星空传媒

EIC has worked with surgical precision to provide the services for a new education centre at Nuneaton鈥檚 George Eliot NHS Trust without disturbing staff and patients.

Careful synchronisation was the key to achieving sound results on the 拢1.2 million m&e project. Nigel Le Marechal, joint md of EIC, explains: 鈥淭he co-ordination of services and juggling of various subcontractors was EIC鈥檚 main priority when work commenced at the NHS Trust in January 2006. With a high volume of services within a limited amount of ceiling void space 鈥� a ventilation system, smoke system ductwork, electrical containment, pipes, light fittings and chilled beam 鈥� careful management and use of common bracketry systems was an absolute must.鈥�

Recently completed, the new post-graduate centre has been purpose built for the development of junior doctors in training at the George Eliot NHS Trust. It was a 拢4 million job for main contractor Shaylor Construction, and contains an impressive 90-seat lecture theatre, three seminar rooms, a medical library, a clinical skills centre and a computer training centre.

Power supplies were installed throughout the building in concealed fittings. These dual earth sockets provided high integrity protective conductor connections for all computer sockets. Further rcd sockets were installed for cleaning purposes.

Security at the new education centre consists of an intruder alarm and a cctv system, both of which run throughout the building and are linked to the security room at the main hospital.

A fully addressable fire alarm system was installed in the building to link into the main hospital fire alarm panel. This interfaces with lighting control, the building management system, smoke ventilation, intruder alarm system and access control systems.

Cat 6 IT wiring was fitted throughout the building, terminated by an RJ 45 outlet. All cables are also terminated into a 42U IT cabinet. Additional cabinets were provided to accommodate IT equipment. All outlet and patch panels were labelled to ease maintenance. The system is linked to the hospital network via fibre optic cables.

Induction loops were provided for reception desks, a library desk and the caf茅 counter to help the hard of hearing to communicate with the education building staff.

The existing mains and cold water supplies were extended to the new building. Two 185 kW Spirax steam-to-hot water plate heat exchangers were installed for the provision of hot water with home thermostatic blending valves to outlets. All pipework is concealed by IPS panels and copper tube and lead-free solder fittings with Crane lever valves were used throughout.

Two 303 kW Spirax steam-to-heating plate heat exchangers now provide heating to the new building. A 100 mm primary pumped circuit serves the 65 mm constant temperature circuit (two air handling units and an S&P Coil heater over the entrance door), as well as the 40 mm circuits (Quinn/Merriott radiators and Dunham Bush finned tube perimeter heating). LST radiators were installed in toilets and the clinical skills ward.

Where radiators were installed in seminar rooms which also had chilled beams, a two-port control valve was selected to prevent simultaneous heating and cooling. Mild steel heavyweight tube and steel fittings with Crane isolation and commissioning valves were also used.

Rehau鈥檚 mixed water underfloor heating was installed in the lower floor reception, caf茅 and lecture theatre areas.

A 250 kW output Airedale chiller was externally positioned at ground level. The above-ground pipework was trace heated, insulated and cladded in alu-zinc.

Durotan pre-insulated pipework was employed below ground level, connecting to mild steel internal chilled water primary pipework. This operates at 6/12掳C, serving the lecture theatre and seminar room air handling unit cooling coils.

A pumped chilled water secondary circuit operating at 14/17掳C serves the seminar room chilled beams. The beams are typically controlled in groups of four by a ceiling mounted PIR/two-port control valve with 3掳C dead band to the heating radiators.

The upper level library and atrium were naturally ventilated using wind/stack effect by low-level opening windows and high-level motorised vents, controlled by averaging sensors. An inverter-controlled supply and extract air handling unit was installed to serve the lecture theatre with six S&P Coil re-heat batteries. A second inverter-controlled supply and extract air handling unit was also installed to serve the seminar rooms and chilled beams.

A wall-mounted air conditioning unit using R410a refrigeration was fitted in the IT hub room to ensure internal conditions of 25掳C maximum.

The team fitted a mechanical control panel in each of the three plant rooms, with a separate smoke vent panel for the link corridor smoke vent fan system. A remote Actionair smoke damper panel was installed in the entrance, which receives alarms from the fire alarm and shuts the duct smoke dampers in zones, according to the cause and effect schedule.

EIC鈥檚 carefully co-ordinated approach ties in with its dedication to health and safety. Nigel says: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e dealing with a raft of other subcontractors all jockeying for room to complete their work and these external teams need to be accommodated. Time negotiation is a critical area. In order for work to be carried out safely, appropriate time and space has to be given to all subcontractors. If there鈥檚 a shortage of the latter, the management of the former becomes even more crucial.鈥�

Last year, the firm introduced a 鈥榮top and think鈥� campaign to encourage all EIC workers to pay more attention on site and to apply common sense to their activities. 鈥淏y not rushing in and by pre-thinking the timing and co-ordination of activities, we have found that a lot more can be achieved,鈥� explains Nigel. 鈥淎 more measured approach automatically makes for a safer environment.鈥�