Zealand University Hospital Køge, Denmark

Bringing the past into the future

About

Challenge

Denmark faces a growth in elderly citizens, and a forecast shows that the number of 80+-year-olds will double between 2020 and 2030. Zealand is one of the regions with the steepest increase. There is an urgent need to address this issue by securing improved healthcare services to meet the increasing demand.

Solution

Increasing the size of the existing hospital in Køge from approximately 55,000 m² to 185,000 m² and transforming the 1980s site into the cutting-edge facility Zealand University Hospital Køge with its 827 modern beds. The hospital will be flexible, future-proof and highly technological.

Value

Zealand University Hospital Køge will give the 838,000 citizens of Region Zealand – many of whom are elderly – access to better health facilities. By tripling the size of the hospital, it will be possible to attend to more patients and offer them better facilities and specialised treatment for serious diseases. Today, many of those patients travel to the Capital Region for treatment.

Specifications

Location

Køge, Capital Region

Period

2012–2027

Country

Denmark

Partners

Region Zealand (Danish Regional Public Health Authorities)

Services

Client advisory services; contract management; risk management and OHS management; technical client supervision services; commissioning; and ICT management (including BIM/ICT input for tender material for design and contractual services; requirements for design models; LOD for building models; input to the ICT specification; consistency and collision control; facilitation of ICT meetings; use of digital tools as part of project management; data-driven progress registration; and performance testing.

A patient-centric vision

Region Zealand in Denmark will now ensure its 838,000 citizens have access to a cutting-edge facility that will improve the healthcare offer substantially. Zealand University Hospital Køge is destined to become the main medical facility for the Region of Zealand.

With 130,000 m² of new construction and 55,000 m² of existing buildings undergoing different degrees of renovation, the new hospital spaces prioritise patient comfort, safety and well-being. Zealand University Hospital Køge aims to not just treat patients, but to enhance their overall experience during their time in the healthcare facility. The facility will offer more specialised treatment, and it will improve cooperation with other hospitals. The increased capacity also means that more patients can be treated within the region instead of going to other parts of the country.

The patients will be staying in a flexible and highly technological hospital which caters more to individual needs. The healthcare professionals at the hospital will count on robotic installations to assist them with logistics and heavy lifting, which will improve their working conditions and enable increased focus on the patients.

“Building the University Hospital in Køge to accommodate the healthcare of the future is a high priority for us and the citizens of Region Zealand. Our focus points are flexibility, automation and new ways of collaborating with patients and relatives. Because it is important for us to design the new facilities in a way that rethinks the way we deliver healthcare.”

Helle Gaub, Man. Project Director and Dept. Man. Director, Zealand University Hospital

Advanced digital services make projects run smoother

The complexity of the project called for very close management and alignment, and COWI ensured that all information and communication technology was aligned across the project.

“Coordination is key in a project of this magnitude, so we have set up and managed all of the project’s digital platforms, which have been used for file sharing, oversight and issue review, claim management, technical clarifications, supervision, digital handover and requirement management,” says Peter Bjersing, Project Manager at COWI.

On behalf of Region Zealand, COWI has also managed the dialogue with the turnkey contractors regarding the digital collaboration.

“We assisted Region Zealand in ICT meetings with the contractors, and we prepared ICT agreements for the project's turnkey contracts. The agreements have ensured consistent use of digital platforms and design across the contracts, which makes everything run smoothly,” says Peter Bjersing, Project Manager at COWI.

Furthermore, these agreements also ensured the use of BIM models for subsequent operations.

“People everywhere deserve the best possible healthcare, so for COWI it is a privilege to put our expertise and capacity within large-scale health, pharma and life science projects at the service of the Region Zealand and the public. Thanks to our specialised skillset, and with our strong focus on sustainability and digitalisation, we have helped Region Zealand secure quality across this project.”

Jasper Kyndi, Executive Business Development Director, COWI

Central Sterile Services at Zealand University Hospital Køge.

Advanced digital services make projects run smoother

The complexity of the project called for very close management and alignment, and COWI ensured that all information and communication technology was aligned across the project.

On behalf of Region Zealand, COWI has also managed the dialogue with the turnkey contractors regarding the digital collaboration.

Furthermore, these agreements also ensured the use of BIM models for subsequent operations.

Central Sterile Services at Zealand University Hospital Køge.

Monitoring design work

In connection with the design work, COWI has continuously monitored the design of the main contractors through automated testing of model quality and collision control. We have also inspected the project’s approximately 100 BIM models. COWI's office in Chennai, India, has performed these tasks in close collaboration with COWI's ICT management.

“We have made all the information from the inspections and monitoring easily accessible through an online Power BI dashboard. This tool provides our client with insight into the design work. It is also used as a dialogue tool with the contractors in relation to the design, and it makes it possible to find any design errors early in the process before they become costly construction mistakes,” says Peter Bjersing, Project Manager at COWI.

For Region Zealand, requirements management has been a particular focus, and therefore COWI has assisted in both setting up and managing the platform Modern Requirements to handle changes to the construction programme’s basic requirements, as well as setting up and managing the equipment and room database dRofus. In this context, COWI has also facilitated the requirements management process.

Zealand University Hospital Køge.

“Building hospitals is a highly complex endeavour. Thanks to COWI's ample experience with large hospital projects across Scandinavia, we are in a unique position to offer our life science and pharma customers excellence in project execution, sustainable solutions and state-of-the-art digitalisation.”

Jasper Kyndi , Executive Business Development Director, COWI

Preparing healthcare professionals with BIM videos and interactive 3D VR models

To prepare the hospital's staff for the use of the new super hospital, COWI has assisted the client's organisation, ’New Zealand University Hospital’ (Nyt SUH), in producing informational videos based on the BIM models used in the project.

The videos showcase a floor with patient rooms to give a clear impression of the future real-life conditions in the hospital. Likewise, interactive 3D virtual reality (VR) models of the project and immersive 360° VR images have been created to give the healthcare professionals a clear impression of their future work facilities at the new hospital before it is finished, securing a smooth transition.