South West

Improving Dorset County Hospital

A project to refurbish the endoscopy department at Dorset County Hospital has reached a successful completion.

The project comprised the complete refurbishment of an existing department to provide improved and updated facilities. Work reached completion on the project in December 2013.

Hammond Building Contractors was the main contractor on the refurbishment project, whilst Kendall Kingscott was the architect and contract administrator.

Speaking to Premier Construction, Stuart Bunce, Chartered Building Surveyor for Kendall Kingscott, said:

“The project comprised the remodelling of the department, providing three treatment rooms, recovery rooms, a new reception, and administration and decontamination areas.

“We stripped out all of the ceilings; all the services came out, and some of the walls were demolished. Once the strip out was completed we installed new mechanical and electrical works, we formed new walls and then fitted new finishes throughout.”

Work began on the department – located on the north wing of the hospital – in June 2013. As the hospital remained open throughout the project, the department was separately accessed from the remainder of the building, in order to reduce any disruption to the ongoing operation of the hospital.

Stuart explained:

“The area was sectioned off and with the department located at the corner of the hospital Hammond Building Contractors was able to take a small section of the car park to form a compound.”

To complete the project, a small amount of landscaping work was conducted to tie the site back into its surroundings. The project ran fairly smoothly, without any major problems occurring during the refurbishment.

Stuart said:

“Hammond Building Contractors was very good to work with, they have conducted a number of projects with Dorset County Hospitals in the past and they are familiar with what is required of them. We have also completed projects for the hospital before and we value our involvement on projects like this.”

Dorchester Bricklaying Guild Ltd specialise in brick and block work of all types – including masonry – with a particular focus on the construction of high quality housing. Working on the refurbishment project at Dorset County Hospital, the company was involved in the block work to the partitions.

John Loving, Dorchester Bricklaying Guild Ltd, said:

“It is always a pleasure to work on projects that are of benefit to the local community, providing care units for the use of the public and improving upon current structures.”

Dorset County Hospital is an NHS Acute hospital, situated in the town of Dorchester, Dorset. The hospital is operated by Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the main provider of acute hospital services to a population of approximately 210,000 people, living within Weymouth and Portland, West Dorset, North Dorset and Purbeck.

For more information about Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, please visit: www.dchft.nhs.uk.

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