Liverpool Women's Hospital
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
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Location: Liverpool
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Sector: Health
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Division: Regional Building
Liverpool Women’s is a recognised centre of excellence for neonatal care. They are the most vulnerable patients, facing the most severe medical challenges that require specialist treatment. Each year over 1,000 families accompany their premature and critically ill babies to the Neonatal Unit, as they need the specialist care that only Liverpool Women’s can provide.
Improvements to the existing Neonatal Unit were essential to respond to this demand, keep premature babies safe and improve the patient and family experience, whilst also providing a solution to tackle clinical challenges.
The project involved the construction of a 1,400 m² extension that wraps around the existing hospital and a 1,200m² refurbishment of the existing Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to provide new, world class neonatal intensive care facilities.
The project requirements included:
- Extending the intensive care and high dependency units (HDU) – the Trust estimated that they required a 60% increase in capacity
- Creating acoustically separated spaces that provided quieter and more restful space for very sick babies
- The need to reduce footfall and congestion through HDU & NICU
- The provision of family focused spaces, that promote the importance of care progression
- Creating a holistic healing environment, to promote the growth of babies in the unit
At a glance...

£12m
Project value

August 2023
Completion date

Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Client
Challenges and solutions
The project team worked in collaboration to coordinate the work constructed adjacent to critical care facilities which remained operational throughout.
Phased delivery and use of special noise reduction buffer zones enabled us to maintain a full and safe clinical service during the construction work whilst working alongside patient groups that are particularly vulnerable to noise and vibration.
We engaged with the Trust to identify and manage the specific requirements for any temporary service provision between each phase.
This ensured the works were planned accordingly with no impact on day-to-day operations and blue light services.
Added value
The project handed over on time, within budget and with no accidents or clinical incidents during 96,000 working hours on site.
The team achieved the top Considerate Score of 45/45 for respecting the community, caring for the environment, and valuing the workforce and delivered £3.61m Social Value Return on Investment.
The following measures contributed to this value:
- £6.7m local spend, 84% small to medium enterprise (SME) spend
- 104 apprentice weeks and nine new employment opportunities
- 450 local people employed over the life of the project
- 36 hours educational outreach
Our partners
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Civil and Structural Engineer: Sutcliffe
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M&E Consultant: Hoare Lea
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Architect: Gilling Dod Architects
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Cost Consultant: Edge