Ceetrus and Merlata Sviluppo to invest €3 million to build the new intensive care unit at the Sacco Hospital in record time

Working with ImmobiliarEuropea and Sal Service as part of joint venture Merlata Sviluppo, Ceetrus Italy will build a fully-fledged, permanent unit designed according to the latest healthcare building criteria and delivered in record time

Ceetrus Italy is teaming up with ImmobiliarEuropea and Sal Service through the Merlata Sviluppo joint venture to build a cutting-edge intensive care unit equipped with innovative technology and complying with the latest healthcare building criteria. The aim of the project is to help in the fight against coronavirus by investing €3 million to redevelop an old wing at the Sacco Hospital in Milan – and work is already underway.

The joint venture agreement, which was signed in the presence of Ceetrus Italy general manager Marco Balducci and ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco director general Alessandro Visconti, sets out a project duration of 60 days –enough to deliver the new intensive care unit, built in accordance with the latest architectural criteria, in record time to help the fight against the global pandemic. As well as enhancing Sacco’s ability to deal with the current crisis, the project also aims to provide the hospital with a cutting-edge unit capable of responding to all health emergencies in the city both now and in years to come.

Thanks to the participation of Ceetrus and the consortium of real-estate companies, the ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco (better known as the Luigi Sacco Hospital) Intensive Care Unit – already a leading national hub for the treatment of infectious diseases, including the most critical COVID-19 sufferers – will be radically renovated and kitted out with the most modern technological equipment available.

Ceeetrus Italy and its partners will offer not only economic resources but also skills and expertise, with experts in hospital design and operations pitching in on the project. The new intensive care unit will feature some ofthe most sophisticated technology available anywhere in Italy and around the world.

The project involves the renovation of over 1,000 square metres of the critical care ward on the ground floor of the Sacco Hospital’s Wing 51. Work will also be done to ensure plant compliance, in addition to some partial internal reorganisation in order to create space for 10 intensive care beds. These will be used for the treatment of patients with highly contagious infectious diseases who are in at-risk groups and/or have weakened immune systems. This will include six isolation rooms with filter zones to ensure maximum biocontainment, ensured thanks to a sophisticated air exchange system. This makes it possible to maintain negative or positive pressure depending on specific clinical needs, thus protecting both patients and healthcare workers. The other four beds will feature laminar airflows and will be set out in an open-plan space designed according to the latest architectural thinking.

The intensive care unit will also be home to an emergency room that will be screened so as to allow for the use of an image intensifier. This area will be used for invasive procedures, minor operations and diagnostic activities, eliminating the need to transfer infected patients out of the intensive care unit and thus keeping other areas of the hospital free from contamination.

The new intensive care unit will provide impeccable care,in accordance with the highest international standards, ensuring it can with stand the most serious current and future demands. The rooms will be equipped with all necessary equipment and technology – with only the best quality available on the market set to be purchased.

Next to the protected treatment area, all of the service areas (changing rooms,bathrooms, showers) will be renovated and expanded to prepare them to handle over 80 operators, including doctors, nurses and students.

“We’ve decided to take up this important challenge at a time of crisis for the citizens of Lombardy,” explained Ceetrus Italy general manager Marco Balducci. “We saw it as our duty to send out a strong message and make an important contribution to the city where we’re based. We have a unique opportunity to give some real meaning to our mission of building spaces that respond to the needs and necessities of the general public.  Drawing on our all our capability and skills, we will build an intensive care unit in record time,making a permanent contribution to Milan – even if, as per the most optimistic forecasts, coronavirus is defeated before the unit is complete.”

“We’re very grateful to Ceetrus for offering us the opportunity to improve and optimise the current structural layout and plant system of the areas of the hospital which are currently most exposed to the outbreak,” added ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco director general Alessandro Visconti. “This extraordinary project will mean we can expand our intensive care operation thanks to a cutting-edge unit which will allow us to confront the current crisis and any other situations that may arise in years to come. It will deliver a unique centre of excellence in Italy that will ultimately improve the care we can provide to the general public.”

MERLATA SVILUPPO is the name of the joint venture set up to launch the Merlata Mall project, which will become the beating heart of a vast multi-purpose site in the north-west of the city. Combining shopping, entertainment, services, technology and sustainability, the Mall will be the central focus of Milan’s first Urban Smart District.

IMMOBILIAREUROPEA S.p.A has been operating in the real-estate sector since 1980. A leading player in the industry, ImmobiliarEuropea operates in Italy and specialises in the delivery of real-estate operations, with a strong onus on shopping centres. In the last 20 years, the company has delivered numerous shopping centres in partnership with the Ceetrus Group.

SAL SERVICE S.r.l. is a real-estate development and promotion company currently operating as an advisor and/or co-investor in some of the biggest commercial and logistics real-estate operations in Milan, Rome and Turin.