CLINICAL BUILDINGS
The attractive staff lounge and breakout area, with its light and airy feel.
to notice how light, airy, and spacious the building is, and the high standard of fit and finish – in contrast to some of the outdated buildings in which a number of our Pathology staff currently work.” This focus on comfort and wellbeing
was immediately apparent when we viewed some of the ‘consolidated flexible workspace’ on the first floor. Here, enclosed glazed work ‘pods’ are interspersed around the open plan layout. These can either be used for meetings of, say, 2-3 people, or by individual staff requiring privacy. A number incorporate both a louvred roof and dedicated mechanical ventilation. Users can thus choose whether to ventilate the pod space by opening the louvres or – where they want more privacy and quiet – can close the louvres and activate the ventilation system. Another thoughtful touch is decorated internal acoustic baffles, which not only partition the space, but also absorb excess sound.
‘Consolidated flexible workspace’ on the first floor. Here, enclosed glazed work ‘pods’ are interspersed around the open plan layout, while decorated internal acoustic baffles partition the space, and absorb excess sound.
Emma Storey explained that with the building complete, the equipment will be installed over coming months, and then validated, before services transfer over. She said: “The aim is to have the building fully operational by this summer, but we will be transferring services over in a phased way, with those services not as reliant on the managed services contact, or automated equipment, first.”
External plantroom Having discussed the staff floors, I asked about the sizeable rooftop plant enclosure. Andy Munro explained: “The external rooftop plant room, located well away from the clinical spaces in adjoining buildings, takes up about a quarter of the roof, and houses three Mitsubishi Q-Ton air to water heat pumps operating on an N+1 arrangement, with baffles around the enclosure to allow air in. These provide domestic hot and cold water, and serve two 1500 litre storage tanks.
The first floor also incorporates a large plant space with four separate air-handling units directly below the roof plant, with risers for the mechanical services. The air-handling units provide fresh air, environmental control, and extract ventilation. Areas such as the workspace and meeting spaces, changing rooms and toilets, plant areas, and sub-station rooms, all have their own dedicated air- handling or mechanical heat recovery ventilation unit. Mechanical ventilation to the specialist laboratory equipment such as the mass spectrometers and chemical cabinets is via dedicated polypropylene extract fans. On the lower ground floor are mechanical services entry points and water storage tanks.
Enclosed glazed work ‘pods’ are interspersed around the open plan layout. These can either be used for meetings of, say, 2-3 people, or by individual staff. A number incorporate both a louvred roof and dedicated mechanical ventilation.
56 Health Estate Journal February 2024
Heating and cooling Heating and cooling are provided by three four-pipe (simultaneous heating and cooling) Mitsubishi Integra NECS- Q-B1614 heat pumps that provide low temperature hot water and chilled water to air-handling units, heater batteries, chilled beams, and radiators. These work in an N+1 arrangement. DX heat pumps serve the IT Hub / server, freezer, and cold rooms. Andy Munro continued: “As technical advisor to the Trust, Mott MacDonald was involved early on – in 2019 – in producing a Basis of Design document. We also liaised closely with the Trust’s Estates team to identify infrastructure connection points into the existing estate, and incorporated these into the Basis of Design along with other environmental conditions – such as lighting levels and airflows, and the building’s proposed use. This enabled BAM to produce a design to meet the client’s requirements in conjunction with its M&E consultant, Silcock Leedham. BAM both built the new Centre and undertook the MEP installation for it. Our role included reviewing the design documentation from BAM and its specialists, and making
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