MAT DELIVERS A NEW CL3 LABORATORY FOR UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL CROSSHOUSE

University Hospital Crosshouse is a large district general hospital located near Kilmarnock. Operated by NHS Ayrshire & Arran, the hospital provides a wide range of services.

The board commissioned Medical Air Technology (MAT) to design a scheme for the major refurbishment of an existing laboratory, having worked successfully together on earlier operating theatre projects. The upgraded laboratory increases the hospital’s Containment Level 3 (CL3) capacity, allowing it to work with a wider range of pathogens, including coronaviruses. CL3 is the highest containment level in common use in the UK, and laboratories of this type require certain features to be incorporated into the design to ensure appropriate containment.

After receiving the design order, MAT developed and submitted several different room layouts, each of which met the hospital’s key requirement to enlarge the lobby leading into the laboratory. Following an option appraisal, MAT and its supply chain then mobilised to site to carry out the entire refurbishment. This included a full strip-out of the existing laboratory, taking it right back to bare brick, then installing a new ventilation system, control panel, furniture, drainage, domestic water and decoration.

The lobby is a vital element of CL3 laboratory design. It marks the start point of the controlled airflow: the HVAC monitored pressure control system supplies air to the lobby and then draws the air through to the laboratory by a combination of safety cabinet extract and HEPA filtration of exhausted laboratory air, creating a gradation of negative pressure. On this particular project, MAT took air from the existing corridor and introduced it to the lobby via a pressure stabiliser. The laboratory door contained a door transfer grille to allow the pressure regime and design airflow to be met. The air was then extracted via two microbiological safety cabinets, procured by MAT from Contained Air Solutions (CAS).