Aggregate Industries has provided its ground-breaking Lytag® as a solution to specification changes at the construction of the new Midlands Metropolitan Hospital.

Labelled as Birmingham’s newest ‘super hospital’, the £370m facility has been designed to meet the best international and national standards, bringing patient requirements firmly to the forefront to support the efficient delivery of high-quality clinical services. Due to open in 2018, the hospital will provide 669 acute care beds and 13 operating theatre suites, at its new home on Grove Lane, Smethwick.

In preparing to commence works, the specification of the 5th floor transfer slab within the building design presented a challenge for the architect, HKS, whereby the allocated 400mm Lytascreed® build up was subsequently amended due to loading criteria provided by the structural engineer with a max load of 2.5kN/m2. In turn, the design team wanted to eliminate the use of void formers throughout this project but, due to the scale of build-up, required a middle ground had to be met.

To overcome the challenge, Aggregate Industries specified a single sheet insulation 300kpi board with a 120mm Lytag base and 50mm a semi-dry cementitious screed topping; creating a super lightweight heavy duty floor screed which cures considerably faster than any alternative. As a further benefit, Lytag, being a secondary aggregate and 50% lighter than natural aggregate, will boost the overall green credentials of the project.

Steve Curley, general manager at Lytag, comments: “This is another great example of how the lightweight properties of Lytag have provided a solution on a large scale project.”