St Mary's NHS Treatment Centre, Portsmouth

"We are delighted with the new building and with the performance of the whole team. The quality of finish and engineering is extremely impressive and we believe it far exceeds traditional construction. The speed and flexibility of Yorkon's approach and their ability to respond to deadlines were excellent."


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The Requirement

This new, purpose-designed healthcare facility at St Mary's Hospital in Portsmouth is a key part of the Government's Independent Treatment Centre programme which aims to reduce patient waiting times by dramatically increasing capacity in the NHS.

The £11m centre provides a wide range of NHS services including a minor injuries unit, a walk-in advice centre, diagnostics such as x-ray and ultrasound, and non-emergency day surgery procedures.

It carries out around 6,500 day surgery procedures, more than 10,000 diagnostic investigations and up to 50,000 attendances at its minor injuries unit and walk-in centre every year.

 The Solution

The contract awarded to Yorkon by AMEC was for a rainscreen-clad modular building, developed and operated by Mercury Health in partnership with Portsmouth City Teaching Primary Care Trust.



72 steel-framed modules were manufactured by Yorkon off-site in York and craned into position ready for fitting out and completion of the external claddings. This provided a watertight envelope for fitting out only 12 weeks after start on site and reduced the programme time to just 42 weeks. Yorkon also succeeded in handing over the building one week ahead of schedule.

The two-storey 3,300sqm building comprises three operating theatres, an endoscopy suite, preparation zone, clinical sterilisation services department, recovery bays, consulting rooms, reception and office accommodation.

The architectural design features cedar cladding at ground floor level, white rendering and light grey ceramic granite to add interest at either end of the building. Areas of curtain walling span two storeys and horizontal bands of windows are finished in blue.

A cantilevered canopy runs the full length of the front elevation to provide shelter for the three patient entrances and the drop-off zone. Sun pipes maximise natural light along the first floor of the building and cedar louvres give shade from the sun.

 Comments from the Project Team

Mark Smith, Group Strategy Director, Mercury Health:

"We are delighted with the new building and with the performance of the whole team. The quality of finish and engineering is extremely impressive and we believe it far exceeds traditional construction. The speed and flexibility of Yorkon's approach and their ability to respond to deadlines were excellent. The off-site system was also much less disruptive which resulted in a tidier and more contained site."

 Niall Jennings, Project Manager, AMEC:

"This has been an exceptional team performance. A collaborative effort between AMEC, Yorkon and the whole of the supply chain has produced an excellent quality facility which is now delivering health services to the local community."

 Yolande Wyer, Project Architect, Nightingale Associates

"You would never know this is a modular building. There was a planning requirement for a landmark facility, which would significantly improve the frontage of the hospital. This has been successfully achieved, despite budget, site and programme constraints. The building has generous spacing, a pleasant ambience and the system was sufficiently flexible to allow a double height area internally and feature strips of ribbon windows. The benefits of off-site are clear to see."