Demonstrating the project’s exemplary application of Design for Manufacture and Assembley (DfMA), in October the team installed two of the largest modular plantrooms produced to date by Crown House Manufacturing - in just two days.
At 19m x 7m each, the plantrooms contain all the elements needed to make a full ward block function: from pump skids to extract fans, Building Management System (BMS) panels to control equipment and wiring.
The modules are contained in a steel frame covered with Kingspan cladding to match other parts of the building; with a galvanised chequer-plate flooring. The plantrooms were designed in four carefully-sized, 10 tonne sections to enable ease of transportation from our manufacturing facility in Oldbury to the project. With the internal services set out at Oldbury, the site coordination team positioned the major plant items within a 3.5m grid, ensuring interconnections between sections were kept as simple as possible. A specialist team from sister company Select Plant Hire completed the transportation and lifting.
Avoiding the lengthy and often cumbersome process of a traditional plantroom installation, all four sections were installed over a two day period. As soon as the sections were interlinked on site, each plantroom was connected to the riser ready for commissioning when the power was switched on.
The project also contains five further fully prefabricated plantrooms – one plantroom to service each of the seven blocks.
Named Hafan y Coed (meaning 'Haven of Trees'), the completed 20,000m2 hospital will provide adult inpatient accommodation in 135 single bed en-suite rooms, across 10 wards of between 10 and 15 rooms.
The scheme will bring together all general adult mental health inpatient services for Cardiff; as well as specialist services for low secure, addiction, neuropsychiatry, intensive care, and supportive recovery services. Flexible ward design will respond to the needs of service users, including access to single sex sitting room and bedroom areas, garden areas and therapeutic space.