Hospital Nova: A Showcase for State-of-the-Art Hospital Technology

The basis of the project was to design a hospital for which patients’ needs and health care activities were the key elements leading the design-phase. The aim was to innovate both structural and logistical solutions to improve the efficiency of health care and to integrate basic health care, special health care and social services.

Ramboll was commissioned to act as construction consultant on the € 500 million-project. This included, among other things, project management and site supervision tasks for more than half a decade. The size of the project required a strong multidisciplinary collaboration between the client, Central Finland Health Care District, and the project management contractor, SRV. For this reason, information management was one of the most demanding tasks of the project.

• At the height of the project, there were 750 people from almost 400 companies at the work site. One of our successes with supervision and safety coordination is that there was not a single serious accident at the work site, Hannu Pellinen, Project Director at Ramboll, says.

State-of-the-Art Hospital Technology

Hospital Nova marks a project representing innovative architecture and the state-of-the-art within hospital technology. The hospital features an enormous amount of technology, both seen and unseen. To utilise the space most efficiently, this building technology has been thoroughly integrated in the building. The hospital, moreover, is divided into four distinct sections by function: a hospital for acute care services, office premises, support functions and a hotel. This makes Hospital Nova an architecturally interesting building that also considers ecological requirements.

The estimated life span of the hospital is one hundred years.

Moisture and Cleanliness Management in Focus

Hospital Nova is built with extremely high standards of moisture and cleanliness management. Designed and constructed to meet the Healthy Building criteria, the hospital ensures a clean and safe environment for all people using the hospital.

• Moisture and cleanliness control were the client’s most important goals for which there were no cutting corners even under scheduling and cost pressures. We put in an exceptionally great amount of consideration into good building and indoor air conditions, Esa Ikäheimonen, Project Director at Ramboll, says.

The moisture management was monitored and documented in more depth than required by the construction regulations, enhancing the hospital’s focus on this specific area of hospital buildings.

The Project in Numbers:

• 215 examination rooms.
• 10 delivery rooms.
• 32 intensive care unit spaces.
• The cost estimate of the project is approximately € 500 million. This includes construction, medical devices and ICT (information and communication technology) systems.