SYSTEM: AmbiTak
CLIENT: NHS Property Services
ARCHITECT: SR Architects Limited
CONTRACTOR: Morgan Sindall
PROJECT VALUE: £3.5 Million
COMPLETION: June 2012

Designed with sustainability at its heart and shaped in such a way as to maximize day lighting potential and natural ventilation, this 1300m2 cleverly designed primary healthcare unit will achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ both in terms of size and its compliance to current healthcare and building regulation standards.

The unit houses doctors’ consultation rooms, nurse practice rooms, treatment and minor surgery rooms along with administrative, training and patient waiting areas. It utilises photovoltaic panels for electricity generation and a crosslaminated timber structural frame was employed to allow for rapid construction and a reduced carbon footprint in terms of material use.

Underfloor heating was the natural choice to provide a balance of comfort and sustainability for this building. Ambiente supplied an Ambitak system with 17mm UFH pipework, offering ultimate flexibility of pipework layout which suited the irregularly shaped rooms.

This system involves the pipework being stapled to insulation panels that are laid on the subfloor with a consistent pipe spacing of 200mm to ensure even heat output. It is controlled via individual room temperature control with ‘set-back’ function, allowing for quick response when heating is required.

All supplies were timed to fit into a strict construction schedule that was applied to this project. All components were delivered from our state of the art warehouse facility at Hertfordshire.