Andrews Sykes Hotmobil portable boiler plant

Andrews Sykes Hotmobil portable boiler plant helps construction continue at new hospital.

When leading PFI/PPP service provider Skanska wanted help to maintain temperature so that floor laying processes could continue during the construction of Walsgrave hospital in Coventry, the company turned to Andrews Sykes for a complete hire solution that included 500kW Hotmobil mobile packaged boiler plant.

Skanska has a PFI portfolio that now exceeds GBP3 billion and one of its recent projects was the design, construction and facilities management of a 1212-bed acute hospital and clinical sciences teaching facility at Walsgrave, Coventry: one of the largest ever under PFI and the first to involve two NHS Trusts.

The process to lay vinyl flooring was scheduled for January-March 2005 and there was no time for procrastination.

"Unfortunately it was a cold time of year but we couldn't let the weather delay construction," explains Skanska project manager, Nigel Lewis.

"To be able to continue with the floor laying process we had to maintain an ambient temperature of 17 degrees C around the clock - 24 hours a day".

At first Skanska asked hire solutions specialist Andrews Sykes to provide small KH500 propane powered heaters but following a site survey it was recognised that the quantity of heaters required would not be economical to run because of gas usage and the labour required to repeatedly change cylinders.

"In total this solution required the deployment of 30 cylinders across four floor areas," continues Mr Lewis.

"As well as being labour intensive there was also health and safety issues to consider regarding the constant movement of so many cylinders".

The alternative solution proposed by Andrews Sykes was to install two 500kW Hotmobil mobile packaged boiler plant connected to 16, 50kW internal air-handling units, distributed equally around the four floor areas of the building.

The installation took approximately two weeks to complete, with much of the heating hose placed in trays above head height.

In total approximately 3km of hose was used.

Andrews Sykes also had to provide step-up power transformers with RCD protection to suit the 230V air-handling units; the only power available on site was 110V.

Other equipment supplied by Andrews Sykes included two 4700 litre bunded fuel tanks and two high specification pumps.

"At first, the alternative proposal appeared more expensive," says Mr Lewis, "but when we started to account for the cost of replacement gas cylinders and the continual movement of cylinders around the floor areas, the difference was only minimal for what, in our opinion, was a far more satisfactory solution".

Mr Lewis concludes by saying: "Over the years we have considered a number of hire solutions specialists but it seems there are relatively few that can deliver real solutions on a competitive basis, one of which is Andrews Sykes.

The support we have received has been excellent and we are more than pleased with the outcome at Walsgrave.

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