A North West architecture, design and masterplanning practice has worked at speed to create community vaccination centres across the region, enabling tens of thousands to get their jabs.
Preston-based Frank Whittle Partnership's team of designers has rolled out seven mass vaccination and community vaccination centres across Lancashire and South Cumbria.
The first was at Blackburn Cathedral, which is now up and running, with plans to vaccinate around 2,000 people a day.
David Simmons, associate partner and interior designer, said: “We have worked very quickly to respond to the call to create these mass vaccination centres, which will play a massively important role in ending the pandemic in the UK.
“It has been a major challenge, but we have planned these centres in a matter of weeks, which is testament to the professionalism of the team we have here at FWP who have all risen to the task.
“To provide these vaccination facilities, we have had to identify and then evaluate suitable locations to ensure they meet all the NHS and key partner organisation requirements and have the facilities that are needed at hand."
The practice said the facilities had been designed and constructed from scratch "in a matter of weeks".
As well as designing the facilities, FWP has worked closely with the NHS Teams across Lancashire and South Cumbria and Lancashire and Cumbria Local Resilience Forum to review locations and buildings and oversee all the work on site.
The sites are part of the National Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Mr Simmons added: “We have also had to ensure our designs follow national plans, are adapted to suit the particular sites and are set out so they can cope with the large numbers of people that will be vaccinated daily.
“We’ve carried out surveys on the sites and our designers have then had to space plan the building, working with the clinical teams, the contractors and the police and military planners, who are all involved in getting the vaccination programme up and running.
“Public safety has also been paramount in all our work on the project.”
FWP, which has offices in Preston, Manchester and London, has previous experience in the healthcare sector - including a track record of delivering NHS projects in the North West over the last 25 years.
