RECENT NEWS

By the time this issue of HEJ reaches them members should also have received, by post, an “IHEEM Awards 2011” booklet describing the current “stable” of five IHEEM annual Awards, Medals, and Prizes, outlining the background to, eligibility criteria for, and purpose of, each, and detailing the nomination and selection process for this year’s Awards, which will be presented at the annual IHEEM Conference in November.

The new IHEEM website, launched in October last year, is proving to be a considerable success. The 20th of April marked six months since the website was re-launched, and the Institute’s “webmaster”, Danielle Silman, says that, in that period, the site welcomed over 8,000 unique visitors from more than 100 different countries, who collectively made over 15,600 “visits” to the site.

November’s IHEEM Healthcare Estates 2011 conference and exhibition at Manchester Central will, it is planned, see the BRE and the University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Foundation Trust jointly launch a new Sustainability Portal.

A wide-ranging look at water quality on cruise ships and hotels, with particular emphasis on outbreak strategies and provision of safe water, was provided by speakers at a Pall Europe-staged Master Class held on 7 April at the Dolphin Hotel in Southampton.

Manufacturer of call systems and electrical accessories Wandsworth and German electrical technology specialist Jung have signed an agreement giving Wandsworth exclusive UK sales rights for Jung’s “stylish ranges” of wiring accessories and door communications.

A complete re-fit of the Stonehouse Manor dementia care home in Dewsbury has seen furniture from the Knightsbridge Care portfolio specified for installation throughout. Following extensive refurbishment last year, Stonehouse Manor now accommodates 32 elderly residents.

Mark Fordham, who has recently joined Eastwood Park as training consultant in its dedicated decontamination centre, brings with him 24 years of engineering experience within the defence sector – the past eight devoted to providing equipment support to the Defence Medical Services “in the most demanding of environments”.

The need for the structure to withstand the powerful downdraught created every time an RAF Sea King rescue helicopter takes off from a nearby helipad, and to incorporate additional storeys in the future, were among the requirements facing Elliott Off-Site Building Solutions during its construction of the new Maple Ward at Scarborough Royal Infirmary.

Energy consumption is expected to be cut by over 940,000 kWhrs annually at East London’s Newham University Hospital in a project which will see energy company E.ON work with the healthcare facility to improve its energy efficiency and reduce its carbon emissions.

Technal, in partnership with fabricators Quest Solutions, has supplied around 1,500 windows for the new £250 million Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. The 88,000 m2 hospital is part of a £311 m PFI project for Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust, developed by Consort Healthcare.

Brandon Medical has supplied and installed critical care pendants, medical lighting and power systems, and operating theatre control panels, for the £311 million Pinderfields and Pontefract PFI hospitals project in West Yorkshire.

Life safety products from Hochiki Europe, which manufactures and supplies fire detection and emergency lighting systems, are being installed throughout 16 new government-funded polyclinics in Libya.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) recently turned to healthcare digital signage specialist Saturn to design and deploy an electronic display screen network for use across four hospital sites within an ambitious two-week window.

As last month’s The Big Bang: UK Scientists and Engineers Fair, aimed at stimulating youngsters’ interest in engineering and engineering careers, got under way at London’s ExCeL (see also page 6), an organisers’ survey revealed that “two in three UK parents lack knowledge to encourage their children into skilled careers”.

Grahame Gardner recently received an urgent order for embroidered scrubwear for medical staff operating at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

HVCA (Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association) chief executive Robert Higgs is to retire from the Association after 38 years’ service later this year.

The EMCOR Group (UK) has become the UK’s first facilities management provider to achieve a BSI standard, BS 11000, that recognises “improved strategic collaboration across public and private organisations”, and “the importance of collaborative working on a global scale”.

The Gas Safety Trust and the Building Research Establishment (BRE) last month hosted a workshop for indoor air quality organisations and “relevant stakeholders” to “agree how the potential problem of low-level carbon monoxide exposure in homes, offices, and public arenas can be measured and minimised”.

The Design Council and the Department of Health have launched a national search for design teams to “rethink the design of hospital accident and emergency departments in a bid to develop new ways to reduce violence and aggression towards NHS staff”, estimated to cost at least £69 million annually in staff absence, lost productivity, and additional security.

Improvements to the IHEEM website during its recent re-design mean Company Affiliate Members now have at their disposal a more effective vehicle through which to promote themselves, with Institute members now able to search for such companies both by name, and by the products and services they offer.