KEF Holdings, a UAE-based multinational holding company that specializes in innovative offsite construction technology, has entered into a partnership with Australia-headquartered company TAHPI Pty Limited towards the launch of ‘Hospitals in Catalogue’ concept that will truly revolutionize healthcare infrastructure.

Endorsing an ‘assemble rather than build’ approach, Hospitals in Catalogue concept has been designed to reduce project costs and the timeframe of implementation by almost 50% – achieved largely on the back of innovative industrial technology, automation and economies of scale.

Under the partnership between KEF Holdings and TAHPI Pty Limited, a ‘KEF-TAHPI Design Studio’ has been set up at the Dubai Healthcare City for designing the prefabricated hospital modules that will be manufactured at the KEF Industrial Park in Krishnagiri, India. The US$350 million facility will soon be complemented with another manufacturing unit that will be located in Dubai.

Bringing together the core competencies of KEF Holdings and TAHPI – hard and soft modular construction respectively – the KEF-TAHPI Design Studio aims to offer a smart approach to the planning and execution of healthcare infrastructure (hospitals) across the region. Implementing a full industrialization of processes for design, construction and delivery, the Studio will offer clients the convenience of choosing options from a design catalogue.  The company creations also include designs that can be pre-approved by local health authorities, exceeding the GCC’s high benchmarks for quality and excellence.

KEF-TAHPI made the announcements ahead of the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Aladin Niazmand, Director, TAHPI, said: “Access to good hospitals and healthcare facilities is a basic human right that countries are striving to provide for citizens. However, demand from increasing populations in the Middle East and India far outstrips supply of durable, affordable, quality infrastructure. KEF-TAHPI Design Studio’s cost and time-effective modular solutions cater to this supply gap for smart infrastructure offerings in the healthcare industry.”

Faizal E. Kottikollon, Chairman-Founder, KEF Holdings, said: “A World Health Organization (WHO) study has revealed that India has only one hospital bed for around 1,050 people, as opposed to the US, which has one bed for every 350 patients while in Japan this ratio is one for 85. India will need to add at least 650,000 beds by 2017 to improve healthcare offerings to its citizens. Taking into consideration the high capital expenditure and time involved in advancing this system, we believe the Studio brings excellent prospects for the public and private healthcare institutions in both India and the Middle East.”

The KEF-TAHPI Design Studio provides modular and industrial designs for all prefabricated components of the healthcare facility including concrete structure, whole room pods, wall packs, staircases etc.

TAHPI is currently a strategic partner for KEF’s 500-bed tertiary hospital currently under construction in Calicut, India. When complete in Q1 of 2016, the ‘PMHP Hospital’ will be India’s first healthcare facility designed and developed entirely using offsite construction.

KEF and TAHPI are featuring a showroom at Arab Health Exhibition and Congress from 26-29 January. The showroom includes several modular constructed components of a hospital such as a patient bedroom, bathroom and utility room.