The 380 – bed hospital will be the first in Northern Ireland to provide all single rooms with en-suite facilities and will include an A & E department, laboratory services, inpatient services (including critical care, major and emergency surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology), as well as outpatient services. This project redefines the provision of hospital care in the UK and Ireland and achieves new standards for hospital design and amenity.

RPS is providing structural, civil and geotechnical engineering services, as well as acoustic and fire consultancy services on the project. There are currently over 200 people working on the site and this is expected to peak at 700 later in the year.

The geotechnical conditions are extremely challenging necessitating all external roads, hardstandings and considerable areas of landscaping to be constructed on pile-supported reinforced concrete transfer slabs.

Northern Ireland Health Minister Michael McGimpsey visited the construction site in December and said: "This new acute hospital will make a real difference to the health and social care services in the Western Trust area when it opens in 2012. The local community is already benefiting from the project in these tough economic times with a significant number of subcontracts to date being awarded to local firms."

Contact:
Don McQuillan, Director, Belfast
T: +44 (0) 48 9066 7914
E: don.mcquillan@rpsgroup.com