One of the most modern healthcare facilities in Europe and the first new hospital to be built in its area for a century features innovation right through to its ventilation.
The new £80m Brent Emergency Care & Diagnostic Centre (BeCaD) will provide over 30,000m2 of accommodation with over 200 beds, A&E, a coronary unit and three operating theatres, and is being built by a consortium led by Bouygues UK. Lead designer HLM has incorporated Passivent A101 acoustic trickle ventilation into the windows, to ensure gentle background ventilation whilst minimising noise penetrating from the nearby A40 Western Avenue one of the busiest main routes into London, and surrounding roads.
The 350 Passivent Frame Vents and Acoustic Grilles have been used on most of the windows in the hospital, particularly all those throughout the three storeys of habitable space. Each ventilator has two open positions to enable individual control whilst providing a maximum ventilation area of 4000mm2. Combined with the Acoustic Grille, the combination provides sound reduction of up to 48dB.
Philip Sutcliffe, Director of Corporate Services for North West London Hospitals said: “The Trust’s intention is to produce a landmark building, particularly in terms of its interior design quality, enhancing both patient experience and the working life of staff.”
Chris Baldwin, architect at HLM for the project, adds: “It is, of course, a Building Regulation requirement to include background ventilation. We also needed to minimise noise into the building, in line with the Trust’s desire to enhance the internal environment for both patient and staff. The Passivent ventilators provided an efficient solution to both issues.”