We are pleased that the upgrade to the main entrance at the Bristol Royal Infirmary is complete just in time for Christmas. The revolving door will help reduce draughts in the main entrance without reducing the patient/ visitor flow through. The “Gift of Life” artwork by Edwyn Rhys Jones responds to the introduction of the “Max and Keira Law” and the story that led to the law change given that name and raises awareness about organ donation.

We are working with Willmott Dixon through the Scape Framework convert outpatient facilities to provide an additional 12 bed ward for Weston General Hospital. The increase in beds is needed urgently so design work will progress alongside construction. The process required constant communication and collaboration between designer and builder. The existing department was designed for inpatient accommodation, but the original space standards were far less than required today.

The reconfiguration of a single bedroom and isolation room (including lobby) to provide a two-bed bay and isolation room (including lobby) starts on site. In addition to the limiting measures of Covid the construction will take place in a “live” Oncology Ward with immune-suppressed patients.

We are pleased to welcome Sandy Murray to stretto architects he was previously working with our good friends (and landlord) at Smith Maloney. Sandy is qualified architect, having studied Architectural Design Part I & II at the University of Edinburgh and completing professional accreditation RIBA Part III at the University of Bath in October 2015, with broad exposure to the architecture industry and over five years of post-Part 3 experience. During his professional career he has built a strong portfolio in sustainable development, and has delivered over £25m of education, healthcare, commercial & residential projects on site.

St Joseph’s Private Hospital in Newport appointed stretto architects, to propose a refresh to the existing patient bedrooms and ensuite rooms in to improve the patient experience. A simple palette of materials/ colours was used to provide non-NHS feel to the rooms.

The brief is to increase the total number of intensive care beds from the current 21 to the highest number possible. The preferred option provides an additional 11 compliant ITU bays including three bays with associated gowning lobby and individual sluice (bringing the total number of such facilities on the unit to six). In accordance with the Department of Health guidance the design has been developed to maximise the potential for maintaining patient privacy and dignity including single bay and multi bay cubicles.

Despite the pandemic construction activity continues, particularly at healthcare facilities. We are working with BAM to deliver an extension to the Bristol Heart Institute which will provide a new Catheterisation Laboratory and twelve urgently needed additional beds. The steel frame is well underway.

“Our priority is to protect the public and save lives, we cannot move forward unless we satisfy the five tests. We must protect our NHS. We must see sustained falls in the death rate. We must see sustained and considerable falls in the rate of infection. We must sort out our challenges in getting enough PPE to the people who need it, and yes, it is a global problem, but we must fix it. And last, we must make sure that any measures we take do not force the reproduction rate of the disease - the R - back up over one, so that we have the kind of exponential growth we were facing a few weeks ago”.

England in national lockdown. Initially, all “non-essential” high street businesses were closed, and people were ordered to stay at home, permitted to leave for essential purposes only, such as buying food or for medical reasons. We relocated from the office to work from home and thankfully the internet was able to cope.

We are pleased to welcome Radina Kamenova to reinforce the stretto team on our increasing workload. Radina is an ARB Registered Architect, graduated from the University of Seville (Spain) and BIM Certified Specialist. With more than 5 years working in the UK, Radina has gained a varied experience working on different building sectors, including urban regeneration, master planning, residential and mixed used schemes as well as healthcare, leisure, retail, and hospitality at various RIBA Stages, ranging from strategic definition to completion.