Our architects delivers the new technical facilities and an intensive care unit for the Agen-Nérac hospital

September 2021

The architecture division of the Kardham Group, an independent and integrated French player in professional real estate, has just completed the extension and restructuring of the technical platform (interventional and intensive care unit) of the Agen-Nérac Hospital Center (CHAN). With 8,200 square meters of new buildings and 2,000 square meters of rehabilitation, this is the largest project since the hospital was founded in 1979. As the leading public health establishment in the Lot-et-Garonne, the CHAN is the referral hospital for a catchment area of 110,000 inhabitants. 1,600 health professionals work there.

The project, completed in 2021, was born out of the hospital's strong desire to improve its healthcare services and control operating expenses, in particular by better rationalizing flows. These challenges, driven by the hospital, were shared with the project management team during the study and reflection periods in order to refine the program and its appropriateness to the budget and to ensure that the project was consistent with the overall vision of the hospital site. The transfer of part of the activities to the two new buildings allowed the reorganization of the full hospitalization activities, the day hospital, the outpatient consultations and the quality of the patients' reception, through the increase in the number of single rooms.

A two-stage project

In the first phase (delivery in 2019), a new building, called the "Interventional Unit", was built at the south of the existing hospital. With a simple geometry that preserves the modularity of the building, it houses most of the "interventional" care services. A latticework protecting its largely glazed western facade enlivens the premises in the setting sun.

The existing flows and organization of the hospital have been consolidated by appropriate connections. Thus, this unit houses :

  • On the lower first floor, on the same level as the existing emergency room, the operating room and the birth unit,
  • On the upper floor, on the same level as the current reception area, the "Ambulatory Anesthesia and Surgery" day hospital (ACA) and hemodialysis,
  • On the top floor, the neonatology located on the same level as the existing maternity ward, and support services (sterilization, offices for the anesthesia sector).

To the southeast, near the hospital's technical area, a technical building (cooling unit and hydraulic room) complements the project.

In a second phase (delivery 2021), to the north, next to the current hospital entrance, a large intensive care unit and continuous care unit was created by restructuring the existing building, as close as possible to the current emergency department. The intervention of the Kardham Group consisted in creating, in a restricted land space, a new intensive care unit in connection with this unit. The anaesthetists working in the two departments will thus have the best possible care for their patients. A large "blind" platform has been freed up by the development of work phases. A vast patio was created in the heart of the building in order to create a functional, modern and luminous continuous monitoring service. An extension, of smooth geometry, completes the service to accommodate 15 cabins. The functional organization, the scalability essential to hospital projects, the contribution of natural light and a balanced insertion in the site guided the architectural proposals of the Kardham Group.

Dialogue and flexibility

The success of the project has also underlined the importance for the project management and the client to operate in a relationship of trust, communication and permanent flexibility, consolidated by the involvement and rigor of the assistant to the project management. This enabled the team to adapt to the many changes in the project from its conception in 2009 to its delivery. Thus, the number of operating theatres to be built, the number of neonatal rooms, the number of elevators, the type of connections to be created between the levels, or even the very layout of the building had to be reexamined during the course of the project in order to remain as close as possible to the needs without jeopardizing the project in terms of deadlines.

Finally, the management of the construction site in an occupied environment was another challenge. Here again, it required perfect dialogue between the project management, the client's technical team, the construction company and the medical team in the field to identify the various constraints of each, anticipate them and find solutions that would allow everyone to carry out their respective activities in the best possible conditions.

 

Project features :

  • Operating theatres: 9 operating theatres
  • Obstetrical units: 6 delivery rooms
  • Outpatient department
  • Hemodialysis: 29 stations
  • Neonatology: 12 mother-child rooms, 3 cabins.
  • Sterilization, On-call sector, Anesthesiologists
  • Intensive care unit and continuous care (25 beds)

Client: Centre Hospitalier Agen-Nérac
Project management : Icade and Béatrice Cambon
Partners : Atelier Sauvagé-Ducasse Harter architectes, BET Setec, BET Serige, David Sist (economist and coordination), Keyros (synthesis)
Scope of work : Complète, OPC, synthesis
Fees : €24.6 million
Delivery date : 2019 : 2019 : New building -2021: Restructuring and extension
BIM methodology
Work in occupied site, asbestos removal

©Kardham / photos A. Späni / Centre Hospitalier Agen-Nérac

 

©Kardham / photos A. Späni / Centre Hospitalier Agen-Nérac

 

Your contacts

Nathalie Neyret

Nathalie Neyret

Head of Marketing & Communication

+33 6 37 68 50 99

nneyret@kardham.com