Project Overview
A regional ambulatory care centre serving approximately 900 patients per day engaged Sandha Woodworks to rebuild its main intake environment: a central registration desk, six satellite clinic reception counters, waiting area casework and a triage station. The facility could not reduce clinical capacity at any point during construction.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Client sector | Healthcare — ambulatory care |
| Daily patient volume | ≈ 900 |
| Scope | Central registration, 6 clinic receptions, triage station, waiting casework |
| Constraints | Live facility, ICRA protocols, no capacity reduction |
| Programme | 26 weeks, phased |
| Service interruption | None |
Objectives
- Replace worn intake millwork with surfaces that meet current infection prevention and control expectations.
- Provide compliant accessible service positions at every reception point.
- Maintain patient privacy at registration while improving sightlines for staff supervision.
- Complete all work under active infection control risk assessment protocols with no clinical disruption.
Scope of Work
The package covered a 7.8 m central registration desk with five staff positions, six satellite clinic counters of two to three positions each, a triage station with a wheelchair-accessible assessment surface, waiting area bench and storage casework, and enclosed housings for hand hygiene stations at each intake point.
Engineering Challenges
Infection control was the governing constraint. Under the facility's infection control risk assessment, dust-generating work was prohibited in occupied areas, work zones required negative-pressure containment, and every construction interface with a clinical space required daily verification. This effectively eliminated on-site cutting, sanding and finishing.
Accessibility requirements shaped the geometry. Each reception point required a service position with compliant approach, knee and toe clearance and counter height, positioned so that a patient using a wheelchair was served at the same location as everyone else rather than at a secondary side counter.
The third challenge was privacy versus supervision. Registration conversations involve personal health information, but staff also needed clear sightlines across the waiting area. Solid privacy screening solved one requirement and defeated the other.
Manufacturing Strategy
All work surfaces were manufactured in solid surface material with thermoformed integral coving at every vertical transition and no field seams in patient-contact zones. Where a joint was unavoidable on the 7.8 m registration desk, it was placed at a staff-side location, chemically bonded and sanded flush in the plant, then protected for transport — producing a continuous, non-porous, cleanable surface with no crevice for biological accumulation.
Carcases were built on moisture-resistant substrate with sealed edges throughout, including concealed faces. All units were wall-hung or mounted on sealed plinths with a continuous silicone bead at the floor, eliminating the open toe-space that complicates hospital floor cleaning.
Because on-site fabrication was prohibited, every unit was manufactured complete and installed as a fastened assembly. Each intake point was engineered as a single-shift installation: remove the existing counter, set the new assembly, connect services, seal, clean and return to service before the clinic opened.
The privacy problem was resolved with a stepped counter profile — a 1,050 mm transaction height at the patient face with a 760 mm accessible position, and a raised staff-side return that shields screens and documents while leaving standing sightlines across the waiting area unobstructed.
In a live clinical environment, the manufacturing strategy is dictated by what cannot be done on site.
Materials
| Element | Material specification |
|---|---|
| Work and transaction surfaces | 12 mm solid surface, non-porous, integral coved returns |
| Carcases | 19 mm moisture-resistant MDF, fully sealed edges |
| Exposed faces | High-pressure laminate with chemical-resistance rating for healthcare cleaners |
| Edges | 3 mm PVC, laser-applied zero joint |
| Hardware | Stainless steel, cleanable profile, 100,000-cycle rated hinges |
| Sealants | Mould-resistant medical-grade silicone at all substrate junctions |
Installation Strategy
The work was phased across eight discrete installation events, each isolated to a single intake point and executed within one overnight or low-volume window. Negative-pressure containment was erected and verified before each event, and the zone was cleaned and cleared by the facility's environmental services team before handback.
The central registration desk — the only element too large for a single window — was installed in three sections over three consecutive nights, with a temporary registration position operating from a relocated modular counter supplied for the duration.
All installation staff completed the facility's contractor infection control orientation. A single Sandha project manager coordinated directly with the clinic's operations lead and infection prevention and control practitioner throughout.
Timeline
| Phase | Duration |
|---|---|
| Award, site survey and ICRA planning | 3 weeks |
| Engineering and shop drawings | 4 weeks |
| Approval, including clinical and IPAC review | 3 weeks |
| Manufacturing | 10 weeks |
| Phased installation | 8 events across 5 weeks |
| Close-out and warranty documentation | 1 week |
Outcome
- No reduction in clinical capacity at any point during the 26-week programme.
- All eight installation events completed within their allocated windows.
- Zero infection control non-conformances recorded across the project.
- Accessible service positions provided at every intake point, integrated rather than segregated.
Lessons Learned
Involving the infection prevention and control practitioner during shop drawing review rather than at installation was the most valuable process decision. Three details were revised at the drawing stage — a hardware profile, a floor junction and a hand hygiene housing — that would each have been a non-conformance in the field.
The second lesson concerns sizing the work to the window. Once the team accepted that the installation window was fixed and non-negotiable, the engineering question became clear: what must be true about this assembly for it to be installed and returned to service in one shift? Every subsequent decision followed from that.
Third, providing a temporary registration counter for the central desk phase cost very little and removed the only genuine threat to continuous service. On live healthcare projects, planned temporary provision is almost always cheaper than the disruption it prevents.
