Freeman Hospital Day Treatment Centre

Our Approach

The building was identified as having three discrete ‘zones’ in the form of a plant area, operating theatres and recovery wards.   Each of these has their own delivery and programme requirements.  Three structural techniques were adopted accordingly which allowed individual efficiencies to be realised in each zone.

These structural techniques were as follows:

• Plant area – this evolved into a two storey building to accommodate the extensive plant and mechanical & electrical equipment required to service the operating theatres.  Due to the vibration and loads of the equipment this area was framed in steelwork.
• Operating theatres – these were identified as the critical path areas due to the extensive specialised fit-out.  To allow the construction to commence with minimal delay the structural form was decided as load bearing blockwork so that material lead-in times were minimal and the requisite labour was readily available.  A steel roof structure was adopted to control deflections of the overhead theatre equipment.
• Ward areas – The layout of this area was quickly established as a cellular arrangement and as such it was elected to frame these areas in Light Gauge Structural (LGS) framing due to the ability to prepare the material off-site and to minimise the storage area required on the compact site