Wernick Buildings NHS modular build project

Offices for the Southampton City Primary Care Trust needed to be added above ground floor day nursery, creche and training centre - the solution was modular build.

A change to building specs that's just not possible in the project time frame?.

This client knew where to go for the answer and Wernick provided it.

For George Rankin and his team at Studio Four Architects in Romsey it was just another interesting day nursery project, similar in many ways to another building they had recently completed for the Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust.

But this one was due to change radically before the ink had dried on the agreed sketch drawings and specification when the client stipulated that an extra 879 square metre floor of offices for the Southampton City Primary Care Trust needed to be added above the 1063 square metre ground floor day nursery, creche and training centre.

This was not the first time in his 35 year career that George had been confronted with a challenge like this, but he knew that this addition to the design for the Trust Taplins Childcare Department at the Western Community Hospital was just not possible using traditional construction techniques within the time frame imposed by funding constraints.

Fourteen months had been allowed for the project from a 'cold start' through briefing, full design, approvals, tender and completion of the site construction, and the days were disappearing fast.

It was the client who came up with the solution - modular build, but George freely admits that this was one of those rare occasions when he had to swallow his professional pride, "Because", as he explained later, "modular would not have been my first choice of build technique".

As it turned out George and the client were delighted with the end result that came complete with a traditional brick skin and pitched roof.

The funding arrived on time and the project was completed within budget, on time.

Modular specialists Wernick Buildings won the factory build project in a competitive open tender against stiff competition from three other companies because they were able to offer a cost-effective, traditional-looking building, constructed under tight quality control conditions at their manufacturing plant in South Wales, and all completed within the tight programme requirements.

With funding from seven different bodies the new £2.3m facility has space for 100 children.

Half the places are allocated to children whose parents work in the local NHS, with the remaining 50 allocated to children from families living in the local community.

In addition to the nursery, there is a training suite on the ground floor, complete with IT room and separate creche, which is available to staff and child-care providers such as the Early Years Partnership, who require a training resource in the area.

In addition to the usual childcare amenities, the Centre has indoor and outdoor play areas, quiet rooms and sleeping areas.

The nursery is managed by Taplins, the internal childcare department of Southampton University Hospital Trust.

Nursery Manager, Sam Hollins commented, "It's a great new child care provision for the local area, with a safe and inspiring environment in which children can be professionally cared for".

"We particularly like the all-weather garden which is covered in 'nomow' grass that looks and feels really convincing".

So after a thumbs-up from the design professionals and a thumbs-up from the childcare professional end users, does George Rankin think that architects know enough about modern modular building techniques?.

"Definitely not", he stated, "We are not fully aware of its strengths and weaknesses".

"For some sites it's ideal and for other sites, as we found out, it's the only answer.

The majority of people would never guess that this project, with its brick skin and traditional roof, is not a traditional build".

"Architects need to sit down and develop modular principles with companies such as Wernick as we are not fully aware of the system's full potential, and when we get a panic job like this one there is just is not the time to investigate the technique fully".

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