Whilst work to develop a full estates strategy was hampered by an NHS reorganisation, which required all service delivery issues to be reviewed, and hence the client's requirements were difficult to define, for a period we were appointed to address some of the issues from the other end i.e. bottom up.
The Estates Manager had identified three sites:
- One where the GP's were keen to develop their services.
- One in an inner city area where there was likely to be pressure to increase services on a site with limited development potential.
- One, where there was a large site, and hence space to develop and expand, but where it was not necessarily adjacent to the appropriate parts of the building.
We undertook a space utilisation exercise, which identified opportunities for consolidation of space or timetabling, a sketch planning exercise to consolidate the piecemeal alteration and encroachment of years of occupation back to more logical service delivery zones, as well as looking at the potential for expansion and all of the practical issues involved.
So,
Scheme 1 – Identified some scope for internal rationalisation, and a limited number of options of relatively minor external extension which would primarily be limited by restrictions imposed by the Planning Authority.
Scheme 2 – Again, identified limited opportunities for rationalisation or redevelopment, and highlighted the limitations on potential growth due to parking limitations and planning requirements. So in effect the site was already bordering on being “over developed” in planning terms.
Scheme 3 – Even with limited scope for expansion in the right places it was found that significant elements of rationalisation would be feasible with minimal input. The availability in planning terms of the larger site for expansion identified opportunities for the future.
So in essence, our work provided a framework that identified the scale and scope of what might be feasible on each site. As and when the service needs for an area were defined the Estates Manager could quickly and easily see if his existing estates had the capability, or not, to accommodate the requirements in that location thus giving quick feedback into strategic decision making about the capital implications of service delivery models.
