Client: ESS Modular and Addenbrooke’s Hospital
Scope: Full groundworks package, including concrete pads, reinforced plinths, drainage, service ducting and Grasscrete reinforcement
Environment: Live hospital site
Shanco delivered a complex groundworks package at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge to support the construction of a new modular healthcare facility. Working for ESS Modular, the team carried out the groundworks for a building designed to support patients with chronic illnesses, on the site of a former car park between two existing buildings in the heart of the hospital complex.
The Project
Addenbrooke’s required a new modular healthcare facility to support ongoing patient care. Shanco was appointed to deliver the groundworks needed to prepare the site and support the modular build within a highly constrained hospital setting.
The Brief
The brief was to complete the groundworks safely and on programme, while maintaining uninterrupted access for hospital operations, including emergency vehicles and ambulance access to the A&E department. The works also had to be delivered around existing hospital infrastructure, including a service tunnel and drainage network.
The Challenges
The site was tightly constrained, with the new facility positioned between existing buildings and on the footprint of a former car park. This left little room for deliveries, materials storage or plant movement, so planning and sequencing were critical from the start.
The team also had to keep one vehicle access route open at all times in case of emergency, which further restricted the working area. Deliveries were carefully coordinated and redirected via the back of the hospital complex to avoid disrupting daily hospital activity.
A further challenge was the discovery of asbestos in the existing drainage and service areas. Specialist contractors were brought in to remove it safely. In areas identified as low risk, Shanco continued the groundworks using specialist PPE and face-fit respirators, with equipment cleaned daily and contaminated clothing disposed of safely after each section of work.
How Shanco Delivered
Shanco installed concrete pads to form the modular building’s foundations, then cast reinforced plinths on top. New drainage was connected, and a pre-cast concrete trough was installed for the service ducting to protect the existing service tunnel.
Outside the new facility, the team reinforced a grassed area so it could support emergency vehicles such as fire engines. A Grasscrete system was used, providing a reinforced concrete surface with voids that could be filled with grassed soil to keep the area green while still allowing water to pass through.
The Outcome
Shanco completed the works on programme, allowing ESS Modular to continue the build and deliver the new healthcare facility to the hospital’s requirements.
