South Birmingham Community Diagnostic Centre

Aligned with NHS England’s "Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England," which sees a move from hospitals to communities, the South Birmingham Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) is strengthening prevention-led healthcare and bringing vital diagnostic services closer to communities across South Birmingham and the wider region.

Funded by NHS England, the centre was delivered through a partnership between NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB), University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) and InHealth – the UK’s largest provider of specialist diagnostic and healthcare solutions.

Location

Maypole, South Birmingham, UK

Client

InHealth

Project Status

Complete

Key achievements

People expected to benefit from the services each year

35,000+

Approximate size of building (sqft)

8,000

Amount of primary structure retained, championing the ‘Build less’ approach (see IStructE hierarchy below)

100%

This work forms part of a wider series of projects across the UK supported by our experts, covering the delivery of healthcare buildings across Birmingham (Chelmsley Wood), Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester and Southampton. The South Birmingham facility alone will provide thousands of patients each year with access to advanced diagnostic tests, easing pressure on local hospitals and accelerating treatment pathways. Services include MRI, CT, ultrasound, X-ray and other health screening options for faster detection and care.

With significant expertise in supporting healthcare designs, our team was appointed by InHealth to provide structural engineering support to facilitate the transformation of the existing building into a high-performing diagnostic centre. Working closely with the architect and client, our support enabled the reimagining of the existing space to deliver a modern facility that meets the needs of patients today and tomorrow – resulting in minimal demolition and waste.

InHealth have engaged the expertise of WSP across multiple projects, over several years, to ensure that our initial design ideas could be facilitated; thereby maximising effective use of the demise space while simultaneously providing an exceptional patient experience. WSP’s knowledge and understanding of InHealth’s service provision, and the OEM’s requirements, has been invaluable in enabling InHealth to achieve its goals.

Graham Ogden Director of Capital Projects and Procurement at InHealth

Graham Ogden Director of Capital Projects and Procurement at InHealth

Creatively reusing an existing space

Originally built in 2007, the project involved transforming a retail unit, previously home to a leading provider of cycling and motoring services in the UK, into a modern, high-performing healthcare diagnostic facility. To meet this ambition, the usable internal floor area needed to be almost doubled. To create this space, InHealth introduced a new steel mezzanine level supported by a new steel frame and columns – a move that helped control risk and buildability.

Our structural engineering experts also collaborated closely with the architect to ensure the proposed design worked with the architectural vision for the space. This allowed us to consider special requirements for medical scanners such as shielding for radiation, sightlines and ceiling-mounted equipment – so columns could be positioned strategically to effectively support the building without compromising the aesthetics and functionality of the space.

With the building set to house major equipment like MRI and CT scanners, it was essential to ensure there was a simple way for this to be migrated into and out of the building. To support this, we designed K-bracing to create a central removable wall panel, providing flexibility for large equipment to be easily moved into rooms as well as creating a frictionless and cost-optimised way for this to be replaced for future maintenance.

Hierarchy for net zero structural design

Credit: IStructE

Adopting a carbon-conscious mindset

Our structural approach reflected a design philosophy to ‘investigate what exists first to maximise its potential, only introducing new materials when we’re sure it’s necessary’. We achieved this by creating a structural design that retained practically all of the existing structure, resulting in significant embodied carbon savings.

Daniel Davies, engineer in building structures, explains: “We carried out detailed tests on the existing floor slab and roof structure, enabling us to recommend a solution with the least structural interventions. In our structural model and calculations, we were able to incorporate a key architectural requirement to limit beam depth to approximately 225mm in the mezzanine floor, to make it fit within the former garage’s double-height space with minimal construction waste and demolition.

Meet our Visioneers

Mark Bundy, Director in Building Structures, has been involved from the outset, leading our structural engineering team and working with the project team to ensure the new internal design complements the existing structure.

Transforming this former retail unit into a diagnostic centre highlights the value of working with what we already have. By imaginatively reusing the existing structure, we’ve proudly helped create a modern diagnostic facility that supports better health outcomes, reduces carbon and avoids unnecessary waste – proving how lean design can deliver huge impact.

Mark Bundy Director, Building Structures, WSP in the UK and Ireland

Mark Bundy Director, Building Structures, WSP in the UK and Ireland