Luton & Dunstable University Hospital 

Overview

The Emergency Department expansion at Luton & Dunstable University Hospital is a landmark healthcare project, enhancing critical care facilities, patient accessibility, and hospital efficiency. Designed to meet increasing demand for emergency services, the development delivers a modern, high-capacity A&E department, a new hospital entrance, improved drop-off zones, and upgraded CT scanning facilities.

Constructed within a live hospital environment, the project required meticulous phasing and stakeholder collaboration to ensure that emergency and critical care services remained fully operational throughout construction. The expanded emergency department now provides improved patient flow, reduced waiting times, and enhanced clinical spaces, supporting Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s commitment to high-quality, accessible healthcare.

Project Delivery & Challenges Overcome

Delivering a large-scale hospital expansion within an active A&E department presented significant challenges, including:

• Ensuring uninterrupted emergency care, requiring carefully planned phased construction and temporary access routes for patients, staff, and emergency vehicles.Coordinating complex hospital infrastructure, integrating new CT scanning facilities, treatment spaces, and ambulance bays into existing critical care networks.

• Maintaining blue-light access routes, ensuring unhindered movement for emergency services throughout construction.

• Working adjacent to highly sensitive areas, including the MRI suite and paediatrics ward, with stringent noise, dust, and vibration controls.

• Managing a constrained site, requiring off-site prefabrication and just-in-time material deliveries to mitigate logistical pressures.

• Despite these challenges, the project was successfully completed on time and within budget, ensuring that the hospital’s expanded emergency facilities could open to the public as planned.

Key Features & Benefits

The expansion and refurbishment of Luton & Dunstable University Hospital’s Emergency Department delivers a high-performance medical facility, designed to meet future healthcare demands.

Enhanced Emergency Care Facilities

• New hospital entrance and atrium, improving accessibility and patient flow.

• Expanded A&E department, providing modern, high-capacity treatment areas to accommodate rising patient numbers.

• Dedicated CT scanning department, ensuring rapid diagnostics and critical imaging services.

• Specialist paediatrics recovery suite, designed to enhance care for younger patients in emergency situations.

• Updated ambulance drop-off bays, enabling faster patient handovers and improved clinical response times.

Sustainable & Energy-Efficient Design

• BREEAM Very Good rating, ensuring long-term energy efficiency and sustainability.

• Natural ventilation and high-performance glazing, improving patient comfort and reducing operational energy costs.

• Advanced insulation and building fabric enhancements, minimising environmental impact.

Community & Social Value Initiatives

• Refurbishment of hospital relatives’ room, creating a peaceful, private space for bereaved families.

• Transformation of two hospital gardens, providing therapeutic outdoor areas for mothers with babies in neonatal care.

• Apprenticeship and training opportunities, supporting local workforce development in Luton.

Recognition & Industry Excellence

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust praised the new A&E facility for its significant improvements to patient experience and operational efficiency, with feedback from both hospital staff and the local community highlighting its transformative impact on emergency care.

An important consideration was delivery in a live environment, as the Emergency Department continued operating throughout the project. As part of the enabling works, our team created an internal link tunnel so patients and staff can move safely between the hospital buildings.

Having been awarded “Project of the Year (over £50m)” at the prestigious Construction News Awards for the Pears Building in Hampstead Heath, handed over to the Royal Free Charity in 2021, this project is yet another proud moment in our long history of delivering first-class healthcare facilities.