Converting commercial property to medical facilities

CPTM

Just wondering if anyone had heard of this idea being discussed.

There are a lot of large commercial properties coming on to the market recently. I see Citibank is the latest for 120 million. Could the government not scoop these up and fit them out to be medical facilities to deal with covid, taking pressure off the general hospitals? Or in fact just turn them into general hospitals instead of building them from scratch for more than a billion euro?

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/citi-seeks-120m-for-dublin-docklands-hq-1.4833221

Cookie_Monster

like the top floor of Dun Laoghaire shopping centre where that has happened? But its just another commercial business renting the space

L1011

The cost of fitout is why hospitals cost so much to build, not the concrete / steel frame which is all you'd reuse from an office building.

You'd build a hell of a lot more new on a more suitable site for 120m

Nothing of the office fitout would be usable. Even the lifts are too small and would need a new lift core which is very expensive

There's plenty of recently disused wards, mental hospitals etc that could be used for emergency overflow quicker than converting an office block - but there's no staff to do it with.

Peregrinus

Hospitals have all kinds of non-standard building requirements - everything from the size of doorways, width of corridors and dimensions of lifts (and therefore lift-shafts) that have to accommodate beds being wheeled around with equipment attached and patients in them, to radiation shielding built into the walls, floor and ceiling surrounding the diagnostic imaging facilities. Building hospitals from scratch is a nightmare; upgrading an existing building probably even more so. The easiest and cheapest thing, if you acquire such a building, might be to demolish it and start from scratch on the site.

It might be easier to fit out a commercial building as a medical facility providing less than hospital care - e.g. a convalescent facility, so freeing up acute beds in a hospital. But of course having the premises is only part of it; you also need the medical and nursing staff. If you redeploy those from already overstretched hospitals, you are not necessarily improving the ability of the hospital to treat patients in need of acute care.

Victor

You would also like the building to be attached to or very close to an existing hospital, so that things like blood testing, x-ray, pharmacy, etc. are shared. You would also like to have as full a range of doctor and technical staff types available.

CPTM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859636#Comment_118859636

Makes sense, and the other points made by other posters make sense as well. I just wonder, for something as specific as Covid (or say the winter flu when that season comes around), whether all those building regs for hospitals are still relevant. For patients who are basically going through anti-viral treatment and are just lying in beds on ventilators, would a dedicated building be a better option, to at least take some pressure off the general hospitals, and protect the general hospitals from the virus as well.

But I'm not even close to the industry, so I probably have a romantic idea of how this could work. Perhaps, for example, a lot of people who end up in hospital with covid are those people with underlying illnesses such as heart problems, lung problems, auto-immune issues, along with a range of other issues. So the vast majority of those hospitalised with covid actually do need to have the full hospital kit around them.

Victor

Some COVID patients will need access to ICU, while another proportion will need access to all the other medical supports.

riclad

I think the main problem they have is lack of staff, not enough nurses , doctors, its probably cheaper to build a new hospital than to buy an old office building , hospitals need a large site with parking space close to main roads , I think the government owns plenty of land , look at how long it takes to build a children's hospital, planning rules are complex and slow

Hopefully in a year's time covid will be a minor issue, due to herd immunity, eg we have 90 per cent plus vax rate in the general population

They are talking about putting up tents portacabins just to house 1000s of people from Ukraine as building any new building takes 12 months at least

Peregrinus

The Chinese government, famously, did built emergency hospitals at the start of the pandemic, in a very short time. FWIW they used greenfield sites, rather than repurposing existing buildings.

But they weren't really hospitals as we would know them; they were more like quarantine stations. They were basically long rows of connected demountable buildings with lines of beds in them. People with Covid were isolated there (compulsorily) and their condition monitored, but they were offered only basic treatment. Most of them were not very sick, and didn't need more than basic treatment. If they became very sick, they had to be transferred to properly equipped and staffed hospitals.

These hospitals, in short, catered to patients who we wouldn't hospitalise at all, so we don't have a need for similar facilities.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058239638/converting-commercial-property-to-medical-facilities

The buildings are not the problem, staffing them is! There is a shortage all over Europe at the moment.

FFVII

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859636#Comment_118859636

Go look at new extension to sligo hospital, see does your building requirements stack up...go early.

OP, dont be coming on here with ideas....this is treasure Island!!!

The waste is staggering....EVERYWHERE....no one gives a fuk about anything....ministers asleep in the dail....they wake them up to vote on stuff....they don't even know what they vote on, no one gives a sh1t. I actually wrote to one of them, called him out on bullsh1te, they don't even reply. How can they.

You jokers reading this are the problem.

Look at sri lanka this week...no buses, electricity gone, we are never more than 2 weeks from that...we could be near energy independent..... oooooooh why bother.

Strumms

I’d imagine it would be difficult, lifts as have been mentioned…

all carpet / tiles would have to come up, new non slip sheet flooring…

Multiple power outlets at each bed both for patient and medical equipment. Hundreds of …Beds, curtains, rails,

speaking of power the whole building would have to be hooked up to a standby generator in case of power outages… these generators cost upwards of 20-60 grand depending on wattage that’s before installation which might be not far off that again.

kitchens and restaurants- for staff / patients, cooking and food storage appliances, restaurants, etc….

gym… hospital / commercial grade stuff is mega dear as would be fit out…gyms are being used for inpatient covid rehab before discharge…I paid over a grand a couple of weeks ago for a good home treadmill… commercial grade / medical grade 10,000-15,00 grand

You’d need an operating theatre for emergencies at a guess which needs a **** load of resources like HEPA grade commercial air filters… lighting too…

loads of other equipment and facilities like hoists, storage facilities, waste disposal etc… morgue…

it would take months to repurpose a commercial building, mega bucks too.