Hames Sharley’s work to refurbish the Peel Health Campus has reached completion, which will enhance the overall experience of the patients within the Mandurah Health Centre.
The project involved staged redevelopment works to the emergency department and short-stay admission ward, as well as the server room. The works were carried out while both areas were kept operational. A scaffold was set up over the top of the building, with a hoist for material to minimise disruption to the hospital’s operations. Devlyn Construction was hired to carry out the refurbishment due to their extensive medical construction portfolio.
Each area was hoarded off to create a construction zone, and the relevant areas were fully demolished internally and rebuilt to current healthcare design standards. Specifically, the work comprised a full upgrade of the machinal, electrical, comms and nurse call, and a new consultation room, waiting room and reception area.
The emergency department was altered and extended to increase the size of the ambulance patient waiting, triage and fast track treatment areas. Alterations were also made to the Rivers Suite to increase the number of short-stay beds.
The pandemic created a range of adversities for the Devlyn team, not only in terms of working on the site itself, but the transportation and moving of materials. Devlyn’s main site compound and materials lay-down area were at the rear of the campus, 80 metres from the actual work zone, which meant that even the most mundane task involved careful planning to ensure the campus suffered no delays or negative impact. As well as this, all materials had to be delivered in small quantities and moved throughout the facility by hand with no mess or impact to staff or patient movements. There were also the customary challenges of working in a ‘live’ hospital: keeping noise to a minimum and incorporating effective dust control measures. The challenges were overcome through the construction company utilising more labourers than what they would usually use, to guarantee that materials were delivered without delay and areas were cleaned regularly.
In spite of these issues, each separable portion of the project was handed over on time, with a satisfactory result for all those involved and no major accidents or incidents. Devlyn worked closely with Ramsay Health staff to ensure the impact of construction work on a day to day basis was kept to an absolute minimum, with all access and egress areas maintained clean at all times, construction noise carefully monitored and kept to a minimum, and stakeholders fully informed of progress and works to avoid any unforeseen impact.
What has resulted is a far improved medical facility for patients and staff, that has ultimately prolonged the campus’ ability to provide care to those who need it most.
Images courtesy of Devlyn Construction and Johnathan Trusk.
