Our #BehindtheBuilding campaign celebrates the people, partnerships and stories behind University Hospitals Plymouth's new £247m Emergency Care Building, focusing on the human aspect of the Future Hospital Programme and the wide variety of roles involved, not only in the design and construction, but also hearing from those who will be working in the new building once open.
In the fourth of our #BehindtheBuilding series looking at the new Emergency Care Building (ECB), we talk to Steve Boland who is a Structural Engineer and Director at Expedite.
Can you explain what structural engineering actually is?
Our role is essentially the building structure. We like to use an analogy in terms of a human body. If you simplify it, as a structural engineer, we would design the skeleton. An architect would design the skin and features, and a mechanical or electrical engineer would design the internal organs, arteries and veins etc. So everything you can see around us now - all the concrete foundations in the ground, all the steelwork and the cores that are coming up - that’s what we as engineers do.
How long have you been involved in the ECB?
I’ve been involved in this project for around 10-11 years. In my previous company, I was involved in the design and initial design phases of several projects that have combined together to what we have today. I’m now working as an engineer with Expedite, which is a multi-disciplinary construction services company. In the role that we’re delivering as a technical adviser, we work mainly on the client side.
What does a typical day on this project look like for you?
So on a typical day, I’d spend a few hours in the office with the Willmott Dixon team going through site progress, talking through issues, and then the rest of the day on site looking at what’s been built in terms of compliance, as well as the codes and standards the building needs to be designed to. We then provide a weekly report on progress against the programme, with any issues that have been had on site and any remedial works that might need to be undertaken.
Why is the ECB so important?
I think that like many hospitals, the estate and the hospital has been in need of a big overhaul. We know this is a semi-isolated part of the world and Plymouth’s hospital serves a huge area right down into Cornwall and across Devon. So it’s really important and impressive that the Future Hospital team have got this project over the line. I think it’s the first time that the staff here are going to get a real brand-new cutting-edge facility that is built to deliver what it needs to.
How does it feel to be involved in the ECB?
I think it's a really interesting project to be involved in, particularly in this part of the world. It's not often that we get projects this big with this kind of value, that deliver this kind of impact to the community. So it’s a really big proud moment to be involved in such a project.
