Commercial lighting manufacturer Whitecroft Lighting has scooped the Added Value & Contribution gong at the ProCure22 Framework Awards, in recognition for its work on the emergency Covid Nightingale Centres.
The award recognises Whitecroft’s contribution to the NHS ProCure 22 (P22) framework, in particular the speed and cost at which it supplied critical specialist healthcare lighting as part of the NHS’s rapid response to Covid.
Whitecroft supplied lighting to eight of the ten centres; Harrogate Convention Centre, Glasgow Conference Centre, Manchester Central Convention Complex, Cardiff Principality Stadium, Royal London Hospital, Christie’s Hospital, Royal Preston Hospital and Alderley Park Conference Centre.
Whitecroft not only met the exceptionally short deadlines dictated by the potential rapid spread and impact of the virus, but did so within the Framework’s usual capital and operational budgets.
The Nightingale Centres were emergency large-scale healthcare facilities constructed inside existing buildings, such as Manchester Central and the Excel Conference Centre in London, as well as emergency wards set up in existing hospitals.
Converted in just a matter of days and weeks at the height of the first wave of the pandemic, the Nightingale Centres were designed to treat Covid patients, and support mainstream NHS Hospitals with the hope of isolating the spread of the virus.
A number of the venues selected to be Nightingale Centre’s were large, cavernous spaces never intended for clinical use, which created a new set of challenges for Whitecroft. But as a UK manufacturer, Whitecroft holds lighting inventory in stock, and was able to quickly review what was available, and draw on its long experience of lighting healthcare to select and adapt products accordingly.
Three lighting solutions that incorporated wall fixed up-lighting, as opposed to the usual hospital ceiling down-lighting, were adapted, giving the NHS and its contractors some flexibility for each Nightingale environment.
Some of these adaptations included customising lighting brackets and bodies to aid access for disinfecting for infection control, and LED’s with a high Ra number for truer colour, which assists in the diagnosis and assessment of patients as it presents a truer more natural skin tone.
In total 5,000 bespoke bedhead luminaires were designed, approved, released into volume manufacture and installed on site, within just five days of the initial enquiry.
“Industry recognition is always appreciated, but to win an award specifically for the speed and cost efficiency of our work The Nightingale Centres is particularly satisfying,” said Karen Bramman, healthcare director at Whitecroft Lighting. “The unique set of circumstances and deadlines were in many ways the ultimate test, and on reflection it’s clear that Whitecroft’s specialist knowledge and experience in the healthcare sector enabled us to react so effectively at the time.
“Crucially, Whitecroft is a UK lighting manufacturer with an in-house design team, so we could quickly respond to the unique design challenges presented by each of the Nightingale spaces. Our years’ of experience in healthcare meant our team instinctively knew which lighting levels and control systems were suitable for each environment, reviewed our available stock, and quickly selected or adapted products to fit the need.
“But none of the above would have been possible without the tenacity, resilience and ability of all the people involved, so thank you to everyone, you should all feel very proud of this award.”
Sarah Ricketts, senior quantity surveyor at BAM Construction and chair of the P22 Framework working group, added: “We continue to be amazed by the dedication our recommended suppliers offer the framework, especially through these extraordinary times. They consistently step up to all the challenges bought on by the pandemic and remain proactive and enthusiastic delivering a superb service.”
