GOING to the bathroom in hospital is one thing - it's quite another when York-based Shepherd Construction ensures that the bathrooms go to the hospital.

The firm has been lifting 70 innovative bathroom pods into place at the new £40 million Leeds Nuffield Hospital city centre project. Each bathroom pod weighs about 3,000 kilograms.

The steel-framed concrete-walled units are fully fitted out, including tiling, flooring, shower and all plumbing fittings, vanity unit, electrical fittings and even a shower curtain.

Over the next five weeks the pods are being connected to a service duct at the rear of the building so that Shepherd, whose share of the contract is worth £21 million, needs waste no time employing different trades to finish. It is a case of fit and go.

It also means a greater uniformity of product and high standards because the factory production of whole units through suppliers, Sterchele, can be more easily controlled.

Early installation of the pods was essential otherwise the structure frame and the building envelope would have made it impossible to lift them into position.