Healthcare
Steel leaves
hospital design
in good health
24 NSC
April 18
Rising up on the site once occupied
by Birmingham’s BBC Pebble Mill
studios, a new private hospital is
quickly taking shape.
The £21.5M facility, located in the heart
of what has been dubbed Edgbaston’s
Medical Quarter, is the latest addition to
Circle Health’s portfolio which includes
hospitals in Bath, Nottingham and Reading.
Utilising a steel-framed design sat atop
a concrete podium containing a car park,
the hospital is based around an expandable
model which can be adapted and enlarged
to meet clinical demand now and in the
future.
Being constructed over two phases,
the hospital will include three operating
theatres (expandable to five), an endoscopy
procedure room, recovery gym, and inpatient
bedrooms.
Circle’s Health’s Chief Executive, Paolo
Pieri, says: “This state-of-the-art hospital
will bring to Birmingham the high-quality
care and excellent hospitality for which
Circle Health is well-known, and is an
important part of Circle’s strategy to add
scale to the group. The intention is also
to add a significant number of beds for
physical and neurological rehabilitation,
along with the latest rehabilitation
technology.”
The key aspect of the architect’s design
approach has been to create a form of
‘adaptive architecture’, giving the client the
ability to adapt the building as their needs
change.
Bryden Wood Director Paul O’Neill
explains: “In this instance, we have the
ability to double the size of the initial
phase, harnessing advanced construction
techniques causing minimal disruption.
This future-proofing makes this hospital
highly adaptable and cost-effective. This
provides our client with a building, which
can be adaptable to their business plan as
it evolves and responds to local demand
throughout its lifetime.
“Our approach has meant that the future
The flexibility of steelwork has come to the fore on a hospital
project where an expandable and adaptable design has been
successfully used.
FACT FILE
Circle Health private
hospital, Edgbaston,
Birmingham
Main Client:
Circle Health
Architect: Bryden Wood
Main contractor:
Simons Group
Structural engineer:
Bryden Wood
Steelwork contractor:
Caunton Engineering
Steel tonnage: 925t
(Phases One & Two)
The initial steel
elements are erected
/Healthcare_buildings
/Design
/Healthcare_buildings#Flexibility_and_adaptability
/Construction
/Healthcare_buildings#Minimised_disruption
