URBANIZAM I ARHITEKTURA

PREPARATION OF TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION OF ZEMUN HOSPITAL COMPLETED IN A SHORT TIME

In the beginning of October, JSC Energoprojekt Urbanizam i arhitektura signed a contract with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for preparation of technical documentation for the reconstruction (reconstruction, adaptation, restoration and revitalization) and expansion of the parts of the existing buildings of Clinical Hospital Centre Zemun, including reconstruction and change of use of the Monastery of the Sisters of Mercy of Saint Vincent de Paul in Zemun within the complex. The contract includes the preparation of a cadastral and topographic plan and measurement of the current condition within the building, as well as the preparation of Schematic Design with specification of medical equipment and assessment of the investment value. he contracted services were completed in the contracted, short term.

It is known that reconstructions constitute a challenge in its own right for every architect, especially reconstructions of public buildings of historical and national significance, such as the hospital of Zemun, built way back in 1874, in the old core of Zemun, at the border with Zemun City Park. Zemun Hospital and belonging building of the Monastery of the Sisters of Mercy of Saint Vincent de Paul have a shared fate and history. Namely, at the end of 19th century, then Zemun City Hospital was entrusted to a female religious order, the members of which, having arrived in Zemun in 1887, found there a small hospital with 40 beds and started taking care of the patients. The House of Sisters of Mercy in Vrtlarska Street was in reality their monastery, with the entrance towards the Zemun Park and the yard oriented towards the hospital. Current building of the monastery has semi-basement+ground floor+2 floors+attic, built-up area is approx. 580m2, total gross area is approx. 2,900m2. Monastery building was abandoned a year ago, when the last nun left Belgrade.

Zemun Hospital under the name of “Public General Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy in Zemun“ continued with operation during the World War II, under the administration of the Sisters of Mercy, and turned into a primarily military institution, where the wounded and diseased soldiers from the Syrmian Front were treated. In 1945, it became a Public General Hospital – Zemun, then City Hospital and Hospital Clinic, and finally, Zemun Medical Centre since 1983.

The client’s intention is to improve providing medical services and care in Zemun Medical Centre through planned reconstruction and expansion, by setting new standards and higher quality of diagnostics and treatment, as well as enabling further education and improvement of staff in medical and scientific research work. Zemun Medical Centre operates in several buildings – old central building with semi-basement+ground floor+3 floors+attic and a newer building with number of floors semi-basement+ground floor+4 floors+attic, are connected with prefabricated steel staircase, on the northern side of the building. Pediatrics, oncology and neurology are situated in separate buildings in the immediate vicinity, without a passage to the central building.

Apart from the particular conservation requirements, conditions and procedures, it is necessary that the reconstruction design be prepared in line with the Rules on the particular conditions for performing medical activities and other forms of healthcare, (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, Nos. 43/2006, 112/2009, 50/2010, 79/2011, 10/2012 – other rules, 119/2012 – other rules, 22/2013 and 16/2018), prescribing particular conditions in terms of staff, equipment, space and medications, which are to meet the requirements of healthcare institution for establishment and performance of healthcare activities. The final number of rooms, as well as their spatial organization with exact areas, will be defined through development of Concept Design, due to specificity of the reconstruction of the existing buildings.

Concept Design provides for the demolition of the existing masonry fence between the yard of the central building of Zemun Medical Centre and Monastery and connection of the yards, as well as the demolition of the garages adjacent to the monastery building. The Design is to contain a new concept of the entire landscaping of the central building of Zemun Medical Centre and the monastery, namely: combining two yards (in terms of functionality and levelling), the entire reconstruction and design of storm sewer around all buildings of Zemun Medical Centre, for the purpose of preventing water return from the public system during heavy rainfalls, entry/exit of community and ambulance vehicles, vehicular traffic and parking, emergency room access, circulation of employees, patients and visitors, access control, positions of garbage, communal and medical waste, their storage and removal, transport of food from the kitchen into the departments located in adjacent buildings. Garages currently positioned adjacent to the monastery building are to be demolished and landscape design is to ensure and organize controlled pedestrian access from Zemun Park.

An elevated walkway is provided between the main building of Zemun Medical Centre and the building of the Monastery of the Sisters of Mercy of Saint Vincent, on the second floor level in the central building of Zemun Medical Centre which currently houses the dialysis department and daycare hospital, and on the first floor level of the Monastery, which would ensure direct connection between the two buildings that would complement one another with facilities. The reconstruction, renovation and fit-out will change the position of the existing kitchen in the main building.

Total gross area of the buildings which are to be reconstructed is approx. 7,130m2 with landscaping of the terrain with an area of approx. 10,000m2.

Completion period of this demanding and complex project is 75 days from the date of contract signing, i.e. by 20.12.2022. inclusive.

Project Manager, Jelena Andjelkovic, M.Sc (Arch.), saw this project as one of the biggest professional challenges. The complexity of the entire project is manifested in the synthesis of several design requirements – reconstruction and upgrade of the existing buildings, change of use and adaptation of buildings of historical and public significance, on the one side, whereas, on the other side, there are modern requirements of healthcare building design, fire safety, energy efficiency, as well as the use of new materials and modern concept of fit out and medical equipment. Such complex requirements called for design development in close cooperation with professional teams of Zemun Medical Centre.