Tubosider boxes clever for new Alder Hey Hospital
Liverpool’s new £167 million Alder Hey Hospital is uniquely designed and Tubosider has played a valuable part in shaping it, too.
Planned in consultation with patients and their families, the Prince’s Foundation and National Arts for Health, the hospital is the UK’s first integrated children’s health park to give patients, their families and the Trust’s staff the most beneficial environment possible.
The unique, iconic design by architects BDP integrates the hospital with Springfield Park, ensuring that the majority of bedrooms have natural views and easy access to the park. Wards also have access to play decks so that children who cannot leave the ward can benefit from outdoor space.
Construction of the new hospital began in 2013 following the award of the project to the Acorn consortium, comprising John Laing, Laing O’Rourke and Interserve.
Continuing Laing O’Rourke’s strong association with Tubosider, the company was again chosen as preferred supplier of the hospital’s rainwater management system. Furthermore, Tubosider’s system of in-house design and prefabrication closely mirrors Laing O’Rourke’s own strategy of designing and manufacturing buildings offsite in concrete to then install on site.
Initially the consulting engineers WSP specified a standard rectangular tank compactly designed into several runs of 650mm diameter pipe connected at each end by a manifold.
When it proved that Laing O’Rourke needed to fit the tank along the edge of its groundworks, however, and to accommodate other services, Tubosider completely redesigned the system to do so.
What’s more, the contractors wanted to use a drag-box to install the system rather than an open dig, as it would need to sit deep on the site, 6 metres down, and working room was severely limited by the other services.
Tubosider’s solution was to supply a 165 metre long single-run tank in 2.8m diameter steel pipe, all cut to 3.6 metre sections to fit the drag box and each connected by its WRc approved watertight gaskets.
Overlaying the two options on the plan quickly showed how well the redesigned solution would work best. It would save the contractors considerable work and time to install, and other costs too, including the removal of the 650mm diameter carrier pipe and 12 manholes.
Opened in autumn 2015, the new hospital is built in Springfield Park next to the current site. The old Alder Hey will be demolished and turned into a replacement park, at a total investment programme of £237 million.
As a specialist hospital, Alder Hey provides 275,000 episodes of care to children and young people every year. It is one of Europe’s busiest children’s hospitals, yet its original buildings dated back almost 100 years.
The new hospital has a floor area of 51,000m², and contains 270 beds and 16 state of the art operating theatres. Some 75% of bedrooms are single occupancy with ensuite bathrooms, improving privacy and dignity for patients and their families.
There are also 16 operating theatres, four for day-case surgery and 12 in-patient theatres. The new development also includes a multi-storey car park with 1200 spaces, 200 more than the old site.
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Original of this article here