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Campus building gets healthy recognition at regional awards ceremony

17/12/2020

A University of Wolverhampton campus healthcare building got healthy recognition at a local awards event – one of three projects cited for excellence for construction contractor, Speller Metcalfe.

The West Midlands Constructing Excellence awards ceremony was held virtually with Speller Metcalfe winning the ‘Integration and Collaborative Working Award’ for the Sister Dora Skills and Simulation Suite at the University’s Walsall Campus.

The University invested £4.8 million in the new state-of-the-art health lab facilities in 2019, extending and remodelling existing facilities in the building - part of the Institute of Health. A two-storey extension was added to the existing building, creating new simulation labs and state-of-the-art teaching rooms to cater for an increase in students on health care courses including Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedic Science.

The multi-disciplinary lab spaces offer facilities covering a range of settings as well as a collaboration area. The skills and simulation facilities include mock hospital ward rooms, mock bedsit and terraced house as well as a birthing pool and mock ambulance.

The facilities enable students to practice skills in a safe environment with a fully enabled video facility, allowing sessions to be filmed and played back.

Professor Geoff Layer, Vice-Chancellor at the University, said: “We are investing in areas where we believe we can grow and where we know there is a skills gap. In the UK right now there is certainly a shortage of trained nurses and other healthcare workers.

“The investment in the Sister Dora Building will further support that aim by providing fantastic facilities for the keyworkers of the future to learn in and we’re thrilled that Speller Metcalfe has received recognition in this particular area.

“The University team, including Estates and Facilities, our Institute of Health Course and Management Representatives, Digital Services colleagues and College of Learning and Teaching worked hard in collaboration with our external partners to deliver this complex project within a very short timescale and it’s great to see the combined efforts rewarded in this way.”

Speller Metcalfe pre-construction director, James Speller, said: “Speller Metcalfe has supported the CE Midlands Awards for many years and we are delighted that the 2020 awards have proven to be our most successful to date, for the first time taking home three awards!”

“We are particularly proud of our continued success in Integration and Collaborative Working, having won both regional and national awards in this category in 2018. None of these projects would be award-winning without a real culture of collaboration and the award is testament to the approach Speller Metcalfe takes in everything we do.”

Dan Coghlan, Managing Building Surveyor at Faithful+Gould, said: “It was clear that Speller Metcalfe had taken the time to understand the scheme, timescales and key drivers, giving an indication of their collaborative working approach. This willingness and ability to constructively challenge the design intent was exactly what we were looking for to progress the second stage of the tender and the future project.”

The £4.8 million project was designed by architects, Broadway Malyan with Speller Metcalfe appointed as the main build contractor. Gleeds, consultant project management worked alongside Faithful+Gould as Client-side project managers. GV Multimedia provided the AV equipment. Other partners included Cundalls, Trad Structures and Couch Perry Wilkes. The project was delivered in 34 weeks.

For more information about health courses at the University of Wolverhampton the Institute of Health pages. Anyone interested in studying in the Institute of Health should register for one of the University's Virtual Open Days in 2021.

ENDS

For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.

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