NIB31-3

PROJECT

ALTNAGELVINHOSPITAL, NORTHWING

A FAST TRACK DUCT-CLEANING PROJECT DELIVERED AHEAD OF SCHEDULE - THAT’S HOW VSS DOES BUSINESS... VENTILATION HYGIENE

V entilation Surveys and Services (VSS) are the UK’s leading specialist in ventilation hygiene and are contracted to carry out this specialist work in all NI health trusts on a long- term procurement contract. As experts in ductwork cleaning and all ventilation testing and TR19 compliance works, VSS were well-positioned to comply with the fast-track request from the Department of Health to complete work on the new patient wards at Altnagelvin to facilitate the unprecedented COVID-19 demands. VSS brought in extra workers onsite divided into two teams, who worked non-stop including weekends, going to extraordinary lengths to get the job

EXTRA CHALLENGES But time wasn’t the only challenge the VSS team faced. “We normally carry out cleaning in a dust-free environment in the period just before handover, but because of the urgency of this project, other trades were needed on site at the same time. So, we were cleaning on a light building site with an increased risk of contamination. Despite this, when we carried out spot checks of access doors on completion of work, we discovered that contamination was in line with industry standards, which was amazing and a testimony to the quality of work carried out by our engineers,” says David All the ductwork cleaning at Altnagelvin

done. All cleaning was carried out using rotary brushing, mechanical cleaning and conventional cleaning. “The engineers have been fantastic,” says David Newman, Contracts Manager, VSS. “It was a laborious task for them but they rose to the challenge brilliantly. They had to work longer and harder with the added restrictive element of wearing PPE, practising social distancing and hand- washing. The normal rate of duct cleaning was set out to our teams; remarkably, our engineers achieved an extra 20% on top of that. “We brought in a third team for the final two weeks to accelerate the project even further, and we ended up ahead of the fast-track schedule.”

“VSS has become an industry leadingbusiness fromtheir establishment in 2011.”

24 | NI BUILDER

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