Guild Lodge Phase 2, Preston
Client: Lancashire Care NHS Trust
Project Value: £7 million
Construction Period: 15 months

The construction by Norwest Holst of three residential medium secure units, providing a total of 38 beds, together with a Vocational Therapy Unit, a Rehabilitation Management Centre and a Cafe/Social block. The buildings are of unusual format, being elliptical in plan.

This contract was conventionally procured, the tender documentation incorporating a full design to HTM standards, and undertaken on a traditional basis. We were not therefore expected to contribute to design development nor was there any built-in mechanism to encourage innovation. Nonetheless, at the outset we carried out a value engineering exercise and identified cost savings that could be made by using an alternative supplier for fitted equipment and by changing the floor finishes. These were offered to the Client, together with supporting evidence to demonstrate the suitability of the alternatives, and were accepted with resultant cost benefit to the project.