Elliott Off-Site Building Solutions' Hybrid Construction System Ensures A Shorter Build Schedule At Scarborough Royal İnfirmary

The new Maple ward at Scarborough Royal infirmary was commissioned by Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust as part of its commitment to move away from mixed-sex wards.

The 28 bed facility was constructed using Elliott Off-Site Building Solutions’ hybrid construction system. This enabled large elements of the building to be completed off-site ensuring a much shorter build schedule as well as ISO9001 assured levels of quality.

Maple Ward consists of three bed wards along with seven Approved Document M (Mobility) single bed en-suite rooms, making up the 28 bed spaces. Additional facilities include a quite room for patients, offices, along with changing and rest room for medical staff.

The building is fully compliant with Health Technical Memoranda (HTM) and Health Building Notes (HBN) standards.

A key requirement of the client was that the single storey building should be designed so that additional storeys could be added in the future. Elliott therefore designed the initial single storey building using a steel frame, providing the structure with adequate strength to support subsequent storeys, in conjunction with insulated timber infill panels and an exterior brick cladding.

The timber infill panels are designed with an insulated cavity to provide the building with excellent thermal performance, which also reduces construction times compared to conventional build methods. Once the steel frame and timber panels were installed the whole structure was clad in brick to match the adjacent ward block

The roof was designed with a nominal pitch to allow subsequent storeys to be added with minimal alterations to the building.

Maple Ward is linked to the existing hospital building by a covered walkway that is again constructed using the principles of Modern Methods of Construction, highlighting the adaptability of Elliott’s hybrid system for all types and sizes of buildings.

Proximity of the Maple Ward to an RAF Sea King rescue helicopter landing pad had an influence on the design of the building too. The structure had to withstand the powerful downdraft created as the helicopter took-off and landed on the pad.

Elliott Off-site Building Solutions overcame this issue by ensuring all elevations facing the helipad avoided any apertures in the wall, for instance, to accommodate doors or windows. The exposed elements of the roof were constructed using upgraded trusses and frame connectors to again withstand the downdraft created by the helicopter blades.