Liverpool Women's Hospital
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Location: Liverpool
Sector: Health
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.

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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

£12m

Project value

August 2023

Completion date

Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Client

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.

“The relationship with Tilbury Douglas and their understanding of what we do was fundamental in allowing us to keep the department fully functional during construction. They learnt to understand our needs and balance those with design and budget, meaning we have an amazing facility that will help us deliver world class neonatal care into the future.”

Jennifer Deeney, Head of Neonatal Nursing and Operations, Liverpool Women’s Hospital

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: