The relocation of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam is quite an operation, as the new campus will accommodate both the departments of the previous main location as well as a number of departments scattered throughout the city. All departments will now be housed in one sustainable and future-proof building.

‘During spring we embarked on the second phase of the project. The first phase of the project was executed successfully five years ago. The second phase of the project required a lengthy lead-time of intensive preparation as ’moving a hospital lock stock and barrel is no easy matter’, Koppenberg continues. ‘You are talking a mind-boggling amount of facility-specific equipment such as furniture and stocks, medical equipment, ICT equipment, research and laboratory equipment, medical archives, medicines and last but not least… the patients.’

WITH THE FULL ENSEMBLE INTHE REMOVAL TRUCK!
A hospital cannot simply close its doors for a day or two. Removal or not, doctors and nurses must be able to go about their daily business. Therefore, in any hospital relocation project there comes a time when also the patients have to be moved from one building to the next. An eventful experience, you could say, especially for the patients themselves as they get wheeled into the acclimatized removal trucks, some even whilst being hooked up to medical devices. In planning these situations, a trial run with patients is conducted, which in Rotterdam went off without a hitch. However, the stopping and starting of the removal truck in the busy Rotterdam traffic did cause some travelsickness among trial-run patients, but this issue was resolved during the actual move as the police gave clear passage through the city and all traffic lights were set to green to.

Not only patient transport requires special care but also the transport of medical and laboratory equipment calls for specific knowledge and expertise. As Mark Koppenberg explains; ‘the greatest possible precautions must be taken as this type of equipment is highly delicate and even the slightest disruption can impact the functionality and safety.’

TEMPORARY LOGISTICS CENTRE
Convoi also assists hospitals in the preparation phase by fitting and putting any new equipment in place, from furniture to new medical equipment. From a temporary logistics centre we manage anything that arrives at the hospital and needs to be put in place. In doing so, we ensure that everything is coordinated properly and that the processes are streamlined. This allows Convoi to dramatically reduce the timespan between the completion of the building and the move.

SPURS EARNED
Previous contracts like the relocation of the Maasstad Hospital – also in Rotterdam -, the Martini Hospital in Groningen and the Isala Hospital in Zwolle, all in the Netherlands, have allowed Convoi to gain extensive expertise in the particular field of hospital relocations. “Over the years Convoi has built an excellent reputation in this particular sector, as highlighted through various successful previous projects. These positive outcomes have created a trust within the sector of Convoi’s unique capabilities, and has resulted in Convoi being the executor of the 2018 removal projects at the Princess Maxima centre in Utrecht and the Ommelander hospital in Groningen.” Koppenberg says.

In Utrecht, Convoi will be ensuring the move and set-up of the Princess Maxima Center for Paediatric Oncology at a new location on the Utrecht campus, and in Groningen, we will be integrating two hospitals into one new location outside of the city.

EXPANSION INTO EUROPEAN MARKETS
Towards the end of 2018 Convoi will take its extensive expertise gained in the Dutch market into Belgium through the removal of the General Hospital Sint-Maarten in Mechelen, which will be moving from three separate locations to one large new building.

‘Over the years, we have acquired considerable expertise in this sector and that expertise is something we can export. The Belgium contract is a first step into other European markets, and I am sure that – with our know-how – we stand an excellent chance on the European market’, Mark Koppenberg adds