Project Completion – BMT Starlight
Some projects look simple on paper—but demand real creativity and rigour behind the scenes. BMT Starlight has been one of those.
Working at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children (BRHC) after being appointed in late 2022, we have supported structural checks and targeted design updates to the Starlight Ward — the South West’s regional centre for paediatric oncology, haematology, and bone marrow / stem cell transplantation. This critical facility supports children from across the South West, Wales, Gloucestershire, Oxford, Cambridge, and Ireland.
While the visible outcome is “just” a steel deck supporting a new AHU, the true challenge lay in the logistics and location — positioned high on top of a live hospital. Delivering this required careful assessment and verification of the existing structure to ensure it could safely support the new plant, alongside navigating the constraints of a complex, operational healthcare environment.
Our involvement included:
- Detailed assessment of the existing structure to justify new loading
- Design of a new steel deck to support the AHU
- Assessment of new flues and roof edge protection
- Co-ordinating practical, buildable solutions in a live hospital setting
This has been a great example of multi-disciplinary collaboration—working closely with Stretto, QED, and Lancer Scott to make something complex look straight-forward, where the significant engineering effort has been intentionally hidden and to minimise disruption in an essential clinical environment.
Skeletal Consulting is proud to play a small part in strengthening healthcare infrastructure—and a reminder that the most ‘simple-looking’ solutions are often the ones that take the most engineering to get right.
