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Practice Name: Pool
House Equine Clinic
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Design Award for: Best
New Build
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Q1. What were you trying to achieve/what was your
overall goal?
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A1. Our practice
mission is encapsulated in our motto, ‘Putting your horse first’. The building is
designed to create a facility that enables staff to deliver this statement,
whilst affording an excellent working environment for our clinicians and
support staff.
We
urgently needed a bigger modern building, modern operating theatres, with good
staff facilities and substantial accommodation for on site staff. We wanted a
modern equine hospital so that we can deliver a first class referral service
to our referring practices and of course a premier service to our own clients
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Q2.
What were the 3 most important factors included in your practice design?
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A2.
The building needed to be centred around the operating theatres, induction
boxes and supporting rooms (i.e. around CLINICAL work) – all of these have
different height requirements and needed to fit into an overall design. (2)
we wanted an educational facility – lecture theatre and conference rooms so
that we can provide quality CPD (3) A crucial factor was the need to keep
running a busy equine clinic on site whilst we were building and not making
any compromise on the finalised build. As we have a large site we had a
number of options and gradually narrowed down the final location.
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Q3.
Did you use and architect? If not, why not?
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A3.
We designed the clinic ourselves using a computer programme ‘cad’ running the
various drafts past key staff groups and getting their feedback. There were
literally dozens of drafts. Once we settled on floor plans and room heights
we got an architect Simon Ward to work with us and to draw up proper
technical and structural plans. We worked very closely with the architect and
the selected contractor (JJL) – as well as formal monthly project meetings we
visited site at least one per day (sometimes many more times) to ensure
everything was as we wanted. A few changes were made to room finishes but no
substantial change in the floor plan was made after construction had started.
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Q4.
Why did you decide to undertake the project?
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A4. We wanted to ensure the future of Pool House Equine Clinic
for the next 25 years and to be able to meet the requirements of an
increasingly well informed horse owning public
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Q5.
Did you keep within your budget? If not by what percent did you exceed your
budget?
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A5.
Our budget for the build was £1.8 million we exceeded that by £100,000
(mainly due to an increased scope for extern works including larger areas of
tarmac and resiting of the entrance gates.
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Q6.
With hindsight, what would you do differently?
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A6.
Very little – we feel the building works really well. We could and should
have paid a little more attention to the positioning of the electrical
sockets in some of the offices. Although we had carefully calculated the
number of power points, data points etc in each room they were not invariably
situation in the optimal locations within the rooms – this is very difficult
to get right until you have actually worked in a room. We did put in floor
boxes in the main offices and this worked really well.
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Q7.
How has this changed your business?
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A7.
We couldn’t have continued to work at our present level in the old buildings
everything was at its limit and day to day work was becoming extremely
stressful. Often the limited facilities were fully occupied and we had to
work in stables or outside. The offices had been moved to porta cabins to try
and create more space. It is hard to remember just how difficult things were
now. It is a luxury to have things like a quiet room where one can speak to
clients, not to have to compete with colleagues to get into the X ray room
with your case, to be able to carry out major surgery without causing chaos
to the rest of the practice. We now have a lovely waiting room with
functional WiFi where clients can relax whilst their horses are treated. As
we are in a rural location having good staff facilities has made a big
difference – a health and fitness room is available for staff who live on
site.
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Q8.
What has winning the Design Award meant to you?
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A8.We
were delighted to win the award – we didn’t expect to as our building was
designed for function NOT to show off. We are grateful to the judges for this
generous award.
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Q9.
Was the project very stressful? What was the most stressful situation?
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A9.
The actual building process was not stressful – in fact we really enjoyed it.
Compared to a day running an equine practice it was a walk in the park!!! In
the early stages arranging the finance and providing all the necessary
information and business plans was taxing – but we had great support from our
bankers NatWest.
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Q10.
What parts of the project went as you expected and what parts did not?
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A10.
I have to say that the whole thing went as we expected if not better. We were
hit by terrible cold weather that closed the site down for a few days and it
did take 8 months rather than 6 to complete – however time was never our
concern – getting the building right was our main interest.
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Q11.
Did you use a project manager, or did you manage the project yourself?
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A11.
We used Knight Web as an overall project management company. They were
excellent particularly during the tender process. They visited site at least
once a month and certified the work that had been done.
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Q12.
Who were the main suppliers that you used?
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A12
JJL Design and Build ( main contractor), Derbyshire flooring, Quattro
flooring (clinical areas), Eurolec (electrical contractor), Centuary –
security systems.
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Q13.
What features are particularly important to you?
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A13.
The operating theatres, the clinical area
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Q14.
Are you and your staff pleased with the results?
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A14.
Absolutely
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Q15.
Are your clients pleased with the results?
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A15.
We have had 100% positive feedback from clients. We engaged client interest
during the build with regular FACEBOOK reports and we did some guided tours
during the build for some of our key opinion forming clients. The official
opening by HRH The Prince of Wales attracted massive coverage in both local
and national press.
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Q16.
What tips do you have for others contemplating a building /refurbishment
project?
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A17.
1. Visit other clinics and
gather as much information as you can. Keep changing your design until you
are happy with it. The dimensions of rooms, width of doorways, and work flow
are all better assessed by seeing how they have worked out elsewhere. Avoid
remaking mistakes that have already been made!
2. Specify everything you
want prior to the tender phase, go through room by room detailing what is to
be in it and then try to stick to your design. If there are variations make
sure a price is agreed before any work is done. Last minute changes will be
expensive and may have unforeseen consequences – try to make sure that your ‘tender pack’
is the finished design. We used a ‘design and build’ contract which seemed to
work well for us.
3. Visit the site EVERY day
– it is astonishing what can be going wrong (rooms being built without doorways
for example). No one knows your building better than you do!
4. Be flexible on issues
that don’t really matter – a good relationship with your builder is
essential.
5. Involve your staff in the
design process and give clients regular updates via social media. Build some
excitement around your project. This had tangible benefits for us including a
client donating all the extra office furniture needed for the new building – which
represented a considerable saving.
6. Consider employing an
extra veterinary surgeon during the build to allow the partners / directors
some spare time so that they can be actively engaged in the design and build
process. We employed an experienced former assistant for the 8 months whilst the
project was going through its most critical phases. This proved an invaluable
help in relieving some of the inevitable management pressure.
7. We used a management firm
‘Knight Webb’ to review the tenders, and quality control the build. As an
independent third party their advice was vital so it was money well spent.
8. Be realistic regarding
time frame. For most this is a once in a lifetime project and a couple of
extra months before completion is much better than rushing the builder to
complete on schedule so as to avoid penalty clauses. Be flexible with this -
within reason!
9. Always ask – do you really
need that corridor?
10.
I repeat VISIT SITE EVERY DAY!!!!!!!
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