Birmingham New Hospitals Project, Birmingham, United Kingdom

The Birmingham New Hospitals PFI project received the final go ahead with financial closure completed in June 2006.

Pinsent Mason was able to advise and act on behalf of both University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHBT) and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust (BSMT) in securing the finance.

The project, which is worth £690 million, is now scheduled to be completed by 2010–2011. The mental health facilities will be ready by 2008 and the first phase of the super hospital will be open by 2010; the remainder of the facilities will then be finished by 2011.

BIRMINGHAM'S NEW HOSPITAL BUILDINGS

The construction will see a new 1,213 bed hospital on the 50 acre site of the old Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Edgbaston and also a new psychiatric facility on the campus (three locations) with a total of 137 beds as well as a new 32 bed mental health unit at Showell Lane.

Two further units of 45 and 21 beds will also be developed away from the main site at Sparkhill and Stirchley so that services can be provided closer to the communities in which they serve.

In total these hospitals will cover some 170,000m². The new facilities are expected to transform acute and mental health services in South Birmingham. The super hospital will be able to treat 21% more patients in its operational area significantly lowering waiting times.

The new hospital was originally granted outline planning permission in January 2000 to be built as a replacement to the Queen Elizabeth and Selly Oak Hospitals. The scheme is being developed jointly by the UHBT and the BSMT in close liaison with the Ministry of Defence (MoD), University of Birmingham, Birmingham and The Black Country Strategic Health Authority and Birmingham City Council.

The project will also involve the construction of a new Royal Centre for Defence Medicine for the Ministry of Defence (all military medical training will be relocated here), clinical science and education facilities for the University of Birmingham, the involvement of a Foundation Trust, an innovative sharing arrangement for car parking revenues and the inclusion of an IT service.

HOSPITAL CONTRACTORS

In January 2004 UHBT and BSMT selected Consort Healthcare (Birmingham) Ltd, a joint-venture between Balfour Beatty, The Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, as its preferred partner for the £690 million PFI project, which is the largest in healthcare in the UK outside London. The project is to be funded by the issue of bonds guaranteed by FGIC UK Ltd.

Consort Healthcare won the bid along with Building Design Partnership (BDP) working in conjunction with Nightingale Associates (a subsidiary of Tribal Architectural Practice).

BDP will act as the architect, landscape architect and acoustic consultant and are responsible for the design of the site master plan for the new hospital. Nightingale Associates are the architects for the additional mental health units.

Other members of the design team include civil and structural engineers White Young Green of Leeds, M&E (Mechanical and Electrical) engineers Hulley & Kirkwood of Glasgow and Couch Perry & Wilkes of Birmingham.

The construction is due to be undertaken by a joint-venture comprised of Balfour Beatty, Haden Young and AWG. Facilities Management will be provided by Haden Building Management, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty (long term service revenue could be £300 million over the life-time of the concession). In excess of £30 million has already been spent on site preparation for the new hospital.

In January 2006 a new state-of-the-art multi-storey car park was opened on the site of the new hospital which cost £15 million (the first of three being constructed). For the construction of the main hospital building already 225,000m³ of ground has been excavated and 55,000m of concrete piles will be poured for the foundations.

HOSPITAL FACILITIES

The total number of beds will be 1,213. Of these 100 will be critical care, 108 will be day surgery, 68 will be for acute assessment, 780 will be in-patient acute beds, 12 private patient beds, 41 for renal dialysis, 15 burns unit beds and the remainder distributed between critical care, patient hotel and decant facilities. There will be 30 operating theatres (23 in-patient and 7 day case surgery).

In addition there will be specialist treatment units for angiography, CT scanners, ultrasound, MRI scanners, and fluoroscopy. There will also be dedicated visitor routes to wards for added security and 44% of in-patient beds will be single rooms and the remainder in four bed bays. All in-patient bedrooms will have en-suite facilities.

HOSPITAL DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

The design of the super hospital is an interesting one. This will include three truncated pods, connected by walkways and set upon a two-storey base, containing the main patient features of the hospital.

The new mental health facilities consist of smaller units which should be much more conducive to providing sensitive patient care and, at the same time, offer a greater sense of sanctuary than the larger, traditional hospital they are replacing.

Three multi-story car parks will accommodate around 4,000 vehicles and the University station – two stops from Birmingham New Street station on the Cross-City South line – will form the basis of an integrated transport exchange for the entire complex.

All of this will be placed into a spectacular backcloth of high-grade landscaping, archaeological preservation, natural habitats and a revitalised Bourn Brook corridor. The new hospital will cover an area of 137,000m² and will require 182,500 pieces of equipment to be procured for its opening.

The scheme will also create world-class teaching, training and research centres. A pedestrian plaza, complete with public artworks, will link the hospital campus with Birmingham University’s medical school making it easy to transfer the skills learnt in the classroom and lecture hall straight to the bedside.

Part of the scheme will include a new clinical science centre, in conjunction with the University of Birmingham, designed to interface closely with service outcomes and improvements.

DELIVERABLES

The new hospital will be the first built in Birmingham in over 70 years and is expected to provide an architectural example for a new functional and adaptable facility. The concession for the new hospital will be 35 years beginning after the five-year two-month construction period. Balfour Beatty is contributing £23 million of equity to the project.