MODERN METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION


The isolation rooms have external hands-free sliding doors to the positive pressure ante-chamber. The numbering is clear, and the glass enhances the visibility and patient safety. Access was considered when the doors were positioned so that, in an emergency situation, the doors are in line of sight.


“Electrically,” he explained, “resilience is key, and to ensure this we built a new sub-station connected into the ring main, and two transformers, backed up by a generator. Inside the AICU we have installed ‘A’ and ‘B’ panels throughout, with all the electrical wiring coming down an A or B riser, and, for example, every medical pendant having dual circuits and dual sockets.” Aaron Burke, MTX’s senior Design manager, added: “Before we could start the groundworks, we had to demolish the two single-storey non-clinical buildings, and re-locate a biobank facility. We also had to maintain access to the Trauma Building, and the link between it and the main hospital, throughout construction. Due to the site sloping downwards from left to right, we used piling on the right- hand side, and traditional-load-bearing foundations on the left.


Speeding progress “Where hybrid construction really showed its benefits,” he continued, “was that we could have the modules being built off site while demolition and groundworks were still ongoing. We could thus start lifting in the ground floor modules extremely quickly, with offsite manufacture of the next floor’s modules ongoing concurrently. Each module incorporates a lightweight steel deck with a 20 mm profile and 90 mm self-levelling screed, which enabled us to move around inside the modules prior to the floors going in. Once the modules were safely located, we undertook the concrete pour floor by floor. “In the clinical floors we had to ensure sufficient ceiling / floor strength, using beams and supports, to be able to mount the Dräger pendants to 20 mm plates, as


48 Health Estate Journal May 2022


well as the Hill-Rom patient hoist system. Being a high dependency unit, all the electrical equipment is backed up by a Bender IPS / UPS system. Services-wise, the fourth floor plant area’s 14 air-handling units are stacked in threes in a space- saving configuration, with each isolation room served by its own AHU and HEPA filter air extraction system. We took a low temperature hot water connection from the main hospital undercroft, and brought it in to connect to plate heat exchangers and pumps, taking the chilled water feed from the same source.”


Dedicated air supply He continued: “Each isolation room has its own air supply, and fumigation samplers to allow fogging following, say, it being occupied by an infectious patient. Heating in non-clinical areas is via ceiling-mounted radiant panels, with temperature in the various spaces controllable both via the plant room BMS and local thermostats to ensure a comfortable environment. Air change rates can also be configured to each floor and for the isolation rooms. All in all, this is a highly serviced building, and required some complex engineering design.”


Tight site constraints Adam Robertson concluded: “There were some quite significant logistical challenges – including tight site constraints, maintaining access to the Trauma Building and main hospital, creating the foundations and installing the piling on a pronounced slope, and obtaining the Execution Class 3 steelwork. We also had to address the building’s exacting ventilation requirements, divert the water and gas services, create the


new sub-station and associated electrical infrastructure, and ensure vehicular access, including for cranes of different sizes. “We had tight project timescales and the additional pandemic-related challenges, especially in obtaining some of the required building materials, and, during the petrol crisis, getting staff to site. We are proud that, through excellent collaboration between the key project partners – the Trust’s clinical, estates, and project personnel, the architects, IBI, the consulting engineers, DSSR and Hoare Lee, our civil engineers, Rossi Long, and the structural engineers, Alan Wood, the scheme progressed pretty smoothly. The end-result should be a high-quality new building from which Lyn Bennett and her team can continue providing first-class critical care, but from a considerably more spacious, adaptable, light, and generally more fit-for-purpose, environment. It is also especially notable in being England’s tallest healthcare facility completed to date using Modern Methods of Construction.”


Planning for future demand Sam Foster, Chief Nursing Officer at OUH, said: “We are incredibly excited about this new building. Not only will it improve our critical care environment, but it will also help us in planning for future demands. We pride ourselves on the outstanding critical care we offer to our most sick patients – and this new facility will enable us to improve this even further, and provide the compassionate and excellent care – now, and in the future. We have valued working with MTX, and are extremely impressed with its commitment to deliver a building that meets our staff and patients’ needs.” Charmaine Hope, director of Estates,


Facilities, and Capital Development, added: “The combination of the pandemic, Brexit, and supply chain shortages, could have severely derailed the project at any point, but the close collaboration and positive attitude of our project and clinical teams, MTX, and our colleagues ‘behind the scenes’ (including Clinical Engineering, IT, Finance and Procurement, Operational Estates, and Infection Prevention and Control) ensured that problems were quickly resolved. I am really proud of what we have all achieved in a very challenging working environment.” Lyn Bennett had the final word: “This


really is a fantastic building, and it is great that although constructed to a tight budget, we have been able to incorporate the advances and adaptable 21st century design and features we were all keen to see, and which we know enable efficient clinical care. The design of the Critical Care team’s new building has attracted considerable interest, including from NHSE/ NHSI, and we believe it will prove a real landmark building.”


James Frazer, Area 1 Photography


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