CIBSE COVID-19 Achievement Award
Created for 2021 in association with CIBSE Journal, this award recognises the remarkable work that building services professionals, with their supply chain, have undertaken to contribute to the nation’s efforts to combat the effects of Covid-19. It celebrates the outstanding achievements of individuals, teams, organisations, projects, products or services, taking account of the challenges they have faced across the full range of activities in the built environment, and the impact they have made in responding to the unprecedented circumstances of 2020.
NHS Nightingale Hospital, London – BDP and RSP
BDP and RSP worked collaboratively to convert the ExCeL London exhibition centre into an emergency Covid-19 hospital with 4,000 intensive care beds, delivering the first 500 in nine days.
Consultants from different practices supported each other and worked with a huge team of contractors, suppliers, specialists and the Army to deliver a hospital in a timescale not seen before.
BDP’s architects took on the role of lead consultant, coordinating the developing design proposals and providing engineering services, alongside RSP and Eta Projects.
Teams had to make immediate decisions to allow construction to progress in parallel with design. Solutions had to be flexible, rapid to construct, take into account procurement limitations to allow fit-out activities to start immediately, and cope with any changing requirements. Where possible, maximum use was made of the ExCel’s existing infrastructure and temporary systems.
Bed heads and service corridors were assembled from a component system usually used to construct exhibition stands, with simple reinforcement allowing services to be mounted on walls.
RSP worked up a scheme to introduce resilience to the electrical power infrastructure in the building, which involved uninterruptible power supply and LV standby generators, with the key derogation being that isolated power supply is not provided. The temporary electrics usually employed for exhibitions were used to feed a 3m section of bed-head dado trunking, prefabricated by electricians on site.
The medical gas installation comprised two distribution ring mains (one oxygen and one medical air) run around the basement car park at high level, rising up to feed each bed head through the services floor boxes and then distributed to the bed head via the service corridor.
Nurse stations were fitted with wash basins and PCs with nurse call and electrical patient records. Staff get in and out of their personal protective equipment in rooms constructed with ventilation pressure regimes, which is key to infection control.
BDP has produced an information poster on the strategies adopted at NHS Nightingale London, to share their learning and disseminate information across the UK and globally.
Project Team
Building Services Consultants - BDP and RSP, ETA, Hoare Lea and The British Army (Royal Anglian Regiment and Royal Gurkha Rifles)
Building Owner - Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company
Building Occupier - NHS England
Project Manager - KPMG/Mace
QS - RFL Property Services Limited/KPMG
Architect and Interior Designer - BDP
M&E Contractor - GES, D&L Medical, Alpine Works Limited, Turnstone Electrical Services and The British Army
Main Contractor - CFES/Mace
Developer - NHS
Facilities Management - ISS and Mitie
Site Logistics - Wilson James