The first 140 healthcare beds in the external hospital at Stockholmsmässan have been completed and are ready to be inspected and put to use at 11:00 on Wednesday. Last week, 200 employees from Stockholmsmässan began building together with Region Stockholm and Locum. Today Stockholmsmässan is gearing up with an additional 50 people to ensure that an additional 600 beds will be ready for Easter. The work is being conducted in a close cooperation between Region Stockholm, Locum, the Swedish Armed Forces and Stockholmsmässan, which is building the actual facility.
“We want to support society in every possible way and be able to temporarily adjust. We have the expertise and the strength to build this in parts of Stockholmsmässan’s facility and the work is now moving ahead incredibly fast,” says Christian Clemens, CEO at Stockholmsmässan.
The work to build the external hospital in parts of the Stockholmsmässan exhibition facility is taking place in close cooperation with Region Stockholm, Locum and Stockholmsmässan – a task that requires hundreds of participants from different areas of expertise. From the Stockholmsmässan alone, 200 people have been working intensely to prepare the field hospital, and on Monday an additional 50 people were on the site. The majority of these people are from Stockholmsmässan, but they also include our contractors and suppliers who have stepped in to support this intensive work.
“Stockholmsmässan’s work in this complex project includes all those professions and contractors who normally supply our regular events. It is fantastic to experience such participation and the engagement that both employees and partners are showing in this tough situation,” says Rikard Skärebo, production manager at Stockholmsmässan and coordinator for the field hospital.
Together with Stockholmsmässan’s contractors, everything is being supplied for electricity, plumbing, water, construction and painting, information materials and signs, waste management as well as the distribution of consumables. Stockholmsmässan is also providing physical security on the site. The strategy for the construction of the external hospital emerged in frequent meetings between the three partners, Stockholmsmässan, Region Stockholm – and Locum, whose expertise in this area has been crucial. Locum is responsible for deliveries of oxygen, that is, medical gas.
“We also have suppliers who helped us to sweep the market for specific products that we needed and have now received thanks to several of our suppliers’ customers who have allowed our orders to move ahead in the production queue. To provide some understanding of the scope of this project, the hospital today has seven thousand electrical outlets, 50 kilometres of cable and more than six kilometres of exhibition passageways. This really is a joint effort that many people can be proud of,” says Skärebo.
“At Stockholmsmässan we are currently working with a focus to carry out all of our autumn events, while following the authorities’ recommendations and the government’s decision to limit public gatherings. It is very important for society as a whole that those companies which can continue to engage in business do so, while adapting to the prevailing circumstances,” Clemens concludes.
Release: Stockholmsmässan