Healthcare
25 will change yet again to accommodate 60
patient bedrooms.
Attached to one end of block C, block
B is 40m-long × 20m-wide and will
accommodate the hospital’s main public
areas, such as the main entrance and a
ground floor café/restaurant, with the
first floor used entirely for administrative
offices. Also included in the first phase is
block B’s second floor, which will contain
24 patient bedrooms.
“There were a number of reasons for
Expanding businesses often require
such extensions depends on the degree of
forethought that has been applied to them.
If development is ad-hoc and haphazard,
the structural work required to realize the
extensions may be inefficient and messy
whatever are the materials of construction.
If the extensions can be foreseen, the
structure can be designed for the anticipated
final state and the elements sized for the final
loads. Thus, to allow for an upward extension,
foundations and columns can be designed to
carry the floors which are to be added in the
future. Provision must also be made in the size
of utility supply, space for future plant, sizing
of ducts and circulation (eg the capacity of
escape stairs must be sufficient for the future).
Such provisions can be effective if the future
needs of the business can be anticipated with
confidence. The issues are clearly less significant
if site constraints are such that expansion can
be made sideways instead of upward.
Potentially the most impacted area of
a building subject to future extension is
the building envelope which clearly must
26 NSC
extensions to premises or process plant.
The amount of disruption caused by
April 18
choosing
a steel frame
for the project,” says
Mr O’Neill. “The speed and
ease of construction were two,
as well as flexibility and the ability to
secrete bracing around the structure. We
also have a 7.2m long cantilever along
one of block B’s main elevations and this
would have been difficult to build in
anything other than steel.”
As well as being a highly architectural
part of block B’s design, the cantilever also
increases the floorplate for the secondfloor
bedrooms. It will also carry on up to
include a further floor to be added in Phase
Two, while another – fourth level – could
even be added in the future.
“We had to work collaboratively with
the engineer and the contractor to design
and then work out the best position for
the temporary works, needed to support
provide an efficient enclosure at the end of
the first phase and be capable of being made
weathertight when the building is extended.
The Circle health project was conceived
in two phases, presumably with the second
phase to be built after the first was completed.
It seems that the building was designed as a
whole and the Phase One structure sent for
fabrication with some provision made to reduce
the disruption of the future connections of the
Phase Two steelwork – namely stubs welded
to beams and columns on the highest level of
Phase One.
The second phase was given the go-ahead
before completion of the first so that erection
of the Phase Two steelwork is taking place
concurrently with work by following trades
on Phase One. The short interval between
the erection of Phases One and Two probably
rendered the stubs superfluous but such is the
impact of reacting to rapid changes in business
requirements.
Future-proofing
Richard Henderson of the SCI discusses designing buildings for future phases of development
the cantilever during both phases of
the construction programme,” explains
Caunton Engineering Contracts Manager
Michael Firth.
Adjoining block B is block A, which
measures 30m-long × 15m-wide. Used
entirely for consulting rooms, this block
will remain as a single-storey structure,
although it has been designed to be
extended to the rear to add up to 10
additional consultation rooms, again
exemplifying steel construction’s flexibility.
Phase One of the project is due to
complete by early 2019.
Cantilevers help to
enlarge block B’s
floorspace
Model showing
blocks B and C
/Healthcare_buildings#Minimised_disruption
/Construction
/Building_envelopes
/Welding
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Healthcare_buildings
/Healthcare_buildings#Speed_of_construction
/Healthcare_buildings#Speed_of_construction
/Healthcare_buildings#Flexibility_and_adaptability
/Design
/Construction#Temporary_works
/Construction
