Aberdeen emergency care centre completes
November 8 2012
Built by Robertson and designed by Mackie Ramsay Taylor, the project has taken three years to bring to fruition and employs an innovative system of hundreds of service modules to deliver mains services such as water, electricity and waste disposal and air conditioning.
These were pre-fitted to modular frames which incorporated plasterboard partition elements above the ceiling to negate the need to employ tradesmen on site, a first for the UK on this scale.
Andrew Cowan, Robertson Group CEO, said: “I am delighted that we have handed over the new Emergency Care Centre on time and within budget to NHS Grampian. This was a challenging project that involved tight deadlines in a live hospital setting.
An internal fit out is now underway with occupation scheduled for December. The final phase of the project, which entails demolition of an existing A&E department and construction of a new entrance foyer, will commence in January.
Robertson has also been awarded a £21m contract to develop two adjacent hospital buildings housing inpatient facilities and operating theatres, due to commence on site in December and complete in August 2014.
The building incorporates 10 floors, each the size of a football pitch
|
4 Comments
#1 Posted by Egbert on 8 Nov 2012 at 12:48 PM
I have no doubt I'll get slated for daring to criticise something as essential and well-intentioned as a hospital, but design-wise this is just deadly - an utter monster of a building. I'm sure it'll function efficiently and fit the brief, and some will argue that it should be left at that. But the vast, ungainly bulk and weak attempts at elevational modelling are just depressing - can we really not do any better with our most important medical facilities? I suspect the ubiquitous DBFM procurement route left little room for architectural finesse. Perhaps views from lower down flatter it more - I don't know.
#2 Posted by David on 8 Nov 2012 at 16:28 PM
For some reason my last comment hasn't appeared. This is possibly one of the ugliest and poorest large buildings to be built in Scotland in recent years.
Egbert, I don't think anyone could possibly use the DBFM route for something this poor, regardless of DBFM's detrimental effects on design and specification. Thoroughly depressing that this sees the light of day, why planners let this pass as even 'acceptable' never mind quality architecture.
Egbert, I don't think anyone could possibly use the DBFM route for something this poor, regardless of DBFM's detrimental effects on design and specification. Thoroughly depressing that this sees the light of day, why planners let this pass as even 'acceptable' never mind quality architecture.
#3 Posted by Don Diamante on 9 Nov 2012 at 16:08 PM
Perhaps the lack of design effort is down to the fact that MRT face little, if any, competition for Foresterhill commissions.
Note the poor old granite infirmary buildings in the background, now completely swamped by the monolithic, characterless siblings.
Note the poor old granite infirmary buildings in the background, now completely swamped by the monolithic, characterless siblings.
#4 Posted by faustommcoppi on 13 Nov 2012 at 13:49 PM
Crikey, this image is truly alarming. Is it a photomontage gone horribly wrong? It reminds be of the enormous robot in Monsters Vs Aliens that towers over San Fransisco, crushing everything below.
It’s not the size of this that the worrying feature though, big buildings can be beautiful! It’s the complete lack of awareness of proportion, composition and balance in the elevations and massing.
It’s not the size of this that the worrying feature though, big buildings can be beautiful! It’s the complete lack of awareness of proportion, composition and balance in the elevations and massing.
Post your comments
Read next: Loch Fyne ‘ghost town’ to be redeveloped
Read previous: Orkidstudio seeks Zambia volunteers for school hall project
Back to November 2012
Like us on Facebook
Become a fan and share
News Archive
Search News
Features & Reports
For more information from the industry visit our Features & Reports section.