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McQuay Win Birmingham New Hospitals Contract
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McQuay UK has secured a contract for a large number of air handling units at what will be the first new hospital to be built in Birmingham in over 70 years.
This PFI procured hospital, which will cost over £560 million when completed in 2012, is being built for the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust, by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty(BBCL) and Haden Young (HYL). The main facility, which is on the 50 acre site of the old Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Edgbaston, will have over 1200 acute and 130 psychiatric beds.
A total of 111 Easdale model 50 air handling units have been ordered to date for the six sectors in the development by HYL, who have the responsibility for designing, installing and commissioning all the building services. McQuay are required to supply, install and pre-test all the ahu’s on site, before commissioning by others. The majority of the units, which have an airflow range from 0.5 cubic metres per second to 7.99 cubic metres per second, are supply and extract models and incorporate McQuay heat recovery run-around- coils as part of the ‘green’ features of the project.
The model 50 system utilises a concept for the frame and panels similar to the New Generation range, in that it employs uPVC corner pieces, an extruded anodised aluminium frame and foam filled panels with excellent thermal properties and noise reduction. Here the differences end as the profile of the model 50 frame and galvanised panels has been simplified to smooth the manufacturing process and produce a flush finish without affecting the thermal feature.
Units for the first sector have already been shipped to site, while those for the second sector are to be incorporated into packaged plant rooms. The units for the remaining four sectors are on schedule for completion in 2009.
To complete the supply, McQuay UK will provide eight ALS XN air-cooled chillers, each featuring four high efficiency single rotor screw compressors.
Each unit has a cooling capacity of almost 1500kW and an overall length of 11 metres. Prior to delivery on site, they will be split into two sections for lifting purposes and reassembled in position on the roof, before testing and commissioning. All the chillers will operate on the environment-friendly refrigerant HFC 134a.
