Challenges

Leading property developer Stoford was tasked by West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust to deliver a new ambulance hub on a seven-acre former quarry site in Shidas Lane. This was to facility in West Bromwich, and house more than 300 operational ambulance staff working 24 hours a day.

Main contractor McClaren Construction were keen to promote sustainability and divert waste from landfill as part of the project’s objective of achieving a BREEAM “Excellent” rating.

The new 76,000ft2 building includes a facility for the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), fleet maintenance and vehicle preparation areas, the Trust’s Education and Training Academy, and central stores.

Ceilings were required in a myriad of the three-storey spaces, ranging from offices and communal areas through to kitchens and toilet/shower areas.

Solutions

A range of Zentia’s ceiling systems were used to meet the requirements of the different spaces – 100% recyclable Aruba tiles with Tegular15 edge detail in the offices and communal areas for its high light reflectance and acoustic properties; Hygiene in the kitchen areas for its Class A sound absorption, humidity resistance and washability; Hydrabloc (with anti-corrosive grid) in the toilet and shower areas for its high humidity resistance and Class A sound absorption performance.

A total of 3,000m2 of the Zentia ceiling systems were installed by specialist sub-contractor DP Interiors, a member of Zentia’s Pinnacle network of approved contractors, who had a team of five men on site for eight months. Off-cuts from the new ceiling tiles used in the installation were returned to Zentia for recycling.

DP quantity surveyor Declan Rice said: “We preferred Zentia products for this project over others because of their quality, reliability, and the excellent technical support. There were no difficulties and the Zentia products performed well as always. As a Pinnacle Approved Partner, we were proud to install the Zentia products on this state-of-the-art facility for our remarkable West Midlands Ambulance Service.”

The new ambulance service hub, which supports a significant increase in operational capacity for Birmingham and the Black Country, opened in time for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in summer 2022 and was used as a staging point for the Trust’s preparations for one of the world’s biggest sporting events.

Craig Cooke, WMAS Director of Strategic Operations, added: “This is an important hub for the Service, not just for the Commonwealth Games but for our ongoing ability to deliver high quality care to the people of Birmingham and the Black Country. It will also see a major upgrade in our central stores facility, which played such a vital role during the pandemic, and is a big step forward in facilities for our Education and Training team and the Hazardous Area Response Team.”

The distributor was CCF in West Bromwich.