The New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII) Hospital opened in 2015 in Welwyn Garden City, replacing the original Queen Elizabeth Hospital. It provides a range of outpatient clinics and services including blood tests, as well as an urgent treatment centre which is open every day. In 2022, it was designated as one of 40 new ‘community diagnostic centres’ across the country.
The current works are part of a £2.4 million investment to create three new high-spec procedure rooms (split between the New QEII and Lister hospitals), designed to provide extra capacity, improving operating theatre productivity and supporting efforts to reduce waiting lists. The construction was completed on behalf of East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, and PFI freeholder/developer Guildhouse UK Ltd.
The new area includes elective procedure rooms, block rooms (dedicated space outside of operating theatres for performing regional anaesthesia), a patient recovery suite, and associated rooms. Barton Knight Contracting successfully delivered the design-and-installation electrical programme, worth £200,000, in 16 weeks, working with Storm Building Ltd. The area was originally an acute ward, so the previous layout was reconfigured with new containment, small power, data, new air con, new DALI accessible control lighting systems, and new bedhead trunking installed in two recovery wards.
The unit required a 6kVa UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) and IPS (Isolated Power Supply) system to ensure reliable electrical power for medical equipment. In the event of a power failure the UPS takes over in time for the existing generator to start supplying power – giving around 15 seconds’ grace.
Barton Knight Contracting put in four new supplies: one new subdomain to power the sockets, lighting, hand dryers, and general power throughout the new site, and three other supplies back to the hospital, UPS system and BMS (Building Management System). The BMS allows the hospital to monitor and control the mechanical power (including ventilation etc), and was separated from the rest of the hospital in an independent unit.
The space within the building – a small corridor with around half a dozen rooms – was insufficient for plant/storage so a GRP unit was set up outside. The onsite electrical team had to work out of hours during the strip out, and implemented a controlled shut down in the hospital from midnight to 5am to put in a new supply. The rest of the programme was successfully delivered in normal working hours.
Read more on this project here.
