BES has successfully completed the first phase of a project to design and construct a new pharmacy and aseptic suite at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield. The project includes clinical trial and ATMP (Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products) facilities that will enable the hospital to provide gene therapy treatments on site.

The project is being delivered in two coordinated phases to allow the existing pharmacy to remain operational while the new one is delivered, before work begins on the aseptic suite. As principal designer and principal contractor, BES is responsible for all design, engineering and construction of the new facilities, which are located on the hospital’s sixth and seventh floors.

During the design phase, the BES team was able to offer improvements to the client’s proposed layout to improve the flow and reconfigure the rooms. Phase 1 has involved strip out and refurbishment of redundant office space to create the new pharmacy, which includes Grade C and Grade D clean rooms, with all contingent building services, including specialist air handling requirements and air locks.

Amongst the inherent challenges of completing the project on the sixth floor of a live hospital, the BES team had to consider the existing live services to ensure that any additions and modifications to services in the area did not interrupt supply in the existing pharmacy or other locations in the hospital. The logistics of the project have also proved challenging, with all materials and equipment having to be lifted to the sixth and seventh floor via an external hoist.

With construction for phase I now completed, the hospital’s pharmacy team will be moved across to its new location and BES will refurbish the existing pharmacy as a new clinical trial and ATMP (Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products) aseptic suite. Phase 2 will also involve complex engineering to deliver controlled isolator cleanrooms and avoid any risk of contamination. We will continue to provide both design and construction services, within social distancing guidelines, during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Jonathan Morton, our engineering director at added: “BES is responsible for designing and delivering some of the most advanced cleanroom and laboratory environments in the UK for hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and high-tech industries, such as the compound semiconductor sector.  

“Our team has the expertise to support clients like Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in bringing advanced new technologies into play. The project at Weston Park Hospital will enable the preparation of tailored, targeted cancer treatments and we expect this to be a growing requirement for UK hospitals in which BES has the proven expertise to take a leading role.”