SES embarks on its largest hospital project to date

One of the UK’s leading suppliers of building services, Shepherd Engineering Services (SES) has been awarded a £14.2million contract to install the new mechanical and electrical (M&E) services into Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

The new contract follows on from the successful installations at both HOCLAS (the new Home Office headquarters) and Peterborough Schools, both PFI projects that SES has completed with main contractor, Bouygues UK (BYUK) in the past. It also marks the largest hospital project won by the BYUK and SES partnership.

Carlos Pinedo, Project manager for BYUK, said, “Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust is engaged on a major project to achieve the centralisation and modernisation of acute services on the Broomfield Hospital Site.

“It’s imperative that, during the 30-month build programme the hospital remains fully operational so SES will work closely with us to ensure that the M&E work is completed seamlessly.”

Derek Joiner, Divisional Director for SES, agrees, “An extensive co-ordination process was carried out at the start of the project to ensure smooth management of the M&E services and to guarantee that BYUK’s maintenance division, Ecovert, had high-quality services to work with at the end of the contract.

“This has resulted in a 3D modelling approach being implemented in order to streamline the M&E installation process. Our PRISM (Prefabricated Integrated Service Modularisation) division will be used to build corridor modules, plant and equipment offsite before delivering them to the hospital for installation onto the five floors of the building and the seven plant rooms.”

Derek concludes, “The BYUK team has to be complemented for their approach to integrating the M&E services into the main building construction activities. This is the largest healthcare project we’ve undertaken together so it was important to achieve a co-ordinated effort from the start.”

Work is scheduled for completion by July 2010, where the new hospital will be capable of carrying out up to 20,000 treatments a year. It will comprise of 361 beds, 5 theatres, 100 bed emergency assessment facility, a new A&E department, a pharmacy suite, maternity & neonatal care unit and a rooftop helipad for the Essex Air Ambulance service.

SES is working on a variety of healthcare projects across the UK, including: The London Clinic Cancer Centre, James Cook Radiotherapy Hospital in Middlesborough and Kingsmill Hospital in Mansfield.