A new, flat-pack style ward for seriously-ill coronavirus patients is under construction for Tameside Hospital during the pandemic, the Manchester Evening News can reveal.
And incredibly, manufacturers have worked round the clock to deliver the project in just a matter of weeks.
The intensive care unit ward will have capacity for 10 beds.
A steel frame is expected to be hoisted into place on a huge crane a week on Sunday.
Health trust bosses said the project was part of its plans to increase the hospital's critical care capacity during the pandemic.
Wakefield-based Thurston Group, which manufactures modular and portable buildings, was given a brief by Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust on March 18.
Previously, the firm has built three specialist wards for Wythenshawe Hospital, which formed a two-storey facility catering for 105 beds.
The Tameside Hospital project is just one of many examples of private sector support for, and contracts with, the NHS during the pandemic.
The ward will include a nurses' station, staff room and a shower and toilet, as well as the 10 bed bays.
The project is being managed at the firm's production facility in Horbury, West Yorkshire. Construction work started on March 30.
They said that usually, a project like it would take around 20 weeks.
Flattened steel has been used to create seven box units, each one around 10 metres long and three metres wide.
They will be hoisted onto a low-loader and driven to the hospital, where a 200-tonne crane will lift the units into position so they can be joined together like a giant jigsaw.
Ground workers at the site, believed to be part of a car park, have already dug out foundation pads.
The company said anything that could be assembled within the boxes off-site, like toilets and showers, has already been done and will be inside the boxes on delivery.
Pipework and electrics will be fitted on-site before the hospital's own facilities management team work to install medical equipment like gas and air and ventilators.
A deep clean will follow.
Paul Featherstone, director of estates and facilities at the trust, confirmed the installation on April 26 and thanked the company for getting the unit installed and up and running as quickly as possible.
It's expected to see its first patients shortly after that date.
Karen James, the trust's chief executive, thanked all staff working within the trust.
She said: "This unit is part of our escalation plan dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have looked at ways to rapidly increase our critical care capacity and this new temporary unit is part of this plan.
"Another aspect of this plan is redeploying our frontline staff and I would like to pay tribute to the staff at the trust.
"They have just stepped up and got on with it, whatever is asked of them.
"They are delivering the best care possible in unprecedented circumstances. Thank you."
Matthew Goff, managing director at Thurston Group, said the five-week time frame was 'unprecedented'.
He said: "The whole of the Thurston team has really understood the value of speed, when having to mobilise at very short notice to manufacture and deliver this emergency ICU ward within an unprecedented five-week time frame to support the UK’s fight against Covid 19.
"Everyone at Thurston Group wants to thank the people of the NHS, who are doing so much for our people and country right now.
"They are the true frontline heroes, with our teams doing their best to support them. We are thankful we are able to do just that.
"There is no better motivation than supporting the NHS through this pandemic."
On Easter Monday, the trust revealed more than 100 coronavirus patients have been discharged.
