Hillingdon Hospital is an acute and specialist services provider in Uxbridge, North West London. It is the only acute hospital in Hillingdon, with an Emergency Department, inpatients, day surgery, and outpatient clinics.
As an electrical contractor specialising in NHS work, Barton Knight Contracting was nominated at the tender stage, and worked with principal contractor Storm Building Ltd and designer Eta Projects Ltd to convert the old Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The new area comprises a sisters’ office, nurses’ office, and stations, with a 4-bed ward and single bed bays (14 beds in total), changing rooms and more. A Positive Pressure Ventilated Lobby (PPVL) single room is included, using a specialist air conditioning system for infectious patients, so no contaminated air can leave the room. Reception, staff areas, and dirty utility (bedpans, macerators etc) were on the top part of the site, while the 14-bed area was on the lower part.
As part of a 14-week, £180,000 electrical programme, Barton Knight conducted a full strip-out and revamp; the upgraded services included small power, lighting, nurse call, lightning protection, data and fire alarm systems. New bedhead trunking was fitted throughout, with a controlled DALI addressable lighting system, which allows for advanced dimming. The modern system is LED-based and more energy-efficient (replacing 15-20 year-old fluorescent fittings), as well as meeting new regulations.
The DALI addressable system allows the hospital to program timings and set the lux levels (brightness) for different areas. “HTM (Health Technical Memorandum) guidance gives minimum lux levels in hospitals for toilets, operating theatres, and reception areas, for example,” explains Barton Knight Contracting Project Manager Simon Holder. “So it’s a popular upgrade for many hospitals.”
Barton Knight oversaw and co-ordinated a number of trusted specialist subcontractors in the course of the project, including those for nurse call systems, data installation, fire alarms, etc, while specialist Whitecroft Lighting was commissioned to supply and program the DALI lighting system.
The project needed extra funding halfway through to allow for extra mechanical services. “However, we were able to work flexibly with the client, and make last-minute adjustments to the specification of the lighting system,” explains Simon, “putting in a more basic system in the top part of the site, to remove some costs.”
As a specialist NHS electrical contractor, Barton Knight Contracting also works directly for Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on various ongoing projects, including the installation of a 250amps supply for a temporary MRI, small power upgrades in operating theatres and more.
