Customer: Salford Royal Hospital NHS Trust Nursery in partnership with Holyrood

Location: Salford

Requirement: When Department of Health money was made available to help hospitals develop on-site nursery provision for staff, Salford Royal Hospital NHS Trust investigated the nursery options available locally and decided to develop its own facility. The Trust felt that an on-site nursery could provide the longer opening hours and holiday opening that would suit the unconventional working hours of many of its staff.

Since the hospital site was undergoing extensive redevelopment, which would take several years to complete, a suitable location was found for the nursery just across the road from the main hospital. The site here was available on a short lease, so the Trust would need to relocate its nursery back onto the main site once the redevelopment work was completed.

Solution: The Trust required a robust relocatable building that would provide high-quality nursery accommodation. A tender process narrowed the possible suppliers down to two, one of which was Portakabin. A visit by the Trust to see a Portakabin Lilliput building in use proved the deciding factor.

Nicola Kent, Child and Adult Care Coordinator at the Trust, says: "We were all impressed by the quality of the finish and the fittings in the building, and the thought that had been put into the design. There was a great feeling of space inside, and it seemed to be very user-friendly. Not only that, but Portakabin had created a relocatable building that had the look and feel of a permanent structure, which was very important to us."

In consultation with the Trust, Portakabin designed a tailor-made 60-place nursery. The building incorporates two rooms for under two-year olds and two rooms for older children, as well as a kitchen, staff room, milk preparation area, nappy changing room, utility room and office. All of the children’s rooms have direct access to an outdoor play area.

The hospital was assured of a timely delivery of its new nursery by the unique Portakabin Customer Charter, which commits the Company to delivering all projects on time and on budget. If Portakabin ever fails to meet this commitment, it offers an additional six months’ product warranty on the building.*

The nursery was approved by Ofsted and, thanks to the generous proportions specified by Portakabin, was officially registered as a 64-place facility. The bright orange and yellow building now offers extensive childcare provision from 7am to 7pm every day – including bank holidays.

Nicola says: "The children and nursery staff think the building is fantastic. Features like half-height walls between different areas mean that staff can move around the building and still keep an eye on the children. The rooms around the building are all well connected, so staff never feel isolated.

"We also feel confident that our nursery can be extended or adapted in future, if necessary, and can easily be moved when we are ready to relocate to the main hospital site."

* Terms and Conditions apply. A copy is available on request.