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Vinyl flooring manufacturer Gerflor has installed floor coverings throughout Liskeard Community Hospital in Cornwall. The wards, corridors, shower rooms and sports flooring for the physiotherapy suite are described as warm and welcoming. A variety of flooring types was used including Tarasafe and Taraflex to create attractive, hygienic, easy-to-maintain and safe floors for all users, Trasafe is a slip resistant floor covering claimed to be ideal for use in within a high traffic hospital particularly where water maybe present and users could be unsteady on their feet. Taraflex Sport M+ which is said by Gerflor to offer comfort, performance and great shock absorption was the choice for the physiotherapy suite.

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Stopgap 900 DPM-Prep special purpose underlayment from F Ball has been used to help overcome the problem of damp floors at the Seafield Hospital in Buckie, Aberdeenshire. Carpet was replaced with a vinyl floor covering through out all main corridors and a large dining room. However, the concrete sub-floors had high levels of residual moisture which required the application of Stopgap F75 waterproof surface membrane. Before its application, the subfloor had to be made level and this was achieved with the use of Stopgap 900 DPM-Prep. Walk-on hardness took just 90 minutes.

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A clean room solution for global healthcare company Abbot Diabetes has been developed by Troax. A series of rooms, used for the manufacture of diabetes monitoring equipment, has been constructed using Troax's Toledo partitioning system. For the extension to Abbots existing production facility, Toledo double skin-steel partitioning was used to construct a series of eight cleanrooms where test strips are manufactured. The steel partitioning is said to have provided an ideal solution to the project, which demanded a high standard of construction to ensure a controlled cleanroom environment. The medium specification is of steel. monobloc construction and used inert and non-particle shedding finish. To prevent the collection of particles and ensure easy to clean, smooth surfaces, Toledo's two-line junction has a flush line cover channel and a lush line double glazing system resulting in minimal ledges, corners and flush surfaces. Automatic sliding doors, also made from Toledo panels and fitted with circular vision panes, allow access to the cleanrooms while double glazed panels have been incorporated into the design.

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Off-site construction specialist and Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, has won a £1.5m healthcare building contract at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. The project was awarded by contractors Laing O’Rourke under the NHS ProCure 21 Framework and will provide a purpose-designed modular building to accommodate two cardiac catheterisation laboratories fitted out with highly specialised x-ray technology for the diagnosis and treatment of heart conditions, and a patient recovery suite. The scheme forms part of Laing O’Rourke’s £32m construction contract and role as Principal Supply Chain Partner to North Bristol NHS Trust. The new cardiac facility will be manufactured off site in York using Yorkon’s award-winning modular building system. This approach reduces programme times by up to 50 per cent, ensures delivery on time and on budget, minimises disruption to the running of the hospital, and is a highly sustainable method of construction. Commenting on the contract award, Douglas Moore, project manager at Laing O’Rourke, said: 'The Yorkon modular system is bringing two major advantages to this project – speed and flexibility. Completion of the building by the end of 2007 is a challenging programme but is critical to meeting the Trust’s waiting list targets for 2008/9. The use of off-site construction will enable us to achieve this. 'The modular method has also given us greater flexibility in internal space planning, allowing the Trust to make their complex purchasing decisions for the highly specialised cardiac equipment at a later stage than with traditional construction.” He added, 'The project is a collaborative approach which will provide the very best facilities within the Trust’s budget and to their required timescale.' Due for completion in December this year, the single-storey facility will be linked to an existing building and will comprise 20 steel-framed modules, which will be craned into position in just three days in the autumn. Yorkon, who is part of Laing O’Rourke’s ProCure 21 Framework supply chain, will also undertake refurbishment works in the adjacent building as well as on-site fitting out.

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