Designed, engineered, and constructed by BES, the new facilities aim to futureproof the hospital’s drug preparation capabilities on site, with an ATMP-classified environment that enables the production of regenerative medicine, personalised treatments, and the development of nanomedicines.
Working collaboratively with the client as both principal designer and principal contractor, BES’s design of the project for delivery in two phases enabled the hospital’s existing pharmacy to continue operating ‘as usual’ until the new pharmacy was ready for use. BES refurbished a redundant office area on the hospital’s sixth floor to create the new, high-specification Chemotherapy aseptic dispensing facility in phase 1. Following its commissioning and validation, the Pharmacy team moved across from the former pharmacy, vacating it to allow the phase 2 refurbishment of the former pharmacy as the new aseptic suite with sophisticated clinical trial (CT) and ATMP preparation facilities.
Working with the hospital’s user requirement specification (URS), and engaging with the Estates team and Senior pharmacist, BES’s multidisciplinary team took the project concept design from RIBA Stage 2 to stage 4, ‘delivering buildability and value engineering benefits’. The company’s integrated design and construction capability meant the need to maintain business-as-usual conditions and uninterrupted pharmacy services during the programme could be ‘embedded in the design process’, resulting in smoother project delivery.
BES designed the new facilities to HTM and cGMP pharmaceutical requirements, carrying out the design qualification validation process before work began on site. Design development also involved consultation with the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority to ensure the design complied with regulatory requirements and ensure a smooth validation process. This resulted in further design improvements to the aseptic suite design to avoid any cross-contamination risk.