Premier Modular has been awarded a £9.8m contract to build a 62-bed priority assessment unit at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey.

As main contractor for the project, commissioned by Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Premier will be supported by strategic delivery partner, Claritas Group.

Due for completion by the summer, this fast-track building project will reduce the construction programme by up to nine months compared to in-situ methods.

Designed by BDP and delivery architects, P+HS; the two-storey scheme will provide a new priority assessment unit linked to the emergency department.

It will accommodate 62 patient bays, nurse stations, staff rooms, seminar rooms, laundry, clean utilities, and kitchenettes.

And it will be fitted with medical gases, data comms, security systems, CCTV, nurse call systems, and fully integrated with the main hospital systems.

Andrew Grimes, assistant director of property and capital development, said: “This project forms part of the trust’s emergency pathway redevelopment programme, which is now underway, and responds to the urgent national need to increase capacity in emergency care.

“Offsite construction means less time on site and therefore much less disruption to patient care, which is a priority for the trust.

“The Premier solution met the technical constraints of this site, particularly to provide seamless connections at two levels to maintain patient flows between the existing emergency department.”

Akshay Khera, architecture director at BDP, added: “This project is an example of how striking and unique architectural design, that is also in keeping with its surroundings, can be successfully married with delivery via offsite construction, bringing many benefits including speed, quality and efficiency.”

And Dan Allison, director of Premier Modular, said: “This scheme is ideally suited to offsite construction.

“It allows the trust to meet an urgent need to expand capacity for emergency care and the development of a very-constrained site.

“The new building will be located in a courtyard and close to the emergency department which will require careful logistical planning.

“We will be maximising construction and fitout work offsite to radically reduce disruption to patient care. This means we will only be on site for just over six months.” /

The offsite solution has been engineered to maintain patient flows between the existing facilities and the new unit, with continuous level floors throughout.

Externally, it will be finished in vertical rainscreen cladding in shades of grey and brickwork to complement adjacent buildings.

And the building envelope has been designed to be highly thermally efficient to reduce running costs and carbon emissions; and the picture windows will have solar control glass and integral brise soleil sunshading.

A building energy management system (BeMS) will further optimise energy use.

The project was procured through the Crown Commercial Service framework.