Engineering Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow

Creating one of the UK’s largest acute healthcare facilities

Glasgow’s 14-storey Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) is home to one of the largest adult acute hospitals in the UK. With 1,109 beds, the new build unit is a flagship facility with a focus on individual patient wellbeing that believes its grand-scale setting and where patients have their own single, en-suite room with a view.

Location

Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Client

Brookfield Multiplex, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Board

Architect

IBI Group

Project Status

Completed in 2009-2012

queen_elizabeth_glasgow_hospital-fire-uk

An Energy and Resource Efficient Facility

Despite covering some 175,000m² including the children’s hospital, the facility is also a model of energy and resource efficiency. The entire project team worked from the outset of the scheme to create a low carbon structure that will create significant cost and energy savings over its whole-lifecycle.

QEUH’s acute facility is part of a wider healthcare hub that includes a children’s hospital of 256 beds, paediatric and adult A&E departments, a maternity hospital and laboratory services. Together with the existing facilities it forms QEUH – the UK’s largest hospital campus. We provided services across the superstructure of the campus, as well as for each individual unit.

Engineering University Hospital in Glasgow

Our involvement with the scheme started in 2009 after we successfully demonstrated to the client our full commitment to meeting the development’s stringent sustainability agenda. Targets included diverting 96% of waste from landfill during the construction process, and helping achieve demanding carbon emissions of no greater than 80kg/m² per year.

Measures to limit waste and reduce costs included minimizing the amount of excavations, and setting out masonry to minimize cut-offs. Our civil and structural team specified materials for their longevity and low maintenance with a view to the whole-lifecycle costs of the building. In a building that is constantly occupied and where the comfort of its users is of utmost priority, the high thermal mass of the floorplate was utilized to mitigate energy demands. Other benefits included in-built fire protection to the concrete frame, which is one of the largest ever built in Europe.

Carbon emissions no greater than 80kg CO2/m2

Using BIM to Combat Project Complexities

One of the greatest challenges was the scale of the QEUH development, which is equivalent in area to 11 football pitches (some 3.5 hectares). Against this context even small changes had the potential to make a huge impact on cost plans.

We used the full potential of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to deal with the project’s complexities, communicating design intent, detecting problems and analysing the future flexibility of the buildings through this technology. Our technical teams created a rich data model of the development to visualise designs, manage change, quantify and procure materials, and produce project time lines.

Our use of cutting-edge BIM, along with close collaborative working with the project team and a commitment to working towards a BREEAM rating of Excellent (the client’s initial goal), have helped to create one of Europe’s most advanced hospital buildings. QEUH was crowned Best Healthcare Development at the 2016 MIPIM awards.