The NHS Nightingale Hospital at ExCeL London, one of the world’s largest critical care units for treating patients with coronavirus, will be able to hold as many as 4,000 patients across 80 wards, as the first of several such facilities planned across the UK.
A few weeks ago, ExCeL was due to host the annual IFSEC security exhibition next month; since put back to September. When Prince Charles opened the facility remotely on Friday, April 3, it marked the end of a project of less than two weeks. The construction industry joined forces with the military and NHS to achieve something that health secretary, Matt Hancock, described as ‘testament to the work and the brilliance of the many people involved’.
Firms from across the construction sector worked together to plan, design and build NHS Nightingale. The contractor Wilson James was involved from the very early stages. Jason West, Wilson James’ head of logistics and integration for NHS Nightingale, says: ‘The NHS needed security and construction logistics functions to be implemented and we were ready, willing and able to respond. We used expertise from all areas of our business to coordinate with the military and other private sector contractor companies to support the NHS. The whole really was greater than the sum of its parts and the level of cooperation and collaboration demonstrated across the board was incredible to witness.’
Wilson James was initially tasked with coordinating the construction logistics aspect of the operation but was asked to support the NHS supply chain too. This meant making sure that items including drugs and medicines, medical equipment, beds and hazardous waste bags were met on delivery and then categorised, audited, inventoried, stored and delivered to where they were needed, when they were needed and in required quantities. This required coordination with civilians and the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Jason West says: ‘Initially, we were able to consolidate the construction materials at ExCeL, however, we were subsequently informed that the NHS would need the designated area for other purposes. We therefore re-located the construction materials to our nearby London Construction Consolidation Centre (LCCC) and replaced them with 25 lorries’ worth of medical equipment. Working alongside 84 Medical Supply Squadron, we configured a process whereby every 30 minutes a delivery was received via separate east and west entrances and off-loaded. Our logistics people had to adapt, learn and understand the difference between construction materials and medical product at pace and scale. They then had to identify what had arrived and what hadn’t, categorise construction materials accordingly and send them to the LCCC.’
Parts of the process
To further streamline the process, drive efficiency and meet demand, a 20,000ft2 marquee was erected to hold two hours’ worth of stock that workers could keep replenished. Fully lit and designed to house medical consumables in a dry and safe environment, it also allowed operatives to build items such as flat-packed beds on-site, which could then be delivered along ExCeL’s central walkway. This avoided logistical delays; everyone knew what items were on-site and that they were securely located.
Hundreds of beds have been fitted with oxygen and ventilators and this equipment relies on a purpose built on-site oxygen ring main. To create this, liquid oxygen tanks and other compressor equipment had to be transported from all over the country and Wilson James was responsible for its safe dispatch and arrival.
Park life
At the same time Wilson James was developing and implementing this complex logistics strategy, on the evening of Sunday, March 29, it was also presented with the task of creating and operating a temporary off-site car park. Initially this was to accommodate 1,000 cars but has now been extended to 2,000.
Jason West says: ‘When we were asked to do this our first response was where are we going to put it? We then identified a suitable piece of land adjacent to ExCeL that would be suitable, and contacted the developer, Lendlease, which informed us that it was actually owned by the Greater London Authority (GLA). After many phone calls, by 11pm that night we received authorisation from the GLA to go ahead. We then contacted Keltbray which, along with Lendlease and members of the Royal Engineers, arrived on-site at 7am the next day to begin work on turning it into a car park, while we made sure items including construction materials, cones, welfare facilities for staff, lighting and barriers were available. It was simply awesome to be able to do this and the guys on the ground even wrote “Thank You NHS” on the roadway.’
Wilson James was able to configure a ‘chain of custody’ to protect equipment; and made sure that workers were able to access the areas they needed to be in without hindrance or delay.
Security across the site was divided between Wilson James, which focused on internal and secure logistics, while G4S took care of the perimeter.
Lee Evans was Wilson James’ security lead for NHS Nightingale. He says: ‘All over the site boundaries were broken between competitors and it takes something very special to make that happen. This was a tough project with long anti-social hours and little preparation or planning time. Despite that, it has been very rewarding and there were no serious injuries, incidents or accidents. For me personally, configuring the security for NHS Nightingale’s opening ceremony, along with our security partners and the Metropolitan Police, was particularly special.’
Keith Winterflood, Wilson James’ director of operations at NHS Nightingale, sums up: ‘This project just shows how the various elements of the construction sector can come together as one, from design to mechanical and electrical (M&E), when there’s such an important goal to achieve. Everyone has dealt with the immense pressure in a positive way, employing a heads down and “let’s go for it” attitude. We’ve all been pushed to the extreme but when the coronavirus pandemic is over, and it will be over at some point, the memory of what was achieved with NHS Nightingale will live on.’
About the firm
Besides its security guarding arm, Wilson James does contract work for airports and the logistics sector; and worked on the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Visit www.wilsonjames.co.uk.
