Healthcare estates specialist, Darwin Group®, has provided significant decant space for an NHS trust in Birmingham. The On-Demand® Healthcare Facility is making a positive impact on patient care and staff morale at Sutton Cottage Hospital.
The hospital, located in Sutton Coldfield, is part of Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s estate and was first built in 1897. Its most recent update was in 1936; this means the hospital’s main building now faces significant challenges, causing barriers to patient care and negatively impacting staff morale.
Last year, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust started a major renovation project at Sutton Cottage Hospital. It appointed Darwin Group to provide a dedicated decant space to accommodate staff and services that would need to vacate the building.
As the healthcare business of Portakabin®, Darwin Group utilised its reach and capacity to design and install an On-Demand® solution on a council car park adjacent to the permanent hospital site to minimise disruption. The additional decant space houses six consultation rooms, an administration office, and dedicated staff welfare space, along with a reception and patient waiting area.
Norman Smith, project manager for Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are now halfway through the project and in that time, services onsite have remained open with no disruption to care delivery. This is all thanks to the On-Demand Healthcare Facility from Darwin Group.”
The biggest benefit of opting for an On-Demand solution is that it has provided decant space for displaced services to continue running, enabling the continuation of care delivery in high-quality, compliant spaces.
The buildings are due to be returned to Darwin Group in December 2025 to be refurbished and repurposed, supporting other needs.
Norman added: “The staff working in the space love it, and I think it will be a challenge to get them back into the existing site when it’s finished. Whenever I see them, they tell me they want to stay where they are.”
Utilising a hireable solution means that Darwin Group manages the maintenance of the building. Throughout use, clients feel confident that their buildings are well looked after and that the Darwin Group team is on hand if any additional support is needed.
To learn more about On-Demand® Healthcare Facilities from Darwin Group, contact us at OnDemand@darwingroup.co.uk. Or, to request the full case study, visit https://contact.darwingroup.co.uk/gp-case-studies-showcase.
