Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton has upgraded its air conditioning and ventilation system with the installation of top-of-the-range ClimaCIAT Airtech Air Handling Units (AHUs).
Eight of the premium ClimaCIAT Airtech units were specified by consultant GLJ Design and installed by electrical and mechanical contracting firm Lowe & Oliver to provide high quality conditioned air to wards, clinical areas, the pharmacy and audiology department as part of a major refurbishment programme at the community hospital. Ageing CIAT Ozonair units were replaced, which had come to the end of their operational lives.
“We selected ClimaCIAT Airtech units for their combination of high quality and cost-competitiveness,” said Gary Jones of building services consultant GLJ Design Services. “There are only a handful of companies that produce high level equipment that can meet HTM standards for use in hospitals, and we were aware of CIAT’s capabilities from previous projects.”
Due to logistics challenges on site, some of the CIAT units were disassembled and supplied flat-packed, enabling CIAT’s on-site team to move individual components into position, before reassembling them into complete units for installation by the contractor.
To ensure conditioned air continued to flow to wards and operating theatres during the refit, a temporary rental AHU was stationed on site and connected to each circuit as individual AHUs were taken offline and replaced. Work was also carried out on weekends to meet the project’s strict timescale.
“CIAT provided excellent support throughout, from the design stage through the various project reviews,” said Gary Jones. “I’m pleased to report that everything went according to plan, with all equipment passing the onsite leakage tests despite the flat-pack delivery and reassembly required. It was an excellent team effort and a credit to everyone involved.”
The high specification project was carried out to Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) guidelines, which include detailed requirements on the design, maintenance and operation of ventilation in healthcare premises. The focus is on ensuring patient comfort and the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections. It also includes minimum requirements for AHU design with regard to the control of Legionella, as well as safe access for routine inspection and maintenance.
“Given the critical nature of the project, it required detailed planning to ensure continuity of service throughout the changeover,” said Gary Baylis, associate director at Lowe & Oliver’s Southampton branch. “It was vital that wards and clinical areas continued to operate, which meant ensuring a seamless transition between the old and new plant.”
ClimaCIAT Airtech is CIAT’s flagship model in its AHU range, meeting Eurovent’s top specification of D1 for mechanical strength, L1 for airtightness, T2 for thermal transmission, and TB1 for thermal bridging. It provides the full spectrum of AHU functions to the highest level, including mixing, filtration, heating, cooling, dehumidification, humidification, ventilation, recovery and sound attenuation.
Available with air flow rates from 1,000 to 30,000 cubic meters per hour, ClimaCIAT Airtech features a double skin with 50mm of insulation and a double-glazed inspection porthole with internal high efficiency sealing.
