The 22 300 m2 total floor area in the new building incorporates a regional neurosciences centre, and enhances the Ruskin's women's services department with additional maternity suites, antinatal, neonatal and foetal medical departments. A new outpatients and ambulatory care centre is also provided.
This major healthcare project is scheduled to be completed in two phases by May 2004. It is being funded under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
When King's College Hospital opened in 1840 on its original site close to Lincoln's Inn Fields, it was reported that staff were encouraged to keep bed occupancy to a minimum – no more than three patients to a bed! The hospital moved from Lincoln's Inn Fields to Denmark Hill in 1913, due to demographic changes in London and an increase in patient demand from Brixton, Camberwell and Peckham – then suburbs on the outskirts of London.
There is certainly no lack of demand today either, with the hospital having treated over 500 000 patients last year alone. King's College is currently listed as one of the best performing NHS Trust hospitals in the country, having been awarded a maximum three stars under the Government's new performance assessments.
Services for the sick
Of the £76 million funding, the m&e services design and build contract is valued at £28.3 million. This comprises heating, air conditioning, domestic water and public health systems, medical gases, a pneumatic tube transport system, small power and lighting, space heating and cooling.
In addition, there are security, voice and data communication systems to be installed – along with the many miles of cabling associated with them. The cable management system, supplied by Kinstrut, is therefore a crucial part of the hospital's infrastructure.
When invited to tender for the supply and installation of the cable support system for the project, Kinstrut took into account the critical site conditions. The extension to the existing hospital created a difficult location and site access was limited, as were the setting down areas. This project was built as a slab and column construction, with the internal walls formed with dry lining portions. The services installation followed the line of the access corridors within the building, meaning that there was a danger of congestion of personnel as the various trade contractors sought working space within this confined area.
Egan principles
As part of the tender, Kinstrut kept in mind the working ethics promoted by Sir John Egan to rethink many of the construction principles and apply innovation, incorporate modularisation and off-site fabrication. Working in conjunction with the main contractor Skanska and m&e contractor Haden Young, Kinstrut proposed that a support system common to all services could be fabricated off site to be delivered and hoisted directly to the work area.
The support frame was designed to hold all of the electrical, fire alarm, nurse call and data services, as well as to give support for the water and medical gas pipework. If required, the system could also incorporate heating and ventilation ductwork supports.
The technique employed utilised a gantry at each floor level, provided by the main contractor. This was installed as each floor slab was complete. The modules and plasterboard partitioning could be unloaded onto this by crane direct to the floor slab. As the unloading was completed for each floor, the gantry was raised to the next level.
Modularisation
Haden Young provided detailed co-ordination drawings of all the services routes. From these Kinstrut modularised the supports, which where formed from welded channel sections and data tray cable support to form sections of three metres in length that incorporated all the required bends and tees.
In one load, 16 modules were delivered to site. This is equal to approximately 350 metres of cable support, which was installed in one day by three operatives. To make sure the process ran smoothly, twin channel support rails were bolted to the ceiling before the modules arrived on site to define the location of the modules.
Once on site, the modules were hoisted to the gantry and carried to the correct position before being raised to the support rail with a Genie hoist and loosely bolted in place. They could then be pushed to abut the previously installed module before being coupled and earth bonded. Finally, the earth bolts were tightened to the rails.
This system allowed a complete delivery to be installed in one day, after which the erection of the corridor partitions could start, thus avoiding any congestion while working in the corridors.
Neil Merritt of Haden Young comments: "We chose Kinstrut because their particular system is easy to work with and can be installed quicker than other conventional systems. Even so, we didn't expect to be three months ahead of schedule at this stage in the project, and with other healthcare projects in the pipeline, also needing well-serviced buildings, we look forward to working with Kinstrut again."
Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor
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