Dust Controlled Successfully During Multi Million Hospital Redevelopment

Project Overview

The Royal Sussex County Hospital is undergoing a significant redevelopment to become one of the UK’s top health facilities.

The £485 million project will see all existing buildings replaced along the front of the hospital and new wards built to reflect the hospital’s ‘3T’ ethos which prioritises ‘teaching, trauma and tertiary care’. When the project is completed, 200 inpatient beds will be moved from 19th century builds into brand new accommodation and 65% of all rooms will be ensuite. Alongside gaining a new helideck for air ambulances, the hospital will increase capacity for Cancer Services, Neurosciences, Stroke Services and Intensive Care.

By 2024, staff and patients will benefit from over forty redesigned wards and two brand new buildings. The impressive project will meet the highest of clinical standards and will offer patients a modern, spacious care environment.

Challenge

Kier Construction, a key contractor on the project, sought solutions to satisfy the health and safety considerations necessary to carry out work in a live hospital. As their work would focus largely on stripping walls back and re-plastering, they had a particular need for dust control to prevent cross contamination into the clinical wards. The solution would need to be effective and mobile. Kier approached RVT to find a system that would fulfil their requirements.

Solution

RVT’s Dustex Raptor was an obvious choice for this demanding project. The potent Dustex Raptor is a self-contained dust control unit that is designed to capture and filter dust from a wide range of tasks and applications found on construction sites. The unit comes complete with casters for ease of movement, and has a detachable lid to enable filters to be cleaned, checked and changed when necessary.

Additionally, the unit is fully suited to sensitive environments due to its powerful yet quiet operation. This enabled the unit to filter dust efficiently without disturbing patient care. These features made the Dustex Raptor perfect for the Royal Sussex County Hospital project.

“Since having the Raptors in place we have had no comments regarding the leakage of dust into clinical areas. It has also helped to keep a cleaner working environment for our operatives” - Site Manager, Kier Construction