Provision of temporary access for 10-storey £150m replacement Paterson Building construction project at The Christie Hospital.

Due to the former Paterson Building at the Christie Hospital being destroyed by fire, primary contractor Integrated Health Projects, a joint venture between Vinci and Sir Robert McAlpine, is constructing a £150m replacement building designed by BDP on the same footprint site. The new mixed ten and seven-storey purpose-built 26,874m² biomedical facility will be twice the size of the previous Paterson Building and house several hundred staff members.

The new world-class transformational research facility is a joint development by The University of Manchester, Cancer Research UK and The Christie. Once constructed, the facility will bring together the largest concentration of scientists, doctors and nurses in Europe to collaborate and accelerate progress for cancer patients.

Enigma has erected various support and access scaffolds to assist primary contractor Integrated Health Projects in constructing the new world-class transformational research facility on behalf of The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. This included building a platform area surrounding the mast climber base to support the efficient delivery of materials to the upper levels.

Enigma also erected a hoist tower support scaffold, enabling access to the 8th-9th floors and roof-top area. Internally, to assist with the fit-out phase, Enigma has erected numerous scaffold structures to support the efficient installation of pipework, ducting, cabling and air conditioning systems. Additionally, HAKI stair towers have been installed on the roof-top to provide workers with safe access/egress to complete installation works and carry out inspection tasks.

The Enigma in-house design and engineering team worked closely with the client to provide a cost-effective solution. Also, working within the footprint of a busy hospital with limited on-site storage, the Enigma operations team continually liaised with the client to coordinate the delivery of scaffold materials to ensure minimal disruption.