Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot
A new £98m hospital building welcomes its first patients.
Procured through the p21+framework, Kier Construction was appointed by the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust to redevelop Heatherwood Hospital, replacing the current Heatherwood building which has stood in Ascot since the 1920s. The new hospital located on the adjacent woodlands site would feature six operating theatres, 48 inpatient beds and 22 day-case cubicles and provide operations, diagnostics and outpatient care to both NHS and private patients.​
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The 11,500m² development offers a range of first-class facilities to support planned, non-emergency care, with state-of-the-art specialist and general outpatient and operating procedure rooms, diagnostic facilities, operating theatres and wards designed for the best patient experience.
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The old building, which has been home to the hospital for almost 100 years, will be demolished to make way for 230 homes.
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The team at Kier approached me to provide selections for dual fuel fired boilers to meet the power requirements of circa 3MW and that would also comply with latest UK regulations applicable to the type of boilers required to satisfy the performance specification Kier had provided. Selected and supplied were 3 no. Elco SupeRAC steel shell and tube boilers complete with Riello fully modulating forced draft burners, Secomak gas boosters and acoustic shrouds to both burners and boosters. The use of dual fuel fired boilers allow the hospital to switch between two different fuel types (natural gas and 35 second fuel oil) depending on fuel availability and cost. The former is essential to allow the hospital to maintain essential services should there be a fuel disruption of any kind.
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Overall the project has been built to a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating with Heatherwood Hospital achieving excellent Considerate Constructors Scheme scores throughout the build. Most importantly the hospital achieves a very high level of energy efficiency, and through the use of photo voltaics, LED lighting, the latest BMS controls system and other, makes a positive contribution towards sustainability, renewable energy, and biodiversity.
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The fact that all were able deliver on such a major project during the most challenging times in our hospitals whilst in the middle of a global pandemic is testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in the project.