Endoscopy & Surgical Dayward Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis

Contract value: €1.3M. Main Contractor: O’Brien Builders. Architect: O'Connell Mahon Architects. Client: HSE West. Project was completed in 2011

I was the Project Architect on this project from concept stage right through to completion of the contract on site. This project involved the stripping out and demolition of all internal walls on the first floor of one wing of the hospital to provide Endoscopy treatment rooms, dirty and clean room facilities, 1st and 2nd stage recovery bays as well as Surgical dayward with 12 treatment bays, consultants office, ward kitchen and ancillary facilities. The aim architecturally was to open up the floorplate from what was originally a very cellular layout to create a bright and open unit and also upgrade the existing building fabric to meet current standards.

All the internal walls were loadbearing so we had to install a series of steel beams to achieve the open floorplan, which provides staff with good visibility to monitor patients and also allows the unit to always get plenty of natural daylight. The work was within the footprint of the existing hospital except for a small zinc clad box at first floor level which provides the first stage recovery area.