£299,000 reconfiguration of first floor of health centre

• Works started in February 2020 and were completed in August 2020
• Customers: Manchester Foundation Trust
• Partners: Urban Design and Consult, Krol Corlett
• NHSPS representatives: Sally Teague, Senior Construction Manager; Maria Oakman; Daniel Burdett, Regional Partnership Director

The GPs and Manchester Foundation Trust desperately required additional space for clinical and admin use and thus approached NHS Property Services to reconfigure the first floor caretakers office which consisted of many inefficient small rooms. By reconfiguring the first floor to an open plan use, this will create more space to move services off the ground floor.

We worked with Manchester Foundation Trust and Manchester CCG to develop design options to create the additional space required, meeting regularly to ensure the design met their clinical and admin needs. Once a preferred design was agreed, we developed the plan, tendered the project out to a contractor and then managed its on-site delivery. Once the project was on site we had regular project progress meetings with all stakeholders and regularly updated on progress.

We also manged the relocation of the Speech and Language Team from Longsight Health Centre to Levenshulme Health Centre, ensuring there was no disruption to services.

Our Property Management team managed the signing of the lease and landlord approvals.

Once the project started on site, the COVID 19 crisis started which created delays with material delivery and project progress. The contractor also had to amend their ways of working in line with government guidance on social distancing. Despite COVID-19, the project was still delivered on time due to the hard work and collaboration of all parties to navigate these challenges.

With all our construction projects we aim to help the NHS get the most from its estate and to enable the delivery of excellent patient care. We are pleased that this project meets both criteria. The first floor of Levenshulme Health Centre has been reconfigured to create three large open plan offices, two meeting rooms, a mangers room and kitchen meaning that a larger number of staff can be accommodated. The vacated space on the ground floor can now be converted into much needed clinical space to enable more patients to be seen at the centre which will be phase two of this project.

NHSPS’ strategy aims to embed sustainable practices throughout our projects. At Levenshulme, the pipework in the rooms has been insulated and boxed in to provide better heating efficiency. We have also installed a wind catcher within the meeting room to provide ventilation. This is a more energy efficient alternative to mechanical cooling (air conditioning).

“I’m very pleased with the outcome of this configuration for the Levenshulme community. We led on design and project management, strategy and lease negotiations to deliver this health centre. Staff will benefit from more suitable office and admin space, and a much improved kitchen while more patients will be able to access medical care,” said Sally Teague, Senior Construction Manager, NHS Property Services.