The Hague, 30 October 2026 — Deerns offers services to hospitals enabling them to verify the critical systems that patients and clinicians depend on for essential care, most recently to Gaslini Hospital in Italy.
This was the case for the redevelopment of Gaslini hospital, a world-renowned paediatric research hospital, in Genoa. The appointment builds on Deerns’ established experience in contributing to a verification criterion for Italy – collaudo – in the real estate sector together with its extensive international healthcare expertise. Under Italian construction law, an engineering or building project cannot be legally occupied, commercialised, or closed out without going through the structural and administrative collaudo process.
For the Gaslini hospital upgrade, the critical oversight phase is divided among a specialised testing board (Collegio di Collaudo). Deerns will take the lead as overall coordinator, specifically executing the Technical-Functional Systems Commissioning (Collaudo Tecnico-Funzionale degli Impianti).
Eleonora Nicolazzi, Senior Project Manager at Deerns Italy, says, “For healthcare operators, this provides a structured process for verifying that mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems meet design and regulatory requirements and perform as intended, both individually and as an integrated system.”
“Healthcare commissioning places particular demands on technical expertise,” says Eleonora Nicolazzi. “Hospitals accommodate patients and staff whose health and wellbeing depend on reliable environmental conditions and uninterrupted clinical services. In critical areas such as operating theatres, verification must confirm that specified redundancy arrangements and supporting systems can maintain continuity of care.”
Deerns’ primary contribution is reducing the risk of late remedial work, additional costs and disruption to the completion programme.
3 practical benefits of this risk management process are:
- Earlier visibility of issues: identifying installation or coordination problems while corrective action can still be planned.
- Clearer evidence of performance: checking system parameters and integrated operation against project requirements.
- Better preparation for acceptance: coordinating technical checks and the documentation needed to support completion.
Mitigating risk in complex healthcare infrastructure
The verfication process in Italy – collaudo – formally concludes when the independent tester, the Collaudatore, drafts and signs the official final documentation. The construction phase then officially closes, and the property transitions from an active job site to a legally usable building.
In a high-tech paediatric facility, this goes far beyond basic utilities. Deerns is responsible for rigorously validating the highly complex medical gas lines, sterile operating theatre HVAC systems, and emergency backup power grids to ensure full clinical safety before patient care begins.
“For this project, we will combine specialist engineering expertise with coordination across the professionals involved, helping identify issues during construction and supporting a smoother path to final project delivery,” states Nicolazzi.
Concurrently, Archimede will handle the Collaudo Statico (Structural Testing) alongside advanced Building Information Modelling (BIM) verification to certify the building’s physical safety and digital accuracy. Finally, Studio Altieri will oversee the Collaudo Tecnico-Amministrativo (Technical-Administrative Testing), auditing the project’s accounting documentation to verify final costs and ensure full fiscal compliance.
Identifying issues before handover
Deerns will proactively identify technical discrepancies through routine site inspections throughout the construction phase. This gives the project team the critical window needed to resolve complex MEP issues before formal testing begins, ensuring a seamless, progressive validation of all high-tech hospital systems as the build advances.
Independent verification under construction pressure
Timing is always a significant challenge on large-scale projects. Construction delays can compress the time available for testing, even when the target completion date remains unchanged. Deerns works closely with the hospital, contractors and construction supervision team to track progress and schedule verification activities around the evolving programme. Deerns’ expert engineers bring the systems knowledge and judgement needed to interpret test results, investigate issues and assess items that are outstanding.
By expanding its healthcare services to enable the collaudo process, Deerns is bringing independent scrutiny and experienced engineering coordination to Italian healthcare projects. The objective is clear: give hospital teams documented confidence in the systems supporting patient care.
