June 24, 2024 in Advisory Notes
Mould in Buildings and HVAC Systems
Mould plays an important role in the natural environment as a break-down mechanism for dead organic matter. In the built environment it is an unwanted...
Goulburn Valley Health
A state-of-the-art redevelopment of Goulburn Valley Health in Shepparton will deliver new and expanded healthcare facilities to meet the growing community needs of one of Victoria’s most important agricultural regions.
The $172 million expansion of GV Health’s Graham Street, Shepparton campus will see the addition of a new five-storey inpatient unit (IPU) building accommodating 64 inpatient beds, 10 intensive care unit beds, four operating theatres and a new kitchen. A new emergency department will increase its previous capacity.
The redevelopment will also include a women’s and children’s precinct, a new dialysis unit and the upgrade of existing facilities and services infrastructure.
With a proven track record of delivering major health projects, including the new Bendigo Hospital, the multi-stage redevelopment of GV Health Shepparton was awarded to managing contractor Lendlease in 2017.
The first two stages of the project are scheduled for completion in early 2020.
Walker Fire Protection was engaged by Lendlease in late 2018 to install and commission fire protection systems as part of an integrated fitout of the new IPU building. These works have included the installation of fire protection systems serving a variety of spaces in the building, including the car park, café, operating theatres, emergency department, dialysis unit, patient wards and plant room – each with their own standards and code requirements to be met.
To avoid interruptions to critical hospital services and day-to-day operations during the construction and refurbishment works, detailed planning and coordination between GV Health and the project’s construction teams has been required.
The installation of all new fire protection systems and their connection to the health service’s existing operating systems will be completed by Walker Fire Protection with minimal disruption to the health service or patients. Careful management of materials, delivery and handling on the spatially-constrained site has also been required to avoid inconvenience to hospital staff, patients and visitors.
The refurbishment and upgrade of existing facilities, services and systems at the health service is proposed and would form a second stage of the project.
To this end, Walker Fire Protection completed a detailed survey of the existing fire alarm system to ascertain the available system capacity and its compatibility to the new systems being installed as part of the redevelopment. An upgrade of the proposed fire system network schematic was adopted that will allow for the construction and testing of the new services to be conducted with minimal impact.
As part of the project’s local jobs policy, and the Victorian Government’s Major Projects Skills Guarantee, Walker Fire Protection has employed apprentices and local labour on the project alongside its Melbourne-based project team.
