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Apr 2020

Coronavirus

Harrogate's Nightingale opens: A rapid feat of construction and engineering

Published: 21 Apr 2020, 14:30 BST

by Connor Creaghan

It's been a huge challenge to transform the Harrogate Convention Centre into a new 500 bed Nightingale Hospital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxUUPkM7NQI&feature=youtu.be

The transformation of the Harrogate Convention Centre into a 500-bed surge hospital has been a real feat of engineering and cooperation.

Work started on the NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber three weeks ago and required 13 miles of copper, 15,000m² of vinyl, 18,000m² of hygienic walls, 1,000 pieces of IT equipment, 100 miles of cables and more than seven million litres of oxygen.

It also needed more than 600 people working together from the NHS, BAM Construction and the Armed Forces - with more than 30,000 hours of labour.

When the work began the director of the HCC Paula Lorimer said she had to bring back security, cleaning and stewarding teams to help the construction team:

“It’s a vast site and very detailed engineering drawings have had to be got out. We had to teach the Royal Engineers their way around the building so they can put in the complex facilities that are needed.”