DSSR was responsible for the full M&E Design of the new build Forth Valley Royal Hospital, one of the most modern and well-equipped hospitals in Europe. DSSR has extensive experience with acute health construction and the modern methods of construction utilised to create the purpose-built facility and many others across the healthcare sector.

The new Forth Valley Royal Hospital provides a wide range of services with the very highest standard of acute care services, accommodation, and healthcare facilities for patients, visitors and staff. The hospital centralizes acute healthcare and mental health services on one site, providing 860 beds and day-patient spaces and a full range of services including A&E; trauma and orthopaedics; operating theatres; general medicine and general surgery; specialist vascular, ENT, urology and ophthalmology services; a women’s and children’s hospital; and a mental health unit.

The new hospital sits on a rural site of mature woodland that offers extensive views of the Stirlingshire countryside. The building capitalises on this opportunity to offer natural light and natural ventilation to all of the bedroom wards. Thermal modelling calculations were undertaken to ensure that the exact required comfort conditions are maintained throughout all critical areas in the building.

As such a large development, the design concept was to break the building down into a series of ‘districts’. Each district has its own identity and ‘front door’ and is recognisable through the use of different colours and forms. This design strategy helped to develop the layout of the building, while also allowing the 96,000m² hospital to retain a human scale–highly beneficial in a care and healing environment.

Emphasis was placed on accessibility and limiting travel distances for patients and nurse staff. The control of infection was also a high priority. Part of the design also incorporated 2 No. new data centres with appropriate a/c solutions, complete with requisite redundancy.

Service routes and patient flows are physically segregated throughout the hospital, with deliveries made by automated guided ‘robots’ to designated points in each department or ward.
Due to the highly-complex nature of the building, the FVRH project required careful planning by all parties and open lines of communication.

The success of the project required an exceptional level of collaboration between all stakeholders to effectively coordinate and manage the vast array of services and mechanical and electrical systems on-site. To support this, DSSR employed a large on-site team with experience in acute health construction to oversee the integration of building services during construction. Extensive use of 3D CAD modelling has enabled the smooth production of a fully coordinated design for services, with significant portions of the MEEP installation being pre-fabricated off-site.

An integral part of the Forth Valley design is the large entrance drum and atrium which houses retail, cafė, Accommodation, waiting areas, and Information areas. As part of the atrium ventilation design, CFD analysis was undertaken to inform the diffuser selection and location. This also demonstrated the temperatures expected within the atrium. A later CFD study was also conducted to inform amendments to the entrance lobby design and reduce the impact of wind-driven air exchange.