The newly completed Bexley Wing – home to one of Britain’s biggest cancer treatment centres, the St James’s Institute of Oncology – has been handed over on time and budget to the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Architects Anshen & Allen made use of the sloping site to position three storeys below ground, significantly reducing the visual impact of the 12-storey building and providing a safe location for radiationemitting radiotherapy equipment such as linear accelerators. Treatment chambers feature high density concrete walls up to 2.4 metres thick.
Particular attention has been paid to the carbon footprint and running costs; two absorption chillers turn waste steam from existing boilers into chilled water for use in the new heating and cooling system, while another process recycles waste air from ventilation systems, feeding it back into boilers as pre-heated water.
Stainless steel drainage, claimed both to have a longer lifespan than PVC or cast iron pipes and to be easier to dispose of, are used throughout, while, for the same reason, all cabling is insulated with polythene rather than PVC. A new ring main fuel oil system serves the entire hospital, eliminating the need for individual oil storage tanks and frequent top-ups from tankers.
Graham Johnson, Catalyst’s general manager for the Bexley Wing, said: “Lessons learned on other hospitals have been incorporated to create a building that meets the immediate and long-term needs of staff and patients. Space is designed to be flexible to accommodate changing NHS requirements, and, for speed and comfort, distances between wards and treatment rooms have been kept to a minimum.
Over 100 different contractors and suppliers were involved in the building’s construction.
