Lister Hospital, Stevenage

Lister Hospital, Stevenage

The Lister is a 480-bed district general hospital in Stevenage operated by the East and North Hertfordshire NHS. It offers general and specialist hospital services for people across much of Hertfordshire and south Bedfordshire and provides a full range of medical and surgical specialties.

Vinci Construction was appointed to construct a brand new 667 space multi-storey car park for the hospital, to provide improved parking and access for patients and visitors.

A significant element of the eleven-floor build comprised the installation of safety fences and barriers to secure all eleven floors of the car park, including the lifts, to maximise safety for members of the public using the car park facility. Fencing was required to create an effective boundary to inhibit access to any gaps in the structural framework of the building.

Mel Foster, Design Officer at Vinci Construction contacted Jacksons Fencing on the strength of the company’s established heritage and expertise in the successful delivery of bespoke large scale, high profile projects.

Following the initial approach to Dan Baldock in the Jacksons sales team, a meeting was set up in March 2011 to discuss the unique requirements of this assignment which involved the challenge of installing over 1,000 metres of safety fencing. After four visits to the proposed site by the Jacksons Fencing team, which included Fencing Manager, Paul Peers and representatives from the in-house Jacksons Design team, and following numerous in-depth discussions about the complexities of the project,

Jacksons was ready to put forward their recommendations to the Vinci Design and Technical staff.

The key priorities for safety fencing at the multi-storey car park site primarily revolved around a design that would combine unsurpassed durability with proven security features. Jacksons Fencing’s Galvanised EuroGuard Flatform Medium Steel welded mesh panels were selected, offering a flat profile with
double horizontal wires to deliver a robust and ultra secure barrier capable of effectively protecting members of the public from any gaps in the car park’s steel structural framework. A further challenging problem that needed to be addressed within this project was the requirement to secure the mesh and RHS section steel supports and posts, to the existing main steel structure, to ensure compliance with the client’s exacting specifications, whilst also achieving an aesthetically pleasing result.

Once the drawings had been agreed and costs approved in April 2011, the Jacksons team was able to get to work and were on site in late May. From start to finish, Jackson’s contribution to this outstanding multi-storey car park initiative was completed in approximately four months – ahead of the schedule quoted to the client. On the back of this successful installation, Jacksons is discussing additional perimeter security/ access control requirements to further enhance the development.

Commenting on the project, Richard Jackson, CEO Jacksons Fencing says, “This is the first time that the company has been invited to participate in the development of a multi-storey car park from the preliminary design stage. We were grateful for Vinci Construction’s insight, in terms of recognising the benefits of investing time in early discussions with our in-house design team, to identify the correct type of fencing and agree all the appropriate fixing methods well ahead of the build schedule.

The finished installation is impressive, but most important of all, especially for a building which services the general public’s EuroGuard panel infill health care needs, is the reassuring knowledge that every precaution has been taken to ensure the absolute safety of the barriers – safety which thanks to our 25 year service life warranty – is guaranteed.”

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