AMAU, Labs and Isolation, Tullamore, Co Offaly

Description of Works

Project Summary

Kelbuild Ltd were delighted to carry out a number of works, over various phases at Midlands Regional Hospital for our Client, Health Service Executive.

The first phase in these works consisted of 2 single story extensions to the Histology Department and the Blood Transfusion Laboratory. For the duration of these works, Kelbuild Ltd were working in a live hospital, which had to be taken into consideration as several services such as deionised water taps had to remain live throughout the course of the build to avoid any disruption to the hospital’s activities along with dust/noise & vibration control measures.

The new Blood Transfusion Laboratory extension is being built in the existing courtyard of the hospital which proved challenging with access to the site. Materials had to be lifted into the courtyard with the use of a crane, over the roof of the building.

Phase 2 of these works was in the Acute Medical Assessment Unit (AMAU) in another area of the hospital. Works included a new 6- bed Acute Medical Assessment Unit, a new nurses’ station, clean & dirty utility rooms, a cleaner’s store, en-suite bathroom and an office adjacent to a live Accident & Emergency Department. It was vital that Kelbuild Ltd ensure no disruption to the A&E department, so we cordoned off our site & allowed access of through a corner window, away from the live A&E Dept.  New integrated patient lifts were a key feature of this project to allow the easy movement of patients. A full new mechanical & electrical fit out was carried out along with fitted IPS panels & state of the art bed head trunking.

Phase 3 – Isolation Rooms, First Floor.

Works included the change of use of existing areas at the surgical and orthopaedic area of the first floor for the provision of three new isolation rooms, all with adjoining washrooms.

These individual rooms are all neutral pressure rooms which are used specifically for contact isolation. There are Air Handling Units (AHU) installed on the roof which pushes air through HEPA filters. This in turn forces clean air into the rooms & extracts stale air in the ensuite, keeping the air fresh & also controlling the movement of air borne contaminants, which is a critical asset to the hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic.

These works were carried out in a live hospital setting and thus access for all material on site was through a 1^st floor window, with the use of a scaffolding staircase tower from the outside. Kelbuild Ltd took extra dust control measures to fully ensure any dust from our site would not travel into any adjoining windows by covering the scaffold in shrink wrap & completely sealing it to the building. This alleviated any dust from entering any other area of the hospital where especially vulnerable respiratory patients were.

Each room has its own integrated full room coverage patient hoist which allows the moving of patients to and from any area of the room with ease, including into the ensuite shower.

There is also state of the art bedhead trunking in each room which allows for easy access to all necessary medical gases required, a nurses call along with the controls for the room lighting.

Finally, the doors are fitted with vistamatic vision panels which offer full privacy while also being durable & simplistic in design.

All three rooms were tested & commissioned before been handed over to the client.

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