Mary Seacole Building, University of Salford

The Mary Seacole Building is home to the College of Health and Social Care at Salford University and is regarded as a world-class teaching facility. The initial scope of the project was the reconfiguration and fit-out of teaching rooms into a state-of-the-art nursing and midwifery clinical simulation laboratory. Successful completion of this area led to a second phase involving transformation of further rooms into a counselling and therapy suite.

The works included: stripping out doors, partitions, ceilings, floor finishes and fittings; removing furniture and crash rails; installing new stud metal partition walls, doors, frames, floorings and suspended ceilings, new lighting, sinks and IPS monitors. M&E works included stripping out existing services, re-wiring and all electrical testing.

At the onset of the project we discovered the original wall height was much greater than indicated on the drawings. Prompt liaison with the architect resulted in changes to the type and height of internal wall as well as to the plant used. Despite this variation we worked longer days to complete the nursing and midwifery laboratory on time and the counselling and therapy suite was finished ahead of schedule.

Key to success was regular consultation with university staff as work took place within a very busy campus environment. We went to great lengths to minimise disruption, for example by arranging for our deliveries to arrive via the least crowded routes. Maintaining a dialogue became critical over exam week when we scheduled our noisier work outside of assessment periods to ensure students were not affected.