Paediatric Assessment Unit at Peterborough City Hospital

For the Paediatric Assessment Unit to work effectively, it needed to sit close to the existing paediatric and emergency services. This was important clinically, helping children and young people move through the emergency care pathway more safely and efficiently, while keeping the new unit connected to the teams and services around it.

Health Spaces worked with the Trust’s clinicians, estates teams, stakeholders and supply chain partners to understand what this meant in practice. The discovery and design phase helped define the clinical requirements for the new unit, the operational needs of the hospital, and the programme pressures created by the limited funding window.

The preferred location was an atrium off the main hospital street. It was the right place for care, but a complex place to build. The modular units would need to be lifted over two storeys of clinical space and a plant room, then lowered into the courtyard with very little margin for error. The crane also had to be positioned close to the hospital’s red route, making access, traffic management and safety planning critical from the outset.

Understanding these constraints early shaped the whole delivery strategy. The project could not rely on a standard construction approach. It needed a route that protected live hospital operations, reduced disruption for patients and staff, and still allowed the Trust to gain the additional paediatric capacity it needed within a highly pressured timeframe.

With the clinical need, site constraints and programme pressures clearly understood, the design process focused on creating a paediatric environment that could be delivered quickly and work effectively from day one.

A detailed discovery and design phase helped define the clinical, operational and technical requirements for the new unit. The space needed to support safe assessment, efficient staff movement and the needs of children, young people and families using emergency care.

Infection prevention and control was also central to the design, particularly given the high throughput of patients in emergency care and the added pressures of delivering the project during the pandemic. Health Spaces worked with the Trust to ensure the space could be easily cleaned and decontaminated, with built-in infection control measures considered throughout the design. This helped create a clinical environment that could support teams in managing infection risk safely and effectively.

Modern methods of construction were selected as the most appropriate route for the programme and site conditions. Bespoke modular units were manufactured off site, allowing much of the build to take place away from the live hospital environment. This reduced disruption for patients and staff, supported quality control and helped the team respond to the Trust’s tight delivery window.

Health Spaces provided a turnkey solution, including design, off-site manufacture, on-site construction, mechanical and electrical works, fit-out and handover. The modular units were delivered to the hospital on a just-in-time basis to minimise disruption on the live site. Once on site, they were lifted into the courtyard and assembled in situ through a short installation process.

This required careful coordination with Peterborough City Hospital’s estates team, particularly because of the location beside live clinical areas and the proximity of the crane to the hospital’s red route. Throughout the programme, the site team worked to protect hospital operations, maintain infection prevention and control standards, and keep the project moving despite the challenges created by the pandemic. The project was completed in August 2021, after 16 weeks on site.