New Karolinska Solna hospital

The New Karolinska Solna is one of the world’s biggest and most ambitious hospital projects. Situated in Solna, just north of Stockholm city centre, the hospital was completed in 2017 and offers highly qualified specialist care and a world-class research environment.

The hospital also sets a high benchmark for sustainability, with a low-energy design that has reduced energy consumption by half compared to similar hospitals.

Ramboll has been involved in the project from the first preliminary studies, and we have designed more than 75% of the buildings on the 320,000 m² hospital compound.

Energy efficient by design

For the client the objective in the design phase was to enhance the integration between healthcare, research and education functions. A second goals was to ensure the transfer of knowledge between specialists in research and healthcare through joint use of resources and skills. This places great demands on how the hospital buildings are planned and designed. One example is that equipment in modern hospitals is extremely sensitive for vibrations, so the vibration requirements was set high for the entire construction.

A high emphasis has been placed on sustainability. The hospital features a ventilation system that uses less energy then average, intelligent processing of chemical waste and ensuring materials used in construction are resource-efficient. The end result is a building, which consumes half of the

energy of a similar hospital. The New Karolinska Solna has received the environmental certifications Miljöbyggnad Gold and the LEED Gold standard.

Ramboll was involved in the project from an early stage, from the first preliminary studies and later in preparing and reviewing tender documents. Ramboll was commissioned by the client Skanska Healthcare, responsible for the design and the building process for the New Karolinska Solna, to carry out project planning of the building structures. Ramboll had the design responsibility for the entire hospital building and the research building, as well as for eight radiation therapy rooms – just over 75% of the project’s total building structures. “In hospital projects like this, there are very high demands on flexibility and robustness, which presents us with interesting challenges,” says Per Hammarström, Ramboll’s project manager.

Stockholm County Council also stated that the New Karolinska Solna must be executed as a BIM project. Ramboll’s tasks have therefore required a high degree of coordination and collaboration between the various parties in the project, and a particular emphasis on integrating different design programs and other software.