A milestone in the creation of the university hospital of the future
The NKS university hospital near Stockholm won’t be completely finished until 2017, but its car park is already opening, and is the first building to go operational. This is a milestone in developing what will become a world-class hospital extending to 320,000 m2.
NKS is a completely unique project. The new hospital building will set a new standard for hospitals and be an international landmark. The expectations of the facility are high in every respect—the site will become a state-of-the-art building and where innovative thinking flourishes and improves the quality of life of millions of patients.
To succeed on this assignment it’s vital that every stakeholder, i.e. the client (the Stockholm Health Authority) the user (Karolinska University Hospital), the builder (Skanska) and the service provider (Coor Service Management) are in close partnership through the project management and construction phases. The shared objective is crystal clear: to create a smooth-working, long-term sustainable and cost-efficient hospital—within predetermined time and pricing frames.
At Coor, a compact organization has participated in the project since signing the contract in June 2010. Assistant Account Manager Michael Rosén sums up progress to date.
“It’s been an intensive, but very interesting and instructive time. Primarily, we could say that at this stage, we’re laying a foundation of how the hospital will work in the future. Our assignment is to review project management work from a service and operational perspective. We ensure that the solutions selected are cost efficient, reliable and sustainable for the long term—for many years to come.”
Attention to detail and solutions aren’t just about how the hospital will work for Coor as service management provider. What’s at least as important is to create solutions that work well for the hospital’s service users—primarily care staff, but patients and visitors too. The project work based on the vision “the patient always comes first”.
“Care staff have to concentrate on their activities so we’re always endeavoring to produce service solutions that are easy to use and avoid any unnecessary processes,” adds Michael.
We ensure that the solutions selected are cost efficient, reliable and sustainable for the long term—for many years to come.
Initially, Coor focused on central segments like logistics, environment and technology. The hospital will deliver highly specialist healthcare, research and development, which imply high standards, not least on technology solutions.
“We’re planning for hospital infrastructure to work optimally. When planning for intelligent solutions from an operational perspective, as a service management provider, we bring substantial experience and competence in various contexts,” adds Michael.
The team currently working full-time on Coor’s behalf on this project is a compact contract management group, two real estate specialists, two soft FM specialists, a contract developer, a purchasing manager and a quality and environmental specialist. Central resources have also been co-opted for cleaning, energy issues, security, purchasing and information and communication technology. NKS is a complex project with a high level of ambition, and accordingly, leading-edge expertise across many segments is required.
“I’d say that the solutions we’re now putting into these hospital buildings are the solutions of the future, and it wouldn’t have been possible to select them if we hadn’t had the opportunity to participate in the project management phase,” adds Michael.
Inaugurating the car park is a symbolic milestone of the project. The next stage towards going live will be opening the technology building, which houses all installations, and is scheduled for completion in May 2014. After this, the hospital will be progressively brought into production, to be fully complete in 2017.
“While you might think there’s a lot of time left, you also can’t forget that this is an enormous project. NKS will run to some 320,000 m2, equivalent to 24 city centre tower blocks. Activities we have in front of us include hiring a lot of staff to be trained specifically for this assignment, procuring equipment, and finally bringing all our services into production in coordination with care staff. Without doubt, this is one of the most demanding, but also most interesting and enjoyable projects we’ve ever contributed to,” concludes Michael.
About the new car park
- 32 000 m2 on 7 floors
- Space for 818 cars, of which75 charge points for electric vehicles
- Opening hours: around the clock
If you want to find out more about the new hospital, visit the project website: www.nyakarolinskasolna.se
If you want to find out more about Coor’s contribution to the project, contact Michael Rosén.
