DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
The arrival of the proton gantry from Belgium.
All OEMs REL-appointed As well as Atkins, which provided the design team for all but the radiotherapy systems, REL directly appointed all the OEMs (original equipment
manufacturers). At one point, we were coordinating the activities of 14 different suppliers on the Newport project, including two different construction contractors, both having to be concurrently appointed as Principal Contractor under CDM 2015. The refurbishment, a word not really hinting at the amount of rework required of the existing building to make the main clinic and suite of company offices, was undertaken by John Weaver, a local, Swansea-based firm, while the proton and linear accelerator vaults were built by Pravida Bau, a specialist shielding company from Bavaria. This was to be Pravida’s first proton vault, but it had been working closely with IBA, the Belgian equipment manufacturer, for some time previously to develop the design and their construction plans.
A complex supply chain The vaults were made using a Forster sandwich construction, and although Pravida considered having the leaf walls cast locally, it proved necessary to use a cement with a very low level of the activatable heavy metal element, Europium. This led to the establishment of a supply chain to bring cast panels all the way from Bavaria to Wales, a logistical challenge in itself, but not as significant as delivering the proton beam equipment. This consisted of two major components – a 50-tonne cyclotron and a 75-tonne gantry, manufactured by IBA in Belgium and delivered to the site over a weekend to minimise disruption to our neighbours. Installation of these was by means of hatches and removable concrete planks in the roof and intervening floors of the proton vault, and required a mobile 14- axle, 400-tonne crane to drop them in. The second site, in Bomarsund, near Bedlington in Northumberland, presented a different set of challenges. This was to
38 Health Estate Journal October 2019
The installation of the proton gantry via roof hatches at Reading.
be a new-build on a truly greenfield ecologically sensitive, site, complete with Soil Association-approved vegetables and an organic trout lake. The cancer centre requires some 2 MVA of power, and there wasn’t enough available in the area. Again, another local authority saw the value in having such a facility in its area, and Northumberland County Council, through its development agency, ARCH, contributed towards establishing the infrastructure that made the site viable for the project. The ground conditions were a civil engineering challenge – two deep coal seams, with a risk but no record of whether they’d ever been worked, and some of the softest earth in the region, that required underpinning by significantly deep piling.
The planning conditions around ground gas control required a one-piece impermeable membrane placed under the whole complex, but this was a particular problem when it came to the proton vault excavation – a storey below the ground plate of the rest of the complex, and supported on numerous pile caps. Being impermeable and below ground, this hole quickly became the largest swimming pool in the area when the snow turned to rain.
Main clinic’s contrasting structure and build The main clinic, containing the chemotherapy treatment areas, consulting rooms, administration areas, and diagnostic technology from Philips, was
built by Interserve’s North East team. In stark contrast to the heavy radiation vaults, the main clinic structure was created using Light Gauge Steel. This method had many time and logistical benefits, but created an unforeseen problem where the LGS frame couldn’t go up in advance of the erection of the proton vault shell, which went up storey by storey, and the removal of the shuttering from the joints between the outer leaf panels. The main impact was a delay in installing the services to the clinic, which had been designed to run in the void above a spine corridor alongside the vault, which couldn’t itself be built until the vault wall was erected and cleared. The lessons from this were learned, and later applied, by the design team formed for this project, which consisted of MEP engineers, Desco, structural and civil engineering consultants, Fairhurst, and architects, JDDK, (collectively forming the DFJ design team) who, together with cost consultants, boydengroup, cut their teeth on our Northumbria project, and have continued in partnership with REL on all of our subsequent cancer centre projects.
Active engagement and learning Having a robust and proactive approach to learning, and applying lessons from one project to the next, have been important to REL, and our consultants, contractors, suppliers, and end-users, have all actively engaged in this process. We have also found it a real strength being part of the
The Rutherford Cancer Centre North East – Building Project of the Year at the Constructing Excellence in the North East Awards 2019.
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