RECENT NEWS

St George’s Hospital in Tooting, South London, is celebrating a major overhaul of its energy centre that the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says will reduce the hospital’s annual energy bill by ‘at least 10 per cent’, i.e. by up to £1m.

Delivered by Centrica Business Solutions, the project is guaranteed to save the hospital over £1m per year with no upfront cost, while reducing its annual carbon emissions by 20 per cent (6,000 tonnes).

Luminaires from Zumtobel Group companies Zumtobel Lighting and Thorn Lighting have made an important contribution to the aesthetics, environment, and sustainability credentials, of the Spire Nottingham Hospital in Tollerton, Nottinghamshire.

The two companies have supplied a range of fittings to illuminate all areas of the 58-bed hospital, including the main entrance, offices, consulting rooms, operating theatres, corridors, bedrooms, and nurse bases.

Infrastructure and healthcare planning consultancy, Essentia Trading, has launched two new frameworks it says are ‘designed to enable and encourage NHS Trusts and other public sector bodies to make savings on their energy bills, as well as drive efficiencies’.

The first, a Battery Storage Framework Agreement, ‘provides a model for public sector bodies wishing to implement battery storage solutions within the perimeter of their electrical network’.

Secure I.T. Environments, a UK designer and builder of modular and containerised data centres, has completed a new 41m² secondary data centre at the Ysbyty Glan Clwyd Hospital, part of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), Wales’s largest health organisation.

The hospital is currently undergoing a major redevelopment programme to modernise its existing buildings. As part of the work the Health Board identified the need for a new energy-efficient secondary data centre.

Healthcare innovators from across the West of England assembled in Swindon this month (June) ‘as part of a programme that aims to save the NHS millions by bringing the benefits of cutting-edge healthcare technology to patients faster’.

The four-day Health Innovation Programme for health professionals, hosted by SETsquared and the West of England Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), provided 17 healthcare ventures with an intensive course in taking innovations to market.

Medical Air Technology (MAT) recently completed work at Tees Valley Hospital, a brand new £23m hospital provided by WW Medical Facilities and operated by Ramsay Health Care UK, designed to be a bespoke, patient-centred environment for care and treatment.

The popularity of the lay-up cabinet from Medical Air Technology (MAT) continues to grow, with Spire South Bank Hospital in Worcester, Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Glasgow and Nuffield Health Glasgow Hospital all taking delivery of cabinets in recent months.

Catering sector trade association, ceda, says its latest industry technical document offers guidance to catering equipment suppliers ‘often required to provide fire protection systems, but who regularly encounter problems ensuring that connections are made between the controls of the fire protection system and other systems, such as building management systems, kitchen extract fans, and fuel supplies’.

ceda, which has jointly published the guidance, Interface between fire-fighting systems and other systems in commercial kitchens, with the Fire Industry Association (FIA), says there is ‘concern’ that the suppliers of other systems are ‘reluctant’ to make the connections for several reasons – including ‘fear of setting off the fire protection system’, ‘fear or reluctance to work in another contractor’s control box’, and ‘a lack of understanding of the relevance and importance of inter-connections between systems’.

Renowned artist, Marthe Armitage, was recently commissioned by hospital charity, CW+, to install her intricate ‘signature’ wallpaper designs in the Cardiac Care Unit and older patient wards at West Middlesex University Hospital, ‘to transform the environment for patients and their families’.

Marthe Armitage produces hand-printed wallpapers using the traditional technique of lino block printing, from her studio in Chiswick. A variety of her iconic and distinctive designs have been digitally printed using the latest technology onto vinyl which is a suitable material for the hospital environment. The designs were selected following a consultation process by CW+ with patients and staff.

Breathe Energy has announced a new Energy Performance Contract (EPC) win to deliver energy savings to the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust estate.

The programme of works under the agreed EPC will be fully financed, with the energy savings then used to repay the loan. Breathe Energy has commenced the initial stage energy audit of the estate, which is due to complete in July.

Forbo Flooring Systems has been appointed as an approved supplier on the Department of Health’s ProCure22 Framework for NHS and social care construction schemes in England – meaning that its floorcovering solutions, ‘from entrance to exit’, are approved for the healthcare environment.

The flooring company said: “The ProCure22 (P22) process is designed to achieve improved value for money and reduce exposure to risk through a simplified procurement procedure.

AFL Architects has been appointed once more to the NHS Shared Business Services (SBS) Construction Consultancy framework as architects, lead consultants, and contract administrators.

With Carbon and Energy Fund (CEF) Frameworks having already procured over £250 m of projects ‘in the process of delivering gross savings of £50 m plus’, and 245,000 t/CO2 per annum, The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (COCH) and the CEF have unveiled their latest Framework.

‘Ethical and sustainable construction champion’, Dr Shamir Ghumra, formerly director of Sustainable Products at the multi-disciplinary building science centre, BRE, has taken on a new role there, as director of BREEAM – ‘the leading international portfolio of sustainability standards (including CEEQUAL and Home Quality Mark) that has been driving global improvements in buildings and infrastructure for over two decades’.

A new network has been launched ‘to represent the community services sector and forge better links with the rest of health and social care’.

A secure video messaging service that ‘connects parents with their child’s progress’ in NHS neonatal units is being introduced by Trusts across the country.

A meeting of the Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Energy Technical Platform, and accompanying Symposium, on 25 June in The Great Hall at London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital, will focus on topics ranging from ‘The new IHEEM AE(V) Register, and why it is needed’, to ‘What to watch out for in isolation rooms’.

Creator of ‘made-to-measure’ wallpaper murals, Wallsauce.com, says it can now offer ‘an antibacterial and antimicrobial wallpaper for the healthcare sector’.

Prime has secured planning permission for a £65 million specialist hospital facility on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham campus, Birmingham, which it says will deliver high quality acute healthcare for private patients in the region, and provide additional capacity and specialist facilities for NHS patients.

Coulsdon-based emergency cleaning company, CleanSafe Services (UK), has ‘launched a campaign’ to remind businesses across key sectors – including healthcare – ‘of the urgent need to safeguard staff and customers by applying an anti-slip coating to highrisk floors’.