such tight constraints, and so we got to work.

The Solution

With the end-user in mind, we wanted to create a vibrant space that would help specialist stroke teams provide expert support and care for people recovering to help restore their function and build their confidence for independent living.

That’s exactly what we needed to do with the building – restore its function and build confidence with the client that we could deliver quickly so that the existing rehabilitation ward could be used for the growing number of covid-patients at the time.

The works involved:

• Full strip-out of existing areas.
• New partitions, flooring, decorations, suspended ceilings, manufactured joinery, and new external aluminium windows.
• Full new mechanical and electrical installations including new AHU on the roof.

The Challenges

• Some work had to be undertaken in live areas below and adjacent to where the works were being carried out.
• Logistical challenges on the 2^nd floor meant access needed to be provided by scaffolding with goods hoists provided.
• We started on site with much of the design still in the design-stage.
• We worked 7 days a week for the entire project, and for a period of 3 weeks to the end of the scheme, we worked 24 hours a day to get the project done in time. This was a result of fast-rising covid cases which meant the existing rehabilitation space needed to be evacuated quickly to increase covid-capacity.
• Covid considerations and programme constraints had to be juggled. We had over 50 men on site at times and we had to ensure that safe methods of work were being adhered to.

The Results

The redundant ward has now been transformed into a vibrant, modernised space that will play a key role in caring and supporting stroke recovery patients.