Royal Liverpool University Hospital (RLUH)

27 January 2023

This new build project had been moth-balled for over a year, during which time surveys were undertaken which highlighted issues with the original build, therefore over 80% of the internal of the hospital was ripped out and taken back to a bare shell to check for firestopping. Only six of the original contractors, including Bagnalls, remained involved in the second phase of the new build project under Laing O’Rourke, representing the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The project required full internal redecoration of the new build hospital, including floor coatings and external works. Communal areas – corridors and 4 large stairwells, plant rooms floors and walls, operating theatres, wards, high level atrium. External canopies, steelwork and flooring areas.

The new hospital is both large in ground space but also height. It has a massive internal atrium area which had to be accessed for painting using a Falcon 230 Spider, with a 23-metre reach – one of the largest spiders in the country, driven by operatives with IPAF training. Also, electric scissor lifts were employed for working at height externally on the canopies and steelwork. And mast climbers were used to paint the face of walls prior to glazed screens being mounted.

Twenty Eight (28) bespoke colours from Pistachio Green to Aqua Blue were used across the hospital, in Johnstones Microbarr products with silver ion technology for all medical areas and standard Johnstones durable acrylic emulsions and eggshells in non-medical environments.

This was a mammoth task which demonstrated the complexity of project management of a new build painting project, working alongside 50 other trades, to very tight timescales and in very difficult circumstances, including covid.

The client added: ‘Bagnalls have shown true professionalism on a very technical and compliance focused hospital project. Their expertise in product selection and specification assisted the client greatly in delivering clinical specification spaces that required the utmost attention to Infection Prevention Control. On behalf of LUHFT Board we greatly welcome the recognition for Bagnalls involvement in making our new Hospital the bright, vibrant asset it is today’