Finchley Memorial Hospital, London

Finchley Memorial Hospital is located in a residential area of London N12. Founded in 1909 as a small cottage hospital, it had grown into a general hospital to meet changing demands over the years and was badly in need of expansion and modernisation.

Perega was appointed as structural and civil engineers and CDM coordinator to create a new state-of-the-art community hospital to replace the old hospital. This was, at the time, one of the largest buildings procured under the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT Programme).

The new hospital was constructed on a nine-acre site, formerly used as playing fields, adjacent to the original hospital. Extending to 9,500 sq. m., the building was built on piled foundations using a flat slab concrete frame that provided thermal mass to assist cooling. An extensive green roof was incorporated at second floor level.

A wide range of services are provided by the new hospital, including specialist rehabilitation and intermediate care, primary care services, outpatients’ services and therapies, which required the design to be sensitive to the needs of different users.

The sloping topography of the site required remodelling to achieve access to different levels of the building, and this, together with the drainage, was especially challenging.

When the new facility opened, the original buildings were demolished and a new public park was created from the surplus land.

The hospital achieved a BREEAM Excellent Rating.

Finchley Memorial Hospital has been recognised with the following awards:

• International Partnership Awards 2013 (Best Designed Project) – Winner
• Building Better Healthcare Awards 2013 – Highly Commended
• CIBSE Awards 2014 (Collaborative Working Award) – Highly Commended
• Civic Trust Awards 2014 – Commended