Urgent Treatment Centre at Peterborough City Hospital

The first step was to build a clear understanding of what the new centre needed to achieve, understanding both the immediate service pressures and the longer-term estate strategy behind the project.

Working closely with the Trust’s clinical and operational teams, we explored how the urgent treatment centre would need to support faster, more efficient patient flow, connect effectively with the existing emergency department and provide a modern environment that worked for both patients and staff. This helped ensure that the project was shaped around how care would actually be delivered, rather than around the building alone.

Alongside this engagement, we used BIM data captured by drone to map the hospital site and understand the physical constraints around the proposed build. This early work identified only one viable location: an enclosed courtyard adjacent to the existing emergency department and a live plant room.

This location made delivery more complex. The site was tightly constrained, close to live clinical services and difficult to access using traditional construction methods. It was clear that the delivery approach would need to be carefully planned from the outset to avoid disruption and protect the programme.

With the site constraints and clinical requirements clearly understood, we worked with the Trust to shape a solution that could be delivered quickly without compromising quality, safety or functionality.

Through live design workshops, healthcare architects and design managers used 3D building information modelling (BIM) to present and test design options collaboratively. This allowed clinical and operational teams to explore layouts, challenge existing models of care and understand how the new space would support patient movement, staff workflows and day-to-day urgent care delivery.

The aim was to create an environment that felt like a natural extension of the hospital, not a temporary add-on. The layout needed to support efficient movement between existing and new clinical areas, while giving staff a modern, practical and comfortable place to work.

Because of the constrained courtyard location and the need to protect the hospital’s day-to-day operations, modern methods of construction became central to the solution. Manufacturing the modules off site meant much of the work could happen away from the live clinical environment, helping to reduce disruption, improve control and support a faster programme.

Delivery required careful planning around the realities of a live hospital site, so to minimise disruption, accelerate delivery, and overcome the constraints of the site, we adopted modern methods of construction (MMC). The modules were manufactured off site, transported to Peterborough City Hospital and lifted into place using a 500-ton crane. Because of the courtyard location, each module had to be lifted over three storeys before being assembled in situ.

Health Spaces delivered the project as a turnkey solution, including detailed design, off-site manufacture, on-site construction, mechanical and electrical installation, fit-out and handover. Throughout the process, the focus remained on maintaining safety, protecting infection prevention and control standards, and keeping the project moving within the required funding window.