The National Treatment Centre – Highland is a new, state-of-the-art healthcare facility providing orthopaedic and ophthalmology services to patients in the north of Scotland.

Opthalmology operating theatre at National Treatment Centre - Highland, in Inverness Scotland. Operating chair, lighting and equipment in a brightly lit theatre.

Located on the Inverness Campus, the centre houses NHS Highland’s eye care service, with both surgical and outpatient facilities, and in addition offers elective orthopaedic procedures, including hip and knee replacements and foot, ankle and hand surgeries.

Expertise

CDM and Principal Designer, Construction Quality Management, Project Management, Quantity Surveying

Sectors

Healthcare

As part of a wider Inverness Campus initiative, the new centre will also promote innovation and research in its areas of expertise. It is the third of a national network of treatment centres to be delivered through Health Facilities Scotland, Frameworks Scotland 3 expanding the country’s hospital-based diagnostic and treatment capacity.

External view of National Treatment Centre - Highland. The building is clad in bronze gold zinc panels. In front paved areas with benches and planted beds.

The purpose-built facility has five operating theatres, 13 consultation rooms, 24 beds, an imaging and diagnostics suite, as well as clinics, outpatient departments and administrative space. There is also a café, a children’s play area and a peaceful courtyard garden for patients and their families.

Courtyard garden with benches and planting at National Treatment Centre - Highland, Inverness.

The design of the centre was collaborative, with input from clinical teams and patient representatives to maximise the user experience.

Aerial view of the National Treatment Centre - Highland, Inverness. The building's three wings form a triad in landscaped grounds. The building has a pitched roof and is clad in gold-bronze metal cladding. Car parks and surround lightly wooded areas are shown, with other buildings on the campus in the distance

Thomson Gray in their role as Lead Advisor has been instrumental in organising key stakeholders and decision makers within NHS Highland and the framework partners.

Kevin Minnock
Project Director, Capital Projects, NHS Highland

Exterior view of the National Treatment Centre - Highalnd, Inverness. Gold-bronze coloured cladding with a perforated screen for the first floor courtyard garden. Paths and landscaped beds with grasses.

Multidisciplinary service offering

We were appointed at the project initiation stage and successfully managed a multidisciplinary team that included the following roles: business case support, project manager, cost advisor, NEC supervisor and CDM advisor.

Construction works at the new healthcare facility - the National Treatment Centre - Highland, Inverness. This aerial view in plan shows the building's triad shape with three wings, and prior to its final bronze-gold cladding. Supplies and construction vehicles are around the building, which has had no landscaping yet completed.

Aerial view during construction.

Using the Scottish Government’s Scottish Capital Investment Manual (SCIM) process, we led on the development and authoring of the strategic assessment, initial agreement, outline and full business cases.

As part of our role, we ensured that all stakeholders, including the contractor, the design team and the clinical and support services who would be relocating to the new facility, remained fully engaged with the process, keeping them updated on all programme and budget constraints. In this way, we were able to maintain a collaborative and supportive project culture.

Early-stage feasibility

In the early design stages, we helped to progress the technical aspects of the project, commissioning surveys, including ecology and a transport impact assessment, to support the major planning application.

This information was key to establishing the early-stage feasibility of the proposed site and producing a robust cost plan based on the known site conditions.

View of stairwell at the National Treatment Centre - Highland. A dark orange wall has a bright, contempoary painting. The bannister and ballustrade is wood with a steel rail.

Three bays in a ward at National Treatment Centre - Highland. Stools and trolley units are set up around a bed.

Ongoing project monitoring

Following approval of the full business case, we carried out project management, contract administration, NEC supervision and cost control duties, reporting on progress on a monthly basis throughout, assessing on a monthly basis the impact of potential variations on the budget and programme schedule.

Deviations from, or delays to the programme were highlighted and reported to the project board immediately to facilitate decision-making

As CDM advisor, we also supported the client to manage and discharge health and safety duties to ensure full compliance with all regulations.

First floor waiting area at National Treatment Centre - Highland. Armchairs in turquoise and tan in an area with wooden floor off the main corridor.

Waiting area with floor to ceiling mural of a loch with autumnal colours. Orange upholstered armchairs and low tables in the brightly lit space.

Thomson Gray has managed all challenges with the utmost professionalism. The team provided comprehensive guidance and advice on all contractual matters drawing on their expert knowledge base.

Kevin Minnock
Project Director, Capital Projects, NHS Highland

Aerial view of the National Treatment Centre, a new small hospital building with three wings, under construction.

CREDITS

Architect Oberlanders
Contractor Balfour Beatty
Project Manager Thomson Gray
Services Engineer Hulley & Kirkwood
Structural Engineer Mott MacDonald
Principal Designer Thomson Gray
Cost Advisor Thomson Gray
NEC Supervisor Thomson Gray & XBuro
Landscape Architect horner + maclennan
Images Niall Hastie