It is assumed that a new building will be located south of the existing buildings on the property of SAk and connected to the existing housing with the connecting building.

A collaboration between SAk and NLSH (Nýr Landspítali) is ongoing with the design competition for the new building.

“There have been a number of workshops and meetings with professionals within SAk's wards recently to review the needs analysis and the vision for the future. Building hospital buildings is complicated, especially when you are trying to see years and decades ahead along with developments in society, technical needs and services, but the collaboration with NLSH has been very successful. There is a lot of knowledge and experience alongside the construction at Hringbraut and other projects that we now benefit from,” says Gunnar Líndal Sigurðsson, project manager for SAk in relation to new construction.

Waiting for design suggestions

Five design groups were chosen in the preliminary round. The tender documents have been submitted to them and the closed call for competitions has begun. The results of the competition are expected to be available by the end of May this year.

“We are just waiting for the design proposals for the premises and the new building and the connection between the two. A jury will then review the proposals and a decision is expected by the end of May. After that, user-supported design will start with the design team that will work on the design competition and on the contract documents for soil projects and the construction of new buildings,” Gunnar says.

It is assumed that the internal medicine ward and surgical ward will be moved to a new building, along with SAk’s entire psychiatric services, i.e. ambulatory-, day- and inpatient wards. It is assumed that all the inpatient spaces will be individual rooms with toilets. There will also be provision for isolated rooms and that the space can be compartmentalised if it is necessary to deal with epidemics such as COVID-19.

“The psychiatric service is different from traditional hospital service in that there is a higher space requirement for each patient and we are very focused on following the developments in the design of psychiatric wards in the Nordic countries in recent years regarding the healing environment and connection to nature. The internal and external environment and its connection to the operation is extremely important and there is a great potential at the site of SAk, which is located in a beautiful open landscape here on the edge of the hill,” Gunnar says.

Long overdue

Soil projects are scheduled to begin as early as next year and if they are successful, a new building will be built and ready to use by the end of 2028.

“There are good times ahead for us at SAk in connection with this new building, which gives us a long-overdue opportunity to strengthen and improve services for people in the area. It is in everyone’s interest that we can provide the most effective service in our local area, as stated by the government’s health policy. The new building will free up space in older buildings, which gives us the opportunity to increase other services such as day and inpatient services, which have been growing rapidly. A lot of other projects need to be done alongside this project to meet the expansion and increase in the number of beds that will be provided with the new building, including expansion and renovation of operating rooms,” says Hildigunnur Svavarsdóttir, CEO of SAk.