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Medical Air Technology carries out extensive theatre refurbishment at Bedford Hospital
Medical Air Technology (MAT) recently completed the refurbishment of a pre-existing operating theatre complex at Bedford Hospital, upgrading both theatres 3 and 4 with the addition of ECO-flow™ Dynamic ultraclean ventilation (UCV) systems. The new ultraclean theatres will allow the hospital to increase its orthopaedic output and expand the range of surgeries it is able to offer its patients. MAT was appointed directly by the hospital, winning the contract in a competitive tender with a submission that showed it offered not only the best equipment package and shortest delivery period, but also the best overall understanding of the project.
The work carried out by MAT was a total design-and-build turnkey refurbishment, necessitating a complete reconfiguration of the layout in both theatres and new HVAC systems. The extensive refit included ECO-flow™ 2800 UCV canopies, operating lights, pendants, theatre control panels, furniture, floors, lighting, sanitaryware, IPS and UPS, chillers, air handling units (AHUs), ductwork, pipework and HVAC controls within each theatre. MAT designed, manufactured and installed major roof-mounted steelwork and maintenance access walkways for the two new AHUs and a new chiller to support the existing chiller, which supplies cooling to the whole building.
BEFORE MAT WORK BEGAN
THE FINISHED THEATRE
Nearly 11,000 operations were carried out at Bedford Hospital in 2017, and to sustain this level it was important that essential theatre capacity was not affected while the refurbishment of the complex was underway. To achieve this, before work began on theatres 3 and 4 the hospital commissioned a new modular theatre, replicating the equipment within the main complex to ensure continuity and familiarity for staff and clinical team members. While it was being built, MAT undertook the roof plant installation. This necessitated close liaison between MAT, the hospital estates department and the supplier of the modular theatre. When the modular theatre came online, theatre 3 was closed to allow the refurbishment to begin. The seamless and efficient programme ensured any disruption was kept to an absolute minimum and theatre lists were unaffected.
“Finding a solution to improving our theatres has posed a significant challenge and a lot of thought, planning and hard work has gone into finding a solution so that we can better meet the 18-week referral to treatment (RTT) pathway, providing quick and effective care to our patients.
“Refurbishing our current theatre complex will allow us to make sure our current operating rooms are fit for the future, ensuring we can provide a safer, more efficient service for our patients, and a better environment for our staff to work in.”
Stephen Conroy:
Chief Executive, Bedford Hospital NHS Trust
MAT offers a wide range of services so is able to respond flexibly and quickly to the specific needs of each client, providing all the benefits that come from working with a specialist contractor. With its own in-house UK manufacturing facility and dedicated team of highly skilled engineers, MAT manufactures and supplies bespoke equipment for demanding clinical arenas. Clients can choose from several options, ranging from UCV canopy only right through to a total turnkey package, ensuring they get exactly the solution they need. In addition, MAT FM can provide a range of competitively priced and highly effective service and maintenance packages for all core products and turnkey solutions offered by MAT or other suppliers, ensuring that equipment is maintained, serviced and validated correctly for optimum performance.
For more information, please email: sales@medicalairtechnology.com or call 0844 8712100
Written and distributed by:
Medical Air Ltd
Further information:
Stephen Taylor
Call: 0844 871 2100
MAT AT IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON
DELIVERING FACILITIES FOR WORLD-LEADING RESEARCH
In 2020, Imperial College London approached Medical Air Technology (MAT) to discuss the provision of two new ISO Class 6 cleanrooms. The cleanrooms, located within the Sir Michael Uren Hub, would allow the university to further extend the range of research that could be carried out within its new White City campus.
After completing several previous cleanroom and containment laboratory projects at Imperial College London, MAT was proud and excited to once again have the opportunity to work in partnership with such a prestigious institution to deliver the new research environments.
After initial designs were developed and approved, building work began in summer 2020 and the new cleanrooms were handed over in June 2021, the entire project having taken just 11 months.
The The Sir Michael Uren Hub at Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a global top ten university with a world class reputation. Its alumni include 14 Nobel Prize winners, including Sir Alexander Fleming.
To enable the highest level of research, the university offers the best
possible facilities. One of its flagship buildings is the £90m Sir Michael
Uren Hub, located at the White City campus. Designed as a
collaborative facility, the 13-storey Hub provides space for Imperial’s
world-leading researchers, engineers, scientists and clinicians to work
alongside one another to investigate some of the twenty first century’s
most urgent biomedical and healthcare problems.
FEATURES CONTAINED WITHIN THE CLEANROOMS:
- High standard ISO Class 6 clean areas with air change rates from 50 to 70 per hour
- High load bearing raised and ventilated floor
- Modular cleanroom ceiling with HEPA fan filter units
- Complex CMR airflow and room pressure controls.
- Complete mechanical and electrical installation including air handling units, HEPA filtration and specialist airflow and pressure controls
- Piped specialist, hazardous and house gases, including vacuum systems
- Hazardous gas emergency release abatement systems
What is Meant by ISO Class 6?
The new cleanrooms MAT was commissioned to design and build both had to be ISO Class 6 standard to safely accommodate the semiconductor research that would be carried out in them. Class 6, as defined in ISO 14644-1:2015 Cleanrooms and Controlled Environments, refers to the cleanliness levels that must be met within the cleanroom.
In addition to having a high air change rate, an ISO 6 environment must be accessed through airlocks to preserve pressurisation differentials and prevent the migration of particles from outside into the cleanroom space, increasing one class at a time. So, users should pass through an ISO 8 environment, then an ISO 7 environment, before entering the ISO 6 cleanroom.
MAT – Designer and Main Contractor
MAT acted as the designer and main contractor on the cleanroom project, working closely with the university to ensure minimum disruption to the other activities being carried out in the Sir Michael Uren Hub.
The team developed a design built around the complex research equipment and specialist tools that would be housed in the new cleanrooms. Work included final services connections and extensive bottled and house gases installation to several hazardous gases and associated gas detection systems.
The HVAC System
HVAC design is complex and requires a highly skilled delivery team.
MAT is an expert in the provision of specialist HVAC systems. The HVAC system is at the heart of cleanroom design. Cleanroom HVACs differ from standard systems in that they have an increased air supply, different airflow patterns, use of high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, and room pressurisation, and clean to dirty room air cascades.
In order to meet the required air cleanliness, the air must pass through HEPA filters. The lower the ISO class, the more often the air must pass through the HEPA filter. This ‘air changes per hour’ rate (ACH) and the room volume are used to calculate the HVAC’s required airflow. A conventional HVAC system usually makes two to four air changes per hour, whereas in a cleanroom it can range anywhere from 10 to 250 or even more.
The ISO Class 6 cleanrooms at Imperial College London require air change rates from 50 to 70 per hour.
A Specialist Contractor
MAT designs, manufactures and installs bespoke critical ventilation systems and turnkey project solutions for new build and refurbishment projects. As a specialist contractor with many years’ experience, we are passionately committed to improving patient protection and end-user safety in demanding clinical, research and drug production arenas.
We have extensive experience of working in live environments and understand the challenges around delivering a project within an operational scenario.
In addition, MAT FM provides a range of competitively priced and highly effective service and maintenance packages for all core products and turnkey solutions offered by MAT or other suppliers, ensuring that equipment is maintained, serviced and validated correctly for optimum performance.
For more information, please contact Will Evans:
Email: will.evans@medicalairtechnology.com
Tel: 0844 871 2100
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