Temporary Noise and Dust Solutions Supplied During Hospital Ward Refurbishment

Project Overview

When the University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire (UHCW) needed essential refurbishment work, they called upon Skanska, one of the UK’s leading contractors, to carry out the work carefully and effectively. For the project to take place safely, Skanska needed an effective solution for the attenuation of the noise of drilling and sawing, whilst the Clinical Team on the other side of the stud walls continued to treat patients. Skanska came to RVT seeking health hazard solutions for the five month long project, which consisted of an internal refurbishment of the hospital ward, where they were looking to remove a floor screed and break out reinforced concrete.

Skanska had a duty to protect site workers, plus all patients and staff based at the hospital while the work took place. Skanska was proactive in ensuring that they were doing everything they could to ensure safe levels of dust and noise, and came to RVT for specialist advice on the most effective solutions.

Challenge

Skanska had a duty to protect site workers, plus all patients and staff based at the hospital while the work took place. The works consisted of floor sawing the concrete, and then using handheld breakers to break up the concrete further. The hospital was very sensitive to noise and dust and needed the assurance that these hazards were going to be controlled effectively.

Solution

RVT attended the site and discussed the scope of the project with Skanska’s Construction Director. An RVT Technical Expert reviewed the areas where the work was going to take place, giving a full understanding of the challenges that were faced, paying attention to the close interaction with the surrounding areas of the hospital.

Following the site survey, RVT provided a Soundex Multi Purpose Acoustic Enclosure, supplemented with a DustMaster Pro self-contained filtration unit, complete with a capture the hood and intake duct. This configuration enclosed the screed breaking works, and with addition of the DustMaster Pro unit, provided a localised dust and noise control solution.

The dust was filtered through 3 levels up to HEPA standards before being re-circulated into the work area. The walls of the work area were then lined using Soundex Acoustic Curtains, helping to reduce the noise travelling through the walls to the live adjoining areas. The whole work site was then maintained under a negative pressure, using the DustMaster Pro unit, extracting out of a window aperture, ensuring the entire work area was controlled, preventing any airborne contaminants migrating to the live areas.

"Skanska elected to employ the RVT Acoustic Curtains to line the existing walls, which have allowed us to proceed without disturbing the Hospital. To remove the hazard of dust escaping past our primary barriers, a Dustex 300M & Wandafilta Plus Kit was used to provide overall Negative Pressure within the Construction Zone, together with a Climex ACS 22000 Portable Water Cooler Split Air conditioner to provide comfort cooling for the operatives." - Senior Project Manager, Skanska