Scope of Work

The £480m scheme involved rebuilding five big hospitals on a 44-acre site in the middle of Manchester with various laboratories, specialist clinics, Childrens, Womens and Eye hospitals encompassing 6800 rooms.

The project commenced in June 2005 and was handed over in 2010.

The ventilation package was over £ 4 million in value and this excluded the specialist element of the ductwork which Caswell undertook on behalf of Rotary North West Ltd.

To give an indication of the scale of this project there were over 12000 grilles installed!

Description of Caswell Works:

Caswell were employed as a specialist sub-contractor in order to site measure and then manufacture, supply and install the fire rated duct connections across corridors from the plant rooms to the risers.

The original scheme design used actuated fire and smoke dampers in the compartment walls across to each side of the escape corridors, however, due to the excessive cost involved in procuring the dampers, actuators and then wiring the actuators to the BMS system the decision was taken to incorporate fire rated ductwork which reduced the number of dampers required.

Each system had to be individually site measured, detailed and then manufactured and installed in accordance with Firesafe specifications and procedures.

The challenge was to provide a compliant system where the corridors were already heavily congested with other mechanical and electrical services.

The ductwork manufactured and installed was 2 hour fire rated for stability and integrity to BS476 Part 24: 1987.

Special Details

The project was the biggest single stage lump sum design and build project in the world.