The non-stop hospital – Our Estates Project Manager discusses what it takes to propel our hospital forward
We caught up with Graham Walsh, our newly appointed Project Manager within our Estates team, about the world of Vital Services and how Estates are a key driver in ensuring our hospital stays fully functional, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 
Working with us for just five months now, our new Projects Manager has become a vital role in helping our organisation transform ideas into realities. This involves planning, executive, supervising and meeting the objective of our projects to the deadline and within our budgets.
Graham has worked at an impressive 22 hospitals in the Estates field, with a wealth of experience in innovating, maintaining and propelling hospitals forward, so that we can make our colleagues, patients and families as comfortable as possible during their time with us. Often, Graham handles multiple projects at one time that help to improve our hospitals.
A main focus for Graham is ‘Project M’, a plan closely interlinked with our Green initiative where we are determined to become carbon neutral by 2040. Project M involves the use of heat source pumps, solar energy, LED lighting upgrades, energy consumption consultancy and smart insultation.
Graham works closely with his team – assigning roles, delivering projects and signing licenses to ensure our hospital is in line with our policies and procedures.
He said: “The work environment is excellent, the staff are very helpful and there is a good atmosphere with good team spirit.”
Graham discussed what types of skills you would need to venture into a career with our Estates team.
He said: “Experience in this field, not only in project management but overall skills in the contracting environment are incredibly useful. It’s really important to be positive in your actions and using your personality to achieve your goals.”
We recently spoke about our 200-metre-deep renewable boreholes which are helping to generate carbon-neutral power across our sites. If you are interested in learning about one of our important renewable energy schemes, find out more about our boreholes here.