Transformation of Hull health centre completes

Wilberforce Health Centre has been reconfigured to create extra bookable clinical rooms, as well as space for some of the city’s community health services.

The £12 million centre in Story Street, Hull city centre, was always built to be flexible and adaptable for changing service needs.

Now, the third floor of the building in Story Street, Hull city centre, along with part of the ground floor, has been transformed to make better use of the available space and maximise efficiency.

The Sewell Construction project team was led by Danny Walker, who joined the business as an apprentice joiner in August 2005 and was part of the team which built centre in 2011.

He said: “We completed the work on behalf of Citycare to reconfigure the building. I was on my tools when I worked on Wilberforce for a short time when it was under construction.

“To come back as Site Manager was great. If you’re willing to put the effort in, you have drive and determination, you’re encouraged and supported to progress at Sewell. If you’re given that opportunity, you should grab it with both hands and I appreciate that.

“We had a great team on site and everyone wanted to get the job done to the highest standard. At Wilberforce, we used our long-standing and trusted supply chain who have worked on Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) schemes before.”

The work, which began in April and completed in August, included demolition works, strip out of the previous facilities including walls, doors, ceilings and re-installing new facilities. Specialist mechanical and electrical, and data installation works, were also carried throughout the project.

As work took place in an operational health centre, the team created an external access rig to allow equipment to be transported in and out the health centre to minimise disruption to the other live areas and not affect day-to-day operations.

Danny said: “We worked overnight for a couple of weeks when the water had to be cut off in the building. This helped to keep any disruption to a minimum and we had regular meetings with heads of department to work around them and any sensitivities if we needed to carry out noisy work.

Now the centre is complete, Wilberforce Health Centre will be used as efficiently as possible and will be ideal for the end users.”

David Barley, Development Manager at client and developer Citycare, said: “Sewell Construction has undertaken the work in an extremely productive and supportive manner with very little disruption to ongoing services.

“This work has created additional clinical capacity in a city centre location and the space will be available to a wide range of services.

“We’re maximising the building’s efficiency and this creates more universal and adaptable space to be used for years to come.”