Wellington Hospital rooftop decant ward

The new rooftop decant ward at Wellington Regional Hospital was an innovative response to the urgent need for bed capacity while areas are closed for the copper pipe replacement project. To prevent delays after a last-minute change in plans for the space originally intended to host the decant ward, it had to go from concept to fully operational in just 12 months.

Working closely with Kensway, Aurecon, Neet Design and Fire HQ, we came up with a plan to build a modular 400sqm/12-bed ward offsite in eight pods, transport them to the hospital, and crane them into place on the rooftop of the W01 building. Our in-house BIM team played a critical role, producing a federated model that allowed us to quickly demonstrate complex solutions to the wider project team. As we progressed from concept to design, the model reduced duplication of design efforts and slashed the time spent generating as-builts. At installation, coordination performed in the model meant there were no clashes between structure and services, and resulted in a very accurate as-built that will make maintenance and future work in the area much smoother.

Building the pods in a warehouse offsite limited the impact on the hospital, especially the operating theatres directly underneath. We were also able to build safely and efficiently, wheeling the pods around to dedicated areas in a way that would not have been possible three stories up on a rooftop.

We craned the pods and roof cassettes into place onto a steel base over four nights, then proceeded to turn them into a working clinical ward. Initially consented for five years, the innovative Level 4 South decant ward looks anything but temporary and has a design life of around 50 years.