DESIGN PROGRESS

Staff from the Trust and Health Estates have had regular meetings with the Design Team during the summer to progress the stage 1 design. 'Stage 1' is essentially an overall concept plan for the hospital which agrees at a high level the layout of the building, its orientation on the site and the internal departmental adjacencies. Once this work is complete and signed off by both hospital staff and the Project Board, public representatives and user groups will be invited to view and comment on the stage 1 plans and will be given the opportunity to discuss them with the Design Team. It is hoped that these consultations will take place in late September.

The following design objectives, which were agreed at a Design Quality Workshop held on 21^st June 2004, have been informing the work undertaken to-date:

Patient Focus / Environment

. • encompasses the need for a safe welcoming and healing environment

. • the healing environment is to be integrated into the natural setting

. • an environment which encourages a engaging and soothing experience for the patient

Staff Environment

. • create a centre to promote medical excellence in care and facilities

. • enhance the working experience of all staff

. • provide a relaxing and stimulating working environment within a natural setting

Public Areas

. • stimulating public spaces connected by self intuitive routes

. • integrate the use of local influences to give a sense of place

. • to engage with the surrounding landscape

Community

. • involvement with the local community during design development and in the ownership of Hospital, particularly with regard to the public spaces

. • design concepts to be integrated and inspired by a community ethos

. • the existing tradition of excellent care to be carried over to the new facility through
communication with staff and wider community

Aesthetics

. • an award winning design ethos

. • use of historical and local references in the design

. • a contemporary design sympathetic to the existing hospital building

Budget

. • ‘best value for money’ relating to Time/ Quality/ Cost

. • incorporate life cycle costs

. • innovative design solutions and working methods to be investigated

Sustainability

. • pursuit of excellence through investigation of life cycle cost, materials, energy, natural lighting and ventilation

. • reduced impact on the natural setting

. • promote flexibility through the design of the building

APPOINTMENT OF CONTRACTORS

It was agreed by Project Board at their meeting on 23^rd June 2004 that Contractors would be appointed using a 'Performance Related Partnering' (PRP) approach. This will allow for input by a main contractor, specialist sub-contractors and suppliers during development of the detailed design rather than after the design process is complete.

An advertisement seeking expressions of interest from a 'Contracting Supply Chain' was placed in the Official Journal of the European Community and in the local press during the first week in July. The closing date for expressions of interest is 27^th August 2004.

SITE CLEARANCE

There are a number of changes to the provisional dates which were established for the transfer of services from the various facilities on the site of the new hospital. It is now planned that a phased transfer of services will take place between 15^th September 2004 and 8^th October 2004. The Design Team will have access to existing buildings in order to carry out the required pre-demolition surveys in parallel with this phased transfer of services.

These changes will not result in any delays to the overall project timetable.