Hospital construction using the PPP model

Amid the beautiful nature of Grejsdalen, the Region of South Denmark has established a new psychiatric hospital, which is connected to Vejle Hospital by means of a 200-metre-long walkway. The construction project includes an accident and emergency department, mobile emergency room, children’s and young people’s department and 100 psychiatric beds. The 17,000 m² building is divided into eight clustered buildings that are connected by re-creational courtyards and communal areas.

Quick construction and efficient workflows
The psychiatric hospital has been built by means of a public-private partnership, where a private team has built the hospital, invested in the project and will be responsible for operating and maintaining it for the next 25 years. The PPP team consists of the three investors PKA, PensionDanmark and Sampension, while MT Højgaard is the contractor and DEAS is responsible for the operations. Arkitema drafted the healing architecture, and Artelia consulted on the installation work. One of the fundamental ideas behind PPP is to make it more economically attractive and quicker to solve public construction and civil engineering tasks. The psychiatric hospital has also been realised several years earlier than if the Region of South Denmark were responsible for the construction themselves.

The Business Director for Building at Artelia Aarhus, Jakob Mariager, highlights another positive aspect of the process:

“Since the PPP partners were given responsibil-ity for the project from the start, we clarified the expectations and the needs of the users very early in the process. The Region of South Denmark has also been very keen on defining their desires and requirements for the construction project. At Artelia, we quickly obtained a solid foundation to work with when we started to dimension the technical installations, and we have experienced fewer changes during the project and the implementation.”

Future-proof solutions
Allowing the same team to be responsible for both the construction and subsequent operation has also resulted in good professional synergy, where the operational aspects have been incorporated into the technical solutions. Another key vision of the PPP model is precisely that the supplier is given a great deal of leeway, but also a strong incentive to create long-term comprehensive solutions for the operation and maintenance. From an engineering perspec-tive, this has placed special demands on the design of the technical solutions.

Advantages in PPP

Slagelse Hospital
The PPP model is also being used for the expansion of Slagelse Hospital, which includes, the framework for women’s and children’s functions, delivery rooms, gynaecology and obstetrics. The 18,000 m² expansion also creates space for 140 new beds for the hospital’s other functions.

The project is being realised by the same team that is responsible for the psychiatric hospital in Vejle. The only difference is that Industriens Pension is also an investor.

The hospital is certified DGNB Gold.