Key milestone in MTX Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre project at Royal Surrey County Hospital

The MTX project to create a new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre at Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford has reached a key milestone, with delivery and installation of 170 precisely engineered steel structural units now complete.

The factory-manufactured units range in size, from 6 metres to 15 metres long, and form the fabric of the new three-storey building - which also includes a part-basement to accommodate the sloping site, and part-enclosed roof plant area for air handling units and other equipment. 

A total of 56 patient beds, consulting and examination rooms and recovery areas will be located on the ground and first floor of the new development. They include a 20-bed second phase recovery area, a 24-bed short-stay ward (12 of which are single occupancy rooms), a 12-bed Post Anaesthetic Care Unit, and ancillary areas.

Six new hybrid operating theatres will be located on the first floor – two specialist orthopaedic operating rooms equipped with clean air canopies, two designed for laparoscopic procedures with specialist equipment and lighting, and two general operating rooms.

A first-floor bridge corridor will link the new facility directly to the rest of the hospital. It will be supported on concrete pillars and has been designed to provide clearance for larger delivery vehicles. MTX is set to carry out enabling works to provide a new access for the bridge corridor on the first floor of the main hospital.

MTX employs modern methods of construction (MMC) and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) principles to deliver new facilities faster, safer, greener and more cost effectively than conventional building methods.  

These fast-track processes have enabled groundworks to take place on site while the structural steel modules were manufactured offsite for delivery and installation. The result is a reduction in programme duration and earlier delivery of new facilities that are purpose-designed and fully compliant to quickly benefit patients and help to reduce waiting lists.  

All floors in the new facility are poured concrete. Specially designed reinforcing pads on the first-floor areas of the new operating theatres will deliver the response levels required to aid surgeons in their meticulous treatment of patients.

Mechanical and electrical services have also been pre-fabricated for maximum efficiency and quality control – with equipment such as air handling units assembled and factory-tested before being dismantled for delivery. They are then assembled and installed on site and again tested to ensure optimum performance.

MTX Pre-Construction Director Mike Butler explained: “MTX has a proven track record in supporting NHS Trusts in the delivery of vitally needed new facilities and we are delighted to be partnering with Royal Surrey to create this exciting new Cancer and Surgical Centre.  

“Our expertise and resources support our Trust partners at every step of the journey, from concept design through to completion and handover. This ensures each facility is fully compliant and a resource that will deliver a rapid return on investment for the Trust, as well as enhanced services for patients.”

Royal Surry NHS Foundation Trust Deputy Chief Executive Ross Dunworth said: “We are pleased to have awarded the contract for this major development to MTX, who have extensive experience of similar construction at other NHS trusts. There is a shared sense of excitement around this development, and we are very much looking forward to opening and using the new centre.”

Royal Surrey is one of the largest cancer centres in the country. A total of 60 per cent of all surgeries performed at Royal Surrey are cancer-related, and the Trust supports a large catchment area across the Southeast of England and beyond of up to three million people.

This £41.5m development will build on Royal Surrey County Hospital’s world-class services in robotic and non-robotic surgery and enable an additional 7,000 patients to receive surgery every year. The investment in this new facility, which is set to replace an ageing Surgical Short Stay Unit, will help the Trust respond to increasing demand for cancer surgery and bring down waiting lists for all elective (planned) surgical procedures.