Birmingham's new superhospital opens its doors to the public for the first time
16.06.10
The new superhospital in Birmingham officially opened its doors to the public for the first time today. The ageing casualty department at the Victorian Selly Oak Hospital closed its doors for the last time at 2am this morning and handed over the reigns to the new A&E just over a mile away in the first stage of a 16 month move.
The new QE is the second largest Private Finance Initiative (PFI) health building the NHS has ever seen. The hospital is not just world class in the clinical environment it offers; it also meets some of the world’s most stringent standards for energy efficiency. The new hospital is a third more energy efficient than the two hospitals it is replacing, saving £8m a year in running costs. Up to 25% of all heat energy in the building will be recycled.
Hulley & Kirkwood (H&K) were appointed as M&E design consultants back in 2006 by the BNH JV thanks to our experience working on similar schemes such as the New Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Royal Blackburn Hospital and Wishaw General Hospital. H&K has provided technical M&E assistance and design during feasibility, detailed planning stages and construction of the hospital development to date.
Strict temperature levels and humidity requirements set by the trust to ensure optimum care meant the tolerances H&K worked to were far more exact than other buildings of its size. Temperatures have to be maintained within a few degrees anywhere in the building. In summer air must be cooled to a comfortable temperature and in winter warmed, as well as dried and filtered as required – not as simple as just opening a window. When the conditions are right, the building also retrieves heat and reuses it. At this time, up to 25% of the ambient heat – some of it generated by staff, visitors and patients, can be saved and used to heat water, saving energy.
H&K designed an innovative mixed mode, variable volume environmental control system which has not been employed in such a development to date. Eight chillers on the roof are used to cool water which is sent down to the plant room in piping a mile long, and in some places half a meter wide, to cool the building’s warm air. The system is powered by a total of 13 gas boilers all located on the roof. The result is a building which will outperform the current targets set for Acute Hospitals whilst providing cooling to almost every area of the building when required.
An incredibly aggressive programme necessitated that construction speed was critical. Off-site prefabrication has been adopted as a key success driver. This was particularly relevant for the engineering services, where H&K worked closely with the construction supply chain to produce modular solutions for all corridors and plantroom.
The only outward sign of the extraordinary technology powering the hospital are the huge metal chimney structures which stand nearly four storeys high and form a significant part of the hospital’s eye catching profile. The chimney structures are impressive but the measures of success is that you never know it is there!
