Upgrading Mental Health Facilities at Springfield University Hospital

Improving Hospital Access and Creating New Park Space for the Local Community

As part of the infrastructure works, we are converting the original golf course into a large park. This park will be the largest park in London built since the Olympics. The park will aid in transforming the area and be a central feature of the local community experience. The original golf course will be re-profiled, and SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage System) ponds will be constructed, alongside the planting of trees and foliage. We will re-use 60,000m3 of earth in the construction of the park, allowing for the SUDS ponds to be built. The park will feature a pavilion café, amphitheatre, fitness training circuit and a belvedere. Creating a family friendly green space, will encourage year-round use of the park from the community.

A significant part of the infrastructure works will be constructing almost 3km of new roads and pavements with the addition of hard and soft landscaping works. Many of the existing roads within the estate are being removed completely, with new adoptable standard roads constructed in their place. The team have the additional challenge of completing these extensive works whilst a busy hospital site continues to operate. Ensuring all patients, staff and visitors remain safe and able to freely access the operational buildings remains of the utmost importance.

Along with the road network, a new drainage and services network are being installed for both the new hospital buildings, the retained buildings and a large number of the new residential building plots. These complex works are being undertaken whilst maintaining the existing drainage and services, so that the existing hospital buildings can remain functional throughout the construction period.

Finally, we are providing a new Energy Centre, within the curtilage buildings on the former estate. This will involve opening up the building’s basement, adding a new structural frame and extensive louvre openings for ventilation.

Reducing Our Carbon Footprint

Focusing on sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint is at the core of our process. From the demolition phase of the project, we managed to reduce and recycle 99% of the demolition waste generated onsite. 14 buildings were demolished over a 12-month period, the majority of which were built with traditional brick and timber on concrete foundations.

A pre-demolition audit identified opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint and maximise landfill diversion. Breaking that down, over 50,000 bricks were handpicked, cleaned and packaged onsite, for offsite reuse. Over 260 tonnes of metal and 360 tonnes of wood were similarly processed for offsite recycling programs. Any remaining concrete foundations, non-reusable bricks and asphalt were stockpiled and crushed onsite. Circa 10,000m3 of crushed materials were re-used as certified 6F2 capping in roads, piling mats, and hard stands. A neighbouring Sir Robert McAlpine project (South London and Maudsley, an Integrated Health Projects joint venture with Vinci), had excess crushed materials with a 6F2 certification. We collaborated and took the excess material, allowing for cost savings on both projects, and further reductions in our environmental impact on both sites.

To reuse and recycle 99% of demolition waste is a huge achievement, and testament to the capabilities of our team in the planning and execution of this task. The remaining 1% of waste was deemed hazardous (asbestos) and had to be disposed of in a different manner.  This is just an example of our commitment to creative solutions that reduce our carbon footprint in a practical manner onsite, alongside providing valuable cost savings. Springfield remains certified with 100% of their timber being responsibly sourced. The team are on track to achieve an Excellent BREEAM score and continue the endeavour to raise that score by projection completion.