Project: Birmingham New Hospitals PFI

Client: Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust and University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust

Value: £583m

Contract: PFI

Duration: On Site

Awards: 2010 - West Midlands Constructing Excellence Awards - Health and Safety

2009 - West Midlands Constructing Excellence Awards - Sustainability

2009 - RoSPA Gold Award for Occupational Health & Safety

This project is Birmingham’s first new hospital for 70 years. When complete, the new hospital will have 1,231 in-patient beds, 30 theatres, a 137-bed specialist psychiatric hospital and teaching facility and a separate 21-bed mental health facility. It will also have the largest critical care unit in Europe with 100 beds and there will be a separate ward for the hundreds of military casualties treated in the city every year.

The helipad on the roof of the staff multi-storey car park will enable medics to bring wounded soldiers and car crash victims arriving by helicopter into A&E quicker.

The design of the hospital aims to provide a modern facility based on a campus feel, which achieves a safe therapeutic environment on a human scale.

Features such as natural light, colour, texture, access and views to the external environment have all been incorporated into the design for maximum effect.

The first phase of the hospital was successfully handed over in April and the team are making good progress on the remaining works.

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