Project
The right-hand-rule states that approximately ten percent of a hospital are always under reconstruction as medical knowledge is renewed every third year. Photo: Project department for DNU
Aarhus University Hospital matches the size of a smaller provincial town. NIRAS is deeply involved in more parts of the gigantic project.
Flexibility is a keyword within the construction of Aarhus University Hospital, AUH, in Aarhus. The hospital is provided with a flexible solution, robust towards both downsizing, restructuring and subsequent extensions. AUH in Aarhus is a complete new university hospital build in connection with the existing hospital in Skejby.
It is the largest hospital construction site in Danish history and shall perform the functions of a regional centre and basis hospital for the Central Denmark Region. NIRAS provided the engineering consultancy for a large number of phases and is represented in the Consultancy Group DNU’s direction.
A rule-of-thumb states that approximately ten percent of a hospital are always undergoing modification because medical knowledge is renewed every third year. Among other factors, DNU is therefore created as a “flexible construction” with a building design composing the entire basic structure, both horizontal and vertical in the construction.
Today, hospital functions are most often built for exact purposes such as bed unit, operating ward or treatment room. Therefore, they are undergoing a thorough alteration during the reconstruction – causing inconvenience for the employees and patients. In the future DNU it is possible to manage alterations without having to close down wards for a longer period.
A large part of the total project was the work with merging the five hospitals i Aarhus to one University Hospital in Aarhus. Niras was responsible for the contractor consulting services within the health area and hospital construction, including EU-tender and project competition.
NIRAS also conducted tender consultancy in connection with EU-tender of the continuous consultancy. The tender is executed according to EU’s new procurement method ”competition based dialogue” in close corporation with Central Denmark Region’s project management and the judicial consultant, Bech- Bruun Advokater.
Furthermore, NIRAS was responsible for preparation of the tender material and assisted the judgement committee and task forces in organising and evaluating the tenders.
In autumn 2008, NIRAS also won the EU-tender for contractor consulting service for the total project. Against the Regional Council, NIRAS managed the part as impartial “3. eye”, where NIRAS reports on the project’s substantial risks regarding time, economy, quality and organising.
Furthermore, NIRAS assists the project management in continuous assessment and consultancy about the project’s organising, financial management, quality, planning of time and risk management of the immense project.
Exceptional for AUH is the high-tech pneumatic dispatch system carrying dispatches around the entire hospital. The pneumatic dispatch system:
