Pharmacy and Waste Management Facilities, City Hospital

Speller Metcalfe delivered two concurrent projects for Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust through the CWM Framework, refurbishing the hospital’s main pharmacy and modernising the Estates and Waste Management facilities. Delivered by the same project team and completed in 2025, the schemes enhanced critical back-of-house services that support the day-to-day operation of the hospital.

The £2.7 million pharmacy refurbishment transformed a former ward into a modern dispensing facility, including facilitating the installation of a state-of-the-art automated dispensing robot within a highly secure environment. The project involved a complete strip-out and refurbishment, incorporating reinforced internal construction, security-rated windows, advanced access control systems and specialist finishes. Located beneath a 24-hour ophthalmology department, the works required careful planning to minimise disruption while maintaining safe access for patients, staff and hospital operations.

Alongside this, Speller Metcalfe delivered a £1.9 million refurbishment of the Trust’s Estates and Waste Management facilities. The project remodelled occupied office accommodation, introduced a new mezzanine plant level and created a purpose-built pharmaceutical waste compound, providing a central facility to manage waste from hospitals across the Trust. Temporary accommodation enabled Estates teams to remain operational throughout the programme while refurbishment works progressed, but created logistical challenges that the team worked collaboratively with the Trust on, due to its location away from site.

Designed by Pinnegar Hayward Design, both projects demonstrate Speller Metcalfe’s expertise in delivering complex refurbishments within live healthcare environments, where careful logistics, stakeholder collaboration and maintaining operational continuity are essential to successful delivery.