Location: Southmead Hospital, Bristol

Client: North Bristol Hospitals NHS Trust

Principal Contractor: Laing O Rourke

Value: £14m

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The building is an enabling project, forming part of the academic zone, in advance of the PFI redevelopment of the Southmead Hospital site. The commission is in collaboration with Avanti Architects, who are responsible for the design of the adjacent Academic Building, together with the master-planning.

                                    

The building relocates and centralises the existing Biochemistry, Genetics, and Immunology Services from the Lewis Labs on the Southmead site and from the existing laboratories on the Frenchay Hospital. This forms the first of two planned phases, where the future phase will also relocate the remaining Pathology disciplines into new adjacent buildings, thereby providing a fully integrated research, academic and science zone of the hospital site.

 

The design concept provides a highly flexible building, based upon a 3.3m module, which allows the building to be adapted with ease to changing demands and is clearly zoned into laboratory, office and support / staff areas. The building is a highly sustainable, low energy design, adopting mixed mode natural / mechanical ventilation.  

 

The site topography provides an entry point from the new public square, together with a service entrance on the lower ground floor. Laboratories are located on ground and first floors and have been designed around the efficient process flows of the laboratory functions and are designed to be open plan, where environmental conditions allow.  A new state of the art automated haemtalogy / biochemistry laboratory on the ground floor will accommodate the project increased activity as a Regional Centre.

 

The design has been nominated jointly with Avanti Architects, for the Building Better Healthcare Awards for ‘Best Design Concept’