Okay, okay – at this time of the year we can be heard making this common statement – “This year has flown past so quickly”. And honestly – that is exactly what comes to mind right now as I sit down with this post. At the start of 2014, Design Monarchy put their hand up to become involved with a World Design Capital 2014 project. The project involves the makeover or upgrade of the Acute Care Surgery Ward in Cape Town’s iconic state-run Groote Schuur Hospital. You can read more about this project, #WDC323, by reading our previous posts on the matter: here & here.
We did suspect back then that this project was going to be a biggie. There have been times when huge strides were made in this ward upgrade, times when I felt it was standing still and other times when it just moved at its own pace. As frustrating as that may be, I guess that is just the nature of this beast we are working with. Nevertheless, we go with the flow and keep making our plans for completion. That has been ear-marked for February 2015.
This week saw another two more amazingly generous sponsors install the first phase of their product. I have had the absolute pleasure of working with Efraim De Leeuw of Albert Carpets in Cape Town, and he brought Percy Lotter of FloorworX along with him. Together these two companies are responsible for providing one of the major elements (cost wise as well) for this ward upgrade… new bumper rails. FloorworX provided the product and Albert Carpets the labour expertise for the installation thereof.
They kitted the new Nurses Station with these bumper rails. Next year sees them installing meters and meters of the same throughout the whole ward.
Bumper rails are one of those elements of design that we don’t even notice when we move around a hospital. In a very busy ward, such as this Acute Care Surgery Ward, patients are moved to and from the operating theatre all day long (just about) – these bumper rails are thus critical in providing protection to the ward surfaces.
A MASSIVE THANK YOU AND BIG WHOOP WHOOP TO ALBERT CARPETS AND FLOORWORX. You guys rock!
Albeit it that we look forward to completion only in 2015 – this WDC#323 Project remains an exciting challenge to be a part of.
The Design Tabloid 
[…] in 2015… Design Indaba (of course!), the completion of our World Design Capital Project (i.e. Groote Schuur Hospital Surgery Ward makeover) AND the official launch of our spanking new Design Monarchy website (we are still ironing out some […]