ModuleCo delivered a cutting-edge modular surgical hub at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in Stanmore. This four-operating-theatre facility was urgently required to boost elective surgery capacity and help tackle the backlog of patients awaiting procedures. As one of the world’s leading orthopaedic centers (ranked 12th best globally in its specialty), RNOH needed additional theatres to meet rising demand. ModuleCo’s turnkey solution provided the hospital with a fast-tracked increase in surgical capacity within a modern, self-contained building, without compromising on quality or safety.
Surgical Hub Features
The new Stanmore surgical hub provides four state-of-the-art operating theatres, each fully equipped for complex orthopaedic surgeries. Every theatre is supported by its own dirty utility room, an anaesthetic room for patient preparation, and a lay-up prep area for surgical instruments. Adjacent to the theatres is a first-stage recovery suite where patients begin post-operative recovery; this area was designed with a movable partition so it can be split into two zones for different patient groups or male/female segregation as needed. The hub also includes dedicated support spaces such as staff changing rooms, a staff rest area, offices, and ample storage rooms to ensure that all necessary facilities are on hand within the unit.
Enabling Works
In addition to manufacturing and installing the modular building itself off-site, ModuleCo managed extensive on-site preparation and enabling works as part of their turnkey delivery. Key aspects of the project’s traditional construction and infrastructure work included:
- Temporary Access Road: The site initially had no direct vehicle access for construction. ModuleCo created a temporary “traxway” road across the hospital grounds to enable delivery of modules and equipment. This track was removed upon completion of the build to minimize any long-term impact on the surroundings.
- Helipad Demolition: An old disused concrete helipad on the proposed site had to be demolished and cleared to make way for the new hub’s foundations. Removing this structure was one of the first steps, allowing groundworks to begin on solid, clear terrain.
- New Fire Access Road: A permanent fire access road was constructed to service the surgical hub, ensuring compliance with emergency requirements. This dedicated route provides emergency vehicles clear access to the new theatres, enhancing safety once the facility became operational.
- Hospital Connection Links: Although the theatres were built off-site as modules, the corridor links tying the hub into RNOH’s existing hospital buildings were built in-situ using traditional methods. These enclosed link corridors allow easy patient transfer and staff movement between the new hub and the main hospital, maintaining a weather-proof and secure connection.
- Medical Gas Plant with Green Roof: To support the hub’s clinical needs, a new medical gas plant and manifold room were constructed on site. This plant supplies vital medical gases (like oxygen) to the four theatres. In a thoughtful design touch, the plant room was topped with a green roof, helping it blend aesthetically with the environment and providing an extra element of sustainability.
Outcome and Impact
By handling both the off-site modular construction and these on-site works, ModuleCo delivered a truly turnkey project, from initial design and groundworks through to final fit-out and even landscaping.
The completion of the four-theatre surgical hub at RNOH Stanmore significantly expands the hospital’s capacity for planned surgeries. With four additional ultramodern theatres now available, RNOH can perform thousands more procedures each year, which will reduce waiting times for patients and help clear the elective care backlog in the region. The hub’s standalone design, separate from emergency departments, means elective operations can proceed with less risk of interruption or last-minute cancellation, a key advantage in maintaining high throughput of cases.
For RNOH, this project is a major step in enhancing services at one of the UK’s top orthopaedic hospitals. For ModuleCo, it marks another successful partnership with the Trust. In fact, having delivered multiple projects on the Stanmore site over the years, we can now lay claim to providing more than half of the hospital’s operating theatres. This achievement underscores the client’s confidence in our modular solutions and the quality of the facilities delivered. The RNOH surgical hub project showcases how innovative off-site construction and careful on-site execution can rapidly deliver much-needed clinical capacity, helping a world-renowned hospital better serve its patients and tackle healthcare challenges head-on.