STATE-OF-THE-ART HOSPITAL FEATURES KNAUF DRYWALL
Shaftwall and a range of other products and systems from Knauf Drywall feature in the £50 million Manor Hospital in Oxford, recently completed by Kendall Kingscott and main contractor Shepherd Construction. The 15,000m2 three storey building for Nuffield Hospitals provides five operating theatres, 25 consulting rooms, and 86 beds – together with basement car parking for 120 cars.
Drylining contractor Drywall Technologies installed 130,000m² of Knauf plasterboard and systems throughout Manor Hospital, drawing on Knauf Drywall’s specialist advice in key areas to meet challenging design requirements as simply as possibly.
The impressive hospital entrance features Knauf Wall Liner to span three storeys. This system accommodates any of the range of Knauf Plasterboards. The boards are fixed on to a lightweight metal framework of Knauf ‘C’ Channels fixed to Knauf Universal Brackets and ‘U’ Channels. Tommy McDermott, Partner, Drywall Technologies, comments: “Knauf Drywall’s technical team provided invaluable solutions for design details, particularly for lining the triple-height atrium.”
The innovative Knauf Shaftwall was used for stairwells and lift shafts. This is a specialist steel frame and plasterboard system designed to be erected wholly from one side, to facilitate lift and service shaft construction.
Drywall Technologies installed 92mm metal stud systems with 15mm Soundshield acoustic plasterboard in corridors, consulting rooms and wards throughout the building. Knauf Drywall’s Soundshield is a dense plasterboard with exceptional acoustic performance, particularly suitable for the control of airborne and flanking sound transmission in a hospital environment. Soundshield has a colour coded blue paper liner for easy identification and is available in lengths of 2,400mm, 2,700mm and 3,000mm and in thicknesses of 12.5mm and 15mm.
Knauf Phenolic 50mm Laminate was used for the thermal linings to plant rooms of the hospital. Knauf’s insulating laminates combine the qualities of Knauf Wallboard or Knauf Vapourshield with additional insulating materials to provide thermal and acoustic performance plus condensation control where required. Knauf Phenolic Laminate is a superior performance laminate, combining high thermal resistance for thinnest possible sections, plus integral vapour check and conforms to BS476: Part 7.
Knauf Drywall’s technical experts are available to be part of the project team from the start. The team can offer advice on Part E solutions and Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) requirements and on appropriate construction systems. The team can also provide guidance on design considerations such as fire safety, durability, service accommodation and fixings.
Solutions for hospitals are also highlighted on Knauf Drywall’s award-winning website www.knaufdrywall.co.uk/themanual and in its new Hospitals brochure. Part of the Design Partner Series, the brochure provides comprehensive hospital-specific technical information to help designers and specifiers achieve the most efficient drywall solutions for modern healthcare environments.