White Lodge Medical Practice

White Lodge Medical Practice

Construction - Healthcare

Client: Gemini Health Limited

Location: Chase Side, Enfield, EN2 6NL

Value: £3,700,000

Project duration: 65 weeks

What was our role?

Construction Type:

Concrete pad / ground beam foundations with a structural steel frame, beam & block ground floor and metal decking & concrete upper floors.  Roof decking with tapered insulation and membrane above.  External walls consisted of cavity wall, brick and block construction to the ground and first floors.  The second floor external walls were built from SFS and aluminium cladding.  Aluminium curtain walling, windows and external doors.  Internally, partitions were a combination of metal stud and blockwork.  Suspended ceilings throughout with carpet / vinyl floor finishes.  External works comprised of new incoming services, undercroft car park and bin store.  Permeable block paving and tarmac surface finishes.  Project achieved BREEAM Excellent rating and Secure by Design certification.  Build also complied with all relevant HTM regulations.

Challenges:

Ground floor turned into a Dental Practice from GP Consulting Rooms resulting in a lot of redesign work and co-ordination.  Changes had to be implemented to comply with the dental requirements such as air changes, x-ray proof wall linings and doors and services for the dental chairs to each of the consulting rooms.  Co-ordination had to be undertaken with interfacing external specialist companies employed directly by the client for the dental and pharmacy area fit outs.    

The site was very tight for space with every square inch being built on with limited external areas.  Two boundaries were against properties so there were Party Wall awards in place which we had to comply with throughout the project.  The other two boundaries were public highways where we had to apply for a hoarding licence to close a section of the highway to enable us to build the project.

Building the project throughout the Covid pandemic impacted material and labour availability.  Covid also had an impact on material lead times and availability due to factories closing, resulting in a greater demand for the limited supplies.  The works on site were carried out in accordance with the latest Construction Leadership Council requirements. 

The budget was key for the client as they were funding the project with other parties (bank loan, NHS funding) so cost certainty of any changes to the lump sum contract was key.  Any variations were priced and agreed prior to instruction.

The height of the building was agreed with the planning department prior to our involvement so we had the complication of co-ordinating all services above ceiling height in a small zone.  Careful design consideration was undertaken to ensure minimal impact on client requested ceiling heights.  Impact was negated to majority of rooms with the remaining rooms only being reduced in height slightly.