Princess Elizabeth Hospital opening ceremony for new clinical block

15 March 2010

Nightingale Associates’ new clinical block for Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Guernsey has been officially opened.

Nightingale Associates’ new £29m clinical services building has been officially opened by local dignitary Sir de Vic Carey. The building is a significant extension to Guernsey’s Princess Elizabeth Hospital and replaces existing sub-standard ward accommodation dating from the 1930s. It also is the first building to use a layout of 50% single and 50% four-bed wards.

The new building provides 10,000sqm over three floors with a total of 77 inpatient beds including HDU and isolation rooms. Single rooms all en suite and the four-bed wards are configured in Nightingale Associates’ cruciform ward layout, which combined with toplit staff bases, provides very high levels of observation to all beds.

Nightingale Associates’ cruciform ward is a four-bedded ward layout that reduces the area of the four-bed ward, thus lowering the running costs for the hospital and producing a higher level of privacy for patients. Maximising space between beds and day space, it makes efficient use of circulation and improves observation as all bed heads can be seen from the ward door – all within 58sqm including sanitary facilities. These wards will be occupied from the start of March 2010.

“The completion of the new clinical block represents a milestone in the ongoing redevelopment of the Princess Elizabeth Hospital site, combined with the John Henry Court building completed in 2006 the Nightingale Associates master plan is now significantly progressed and it is hoped that enabling work will commence on the new adult mental health unit later this year.”

Simon Boundy, Architect and Studio Director, Nightingale Associates

The building is organised around a central spine, all accommodation is accessed from this double height space ensuring that orientation is straightforward. The interior of the building is flooded with natural daylight and, in particular, extensive rooflights provide daylight to the Institute of Health and social care Studies on the top floor and nurse bases to the main medical wards.

The project has not been without its challenges. Extensive consultation with the clinical user groups allowed key clinical connections to be understood and appropriate co-location provided. The sloping site presented problems, however, the opportunity was taken to provide level access and drop off to both ends of the building, also providing discrete access to the oncology department.

In addition the remote location created logistical issues. Where possible, dry construction systems were used, providing a high quality result on site.

In order to respond to sensitivities of the semi-rural site, the form of the building is a modern interpretation of traditional forms using a scale appropriate to the location. The building also uses traditional materials; natural slate roofing and zinc cladding in combination with modern material, such as terracotta, were used to tie in with the existing buildings.

Practical completion was achieved on 23rd December 2009.