ModuleCo returns to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for modular ophthalmic theatre

ModuleCo has been appointed to design, manufacture and install a 240 sq m modular operating theatre at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, its second scheme on the site after delivering two wards there in 2025.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust announced the appointment on 15 October 2026, and ModuleCo has also announced it on its own website. ModuleCo names its client as The Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Community and Hospitals NHS Group.

The building will house an ophthalmic operating theatre fitted with an Ultra Clean Ventilation (UCV) canopy, together with a two-bed recovery area for patients after their procedures. ModuleCo said the scheme is expected to complete in early 2027.

Ned Hobbs, Group Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive, said: "The new theatre and recovery bays will allow us to continue building on the fantastic progress we are making in planned care, allowing more patients to receive much-needed surgery quicker, in a modern, purpose-built environment."

The site

Groundworks are under way on a plot next to Wards 38 and 39, according to both the Trust and ModuleCo. Once built, the theatre will connect to those two wards, which ModuleCo said would improve access between surgical and rehabilitation teams.

Shropshire Council published a planning application, reference 26/02140/FUL, for the installation of a new modular operating theatre at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on Mytton Oak Road.

ModuleCo said about 90% of the building will be completed offsite under what it calls its Factory-First approach, which it said would mean minimal disruption to patients and staff. The company said the theatre will be designed with clinical teams, with particular attention to patient flow and how the building integrates with existing site infrastructure.

Jonathan Brindley, Sales Director for ModuleCo, said: "We are delighted to be working with the Trust again to deliver this much-needed additional theatre capacity."

The first scheme

The new theatre follows ModuleCo's earlier ward project at the hospital. In May 2025 the Trust said construction of two new wards at the hospital was set to restart that month under a newly appointed contractor, ModuleCo.

On 5 December 2025 the Trust announced that the wards were ready to open the following week, providing an additional 56 inpatient beds. Gastroenterology and surgical services moved into the new wards from Ward 25. Brindley said at the time that the wards had been delivered in eight months.

ModuleCo's own project page describes the building as a single modular multi-storey ward of over 2,000 sq m of clinical space, with 28 inpatient beds on each floor in a mix of four-bed bays and single en-suite rooms, and two 33-person bed lifts. The company said it delivered the building in a 35-week programme from order to handover. The Trust refers to the same building as two wards, Wards 38 and 39.

Hobbs, then Chief Operating Officer, said in December 2025 that the 56 new beds at RSH were complemented by 40 new acute assessment spaces opening at PRH in the same month.

The contractor

ModuleCo describes itself as the UK's leading offsite builder of modular healthcare facilities. It says it has delivered over 200 schemes, including more than 150 operating theatres, 40 hospital wards and 30 imaging suites and laboratories, and that up to 90% of each facility is constructed offsite.

ModuleCo said the NHS Group provides services across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, Mid Wales and the Dudley area, serving a combined population of more than 600,000.

Hobbs said he looked forward to seeing the project take shape over the coming months, with the theatre due to be complete in early 2027.