Northern General Hospital

Overview

Global HSE have been working closely with Kajima on the inspection and remedial works at the Robert Hadfield Wing of the Northern General Hospital. The Hadfield Wing was built in 2007 underthe private finance initiative scheme.

Following post Grenfell fire risk assessments, the building was closed in December 2018 after a range of fire safety breaches were highlighted. Yorkshire Fire and Rescue issued a prohibition notice on the building due to concerns of the fire safety measures within the building. Due to the nature of the PFI scheme, the remedial works has received a large amount of interest and scrutiny from various parties. As part of the remedial works, the building manager, and the Trust both employed individual fire consultants to validate works carried out by Global. The project involved Global completing initial site inspections, completing remedial works, and a post installation inspection in accordance with BM Trada.

The Approach

Global were assigned to carry out fire compartmentation, fire damper and door surveys in line with the fire strategy for the hospital building. We completed a full site audit across all 6 wards and all ancillary areas. The inspections consist of checking installation against manufacturers details and any additional documentation provided in the O&M’s.

At all stages, Global took photos to evidence our findings and to provide a comprehensive record for the building owner or responsible person. This shows compliance or indicates any faults that required additional attention. These were then issued in a comprehensive report with an executive summary of any major concerns or findings.

In regard to the completed PFP/Compartment surveys, we addressed this with a team of experienced installers and surveyors. They identified any details that were not in accordance with the original fire stopping manufacturer and added additional works that had been completed since the original build but not correctly fire stopped or sealed in compartment walls or floors. All our findings were given a unique reference number and logged onto the Boris system with a description of the issue, and in many instances, a solution to rectify any logged pins. The compartment survey was completed to reflect the fire rated compartment lines as dictated on the provided fire strategy as well as all the floors throughout the building. This also enabled Global to provide a cost for all the works once the survey was completed to allow  efficiency in the flow of work.

Once the survey was completed, the report was issued to all major stakeholders involved in the contract. Alongside survey reports, Global issued a project pack, containing all remediation details with manufacturers evidence for sign off and approval. This allowed for a transparent approach to all remedial works and ensured all relevant parties were involved at each stage of the project. From the remedial works, Global were required to overcome any defects and variations from the original builds. We worked closely with suppliers and our technical team to design solutions for the hospital in line with HTM81 and HTM05 02 that supports the fire strategy and regulatory requirements. The remedial works including:

Floor separation to FR60
Corridor lines to FR30
Risers to FR30 or FR60
Cross corridor door headers to FR30

Due to the large quantity and variant size services and penetrations in hospitals, Global had to apply a range of different fire stopping details and installations to ensure the building was complaint. The existing heating & ventilation system had not been installed correctly, and therefore the dampers required remediation works to make them compliant. We were able to achieve this with minimum disruption to the SURBESH existing installation.

Across the 6 wards within the Hadfield Wing, approximately 230 fire doors were installed to BM Trada Q Mark Certification. These included double cross corridor door sets, riser/cupboard doors and 60 min ward access door sets.

In order to provide supporting test data, Global led a Warrington Fire burn test in line with BS476. The burn test was managed and completed by Global on shaft wall, damper details and a double door set. This resulted in three 3m full tests and supporting test data to verify the installed details.

The Outcome

Following these remedials, further fire door inspections were completed in line with the BM Trada Q Mark Certification scheme that requires evidence that the doors have been installed in line with manufacturers details and any additional relevant standards. Our BM Trada qualified Compliance Inspector supported our surveying team in inspecting doors throughout the hospital building. All evidence of inspections and installations have been provided to BM Trada to allow the doors to be certified and receive the Golden Plug.

Global installed a large majority of the fire stopping in accordance with manufacturers standard details. Where installations where outside of manufactures recommendations, engineering judgements were requested from the supplier’s fire engineering team. This ensured all stakeholders had confidence in the compliance of Global’s work.