Hospital visitors benefit from brand new facilities

Pilbeam Construction, working closely with University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has completed a project to modernise and enhance the existing public toilets for visitors and patients at The Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

The existing smaller facilities that had become dated were replaced with a bigger and brighter more modern space featuring new extract ventilation, correcting one of the major issues of the previous block.

Sussex contractor Pilbeam Construction worked with the Trust and relevant stakeholders to design and remodel the space, ensuring it met all NHS regulations and needs in terms of patient safety and accessibility.

Alan Corbett, managing director at Pilbeam Construction, based in Southwick, West Sussex, said: “This is the fourth time we have worked with the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath and this project builds on our extensive experience of operating in sensitive healthcare settings.

“Our team has vast experience of working in a live healthcare environment and we managed to keep disruption for healthcare professionals, service users and patients to a minimum.

“This scheme will provide hospital visitors with a modern and easily maintained facility which will stand the test of time.”

Work started on the £502k project in March and was completed on 22 August, with Pilbeam designing the new space to ensure it met Health Technical Memoranda and Health Building regulations.

The team provided temporary toilets suitable for a busy 24-hour facility, whilst they replaced the main public toilets for the hospital.

The new block includes facilities for men, women and two separate accessible gender-neutral toilets, as well as baby change facilities.

Justin Champneys, capital development manager for the Trust at The Princes Royal Hospital said: “The response from visitors and staff has been fantastic with many commenting on what a great improvement the new facilities are.

“The public toilets are a focal point to the entry of the hospital and anything we can do to make our patients’ visits a more pleasant experience is important.

“Pilbeam’s expert team ensured minimal disruption, whilst dealing with the challenges of working in a live hospital environment.”

For more information please visit: https://www.pilbeamconstruction.co.uk/

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Editors notes

Pilbeam Construction began as a family firm of building contractors in 1955. Since then, it has grown into a 25-strong team who design, build and manage multi-million-pound projects within the residential, commercial, health & care, education and heritage sectors across Sussex and the South East.

Pilbeam is ISO 9001 and 14001 accredited, CHAS accredited, and registered with Constructionline and partner with Considerate Constructors Scheme.