South Walks House
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Location: Dorchester
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Sector: Health
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Division: Regional Building
Tilbury Douglas provided a new permanent Outpatient Assessment Centre facility at South Walks House, Dorchester which has created a generic and flexible outpatient space to provide additional outpatient capacity, additional capacity for high volume low complexity (HVLC) activity, and administration space for the decant of non-clinical services from the West Annex and main Dorset County Hospital site.
The works were carried out on two floors, whilst maintaining access to the other floors, to be used by others.
In November 2021, a pop-up Outpatient Assessment Centre (OAC) was created in central Dorchester operating out of the ground floor of the former council offices in South Walks House which had been unoccupied since the start of the COVID pandemic due to the consolidation of the council’s office requirements.
This consolidation provided the NHS with a unique opportunity to re-purpose the space as it was in a prime location, close to both the High Street and the hospital with excellent transport links and facilities, which was convenient for patients and staff, and ensured a positive experience by avoiding the need to visit an acute hospital setting unless necessary.
We reconfigured two floors of South Walks House into a permanent Outpatient Assessment Centre facility to deliver additional Outpatient and high-volume low complexity (HVLC) procedure capacity and has been developed in close partnership with the Dorset CCG and is part of a wider system of health villages developed in the County.
The initiative was led by Dorset County Hospital in partnership with NHS Dorset CCG, Dorset HealthCare, Live Well Dorset, and Active Dorset, and brings together a range of outpatient services under one roof in the town centre location.
At a glance...
£7m
Project value
January 2024
Completion date
Dorset County Hospital
Client
Challenges and solutions
Challenge – The existing purpose built office block that was converted to the Outpatients Assessment Centre is located in a conservation area and therefore the design could not significantly affect the existing appearance of the building. This was particularly challenging given the need to provide a large air handling plant and ductwork to service the new clinical areas and treatment rooms, within a live and occupied building.
Solution – The designers utilised half of the existing basement car park to create a new plantroom which housed the air handling plant. Ductwork routes from the basement to the clinical floors were formed inside the building by forming large service voids through the existing floors that required additional structural steelwork beams and columns that were supported back to the foundations with pile caps and concrete piles under the basement.
Added value
From the bid stage of this project we committed to work to achieve lasting and significant Social Value Dorset County Hospital and the surrounding local community by working with stakeholders and our supply chain at every stage.
We developed a Social Value Action Plan (SVAP) with measurable outcomes in alignment with the Framework Social Value Management Information Requirements (MIRs)
Our Social Value Return on Investment total for the South Walks House project was:
- £866k SROI
- >12% of the project value
The above figure included:
- 13 direct local employees totalling 6.8 FTE
- >£750k spent with local businesses
- 167.5 hours of education and careers support
- 503 apprentice/training and work experience weeks on site
- 74.5 hours of community engagement
We have supported our supply chain partners and created a safe site. Our Constructionline standard helps ensure quality and promote upskilling of local businesses. The local supply chain spend for the project was £788,690.
Our partners
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Architect: ADP
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M&E Engineer: Hoore Lea
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Structural Engineer: Calcinotto
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Project Manager: Gleeds