THEATRE REDESIGN
fresh air input ductwork to the canopy, and allow a full-height walkway around the canopy area, with a full-height entrance door from the existing plantroom. The formation of the dormer met with some opposition, but, following insistence that this was a necessary element to provide adequate plant space and safe maintenance access, the Trust and architect accepted the argument.
The replacement, new fully HTM- compliant air-handling unit for the theatre was designed to fit within the existing plant room, and an area made available by the removal of the existing AHU, while still allowing sufficient access to the door between the plant room and roof void plant area. This required a little imagination, and was achieved by designing the AHU to be a parallel operating unit to take full advantage of the existing fresh air and extract louvre systems situated at opposite ends of the plant room.
Roof void plant showing the Interfurn fans, ducts, and canopy.
situated flush with the ceiling. Conscious that the existing UCV had been reasonably quiet in operation, and with the need for intrusive maintenance minimised due to the remote fan arrangement. I was keen to provide some replication of this with the new UCV design. I was also keen to move away from having a high-level skirt around the canopy area, as this typically not only affects the manoeuvrability of adjustable pendants and operating lights, but can also result in cleaning issues.
Risk of a short circuit
The main risk with removing the high-level skirt around a UCV zone is the possibility of short-circuiting the process, and reducing the efficiency of the system, so in order to avoid this, one of the main criteria in my view is that the UCV recirculation air be taken out of the theatre at low level, balanced as much as possible around the room’s four sides.
Areas for low-level extract grilles and ducts were identified utilising the redundant surgeon’s panel rear access chamber, dropping down the rear of a built-in cupboard, boxing in within the anaesthetic room, and being able to drop externally and pass into the new surgeon’s panel boxing on the final wall. I started to scour the popular UCV market, initially without much success. Then, in a chance meeting, I came across, Jonathan Jenkins, the National project sales manager for Interfurn Medical Systems UK, which I had previously never heard of – and found that the company had experience in the manufacture and installation of skirtless flush ceiling UCV canopies with an adaptable approach for accommodating the return air circulation system. Following a technical meeting with Interfurn’s Operations director, John
Fletcher, to assure me that the system would meet all our requirements, I put forward a report of my findings to the Trust & architect for discussion.
‘Maintenance-friendly’ design The architect was impressed by the clean lines afforded by the flush canopy installation, and the Trust accepted my recommendations, albeit with a slight concern around validation. With the overall ventilation concept agreed, the design moved into fitting the various plant and ducts within the existing building fabric and plant areas, and providing a design which would be ‘maintenance friendly’. I proposed that a dormer be formed within the existing sloping roof void area over the operating theatre to provide a suitable space for the UCV fans, silencers, return air ductwork, and
Peter Bellis
Peter Bellis, managing director of A P Bellis & Associates, is a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and has been a CIBSE Low Carbon Consultant. He has over 35 years’ experience designing, supervising, and managing all aspects of mechanical and electrical services within the healthcare sector, and has worked with the majority of Trusts in the North West region over the years. He has a wealth of experience with the services for operating theatres, having undertaken many designs, including for modular operating theatres, aseptic suites, and cleanrooms. He is also experienced with M & E designs for
commercial, leisure, and educational premises – including universities – and has been ‘deeply involved’ with combined heat and power and renewable energy biomass systems, and most recently with developing and perfecting a gasification system complete with CHP gas engine generator to produce heat and electricity from wood fuel.
October 2019 Health Estate Journal 43
Touchscreen incorporated The architect detailed a boxing to accept the theatre control panel, which accommodated a touchscreen for plant control and visualisation and the PACA computer system. The boxing was also utilised for housing the low-level extract return for the UCV and general low-level extract grilles from the theatre. On completion of the installation, testing and commissioning were carried out, and the theatre general ventilation and UCV systems successfully validated. The simple formation of the dormer and flush-fitting UCV made this into a very successful ventilation installation. The UCV specialists commented on the ease with which they could set up their system, the operating staff praised the system’s quiet operation, and the maintenance staff have a safe environment to work in.
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