JCB Broadcrown has completed a contract to deliver 4,500kVA of critical backup power to St Bartholomew’s hospital in London.
The contract, worth $2.59m (GBP2m), involved the design, manufacture, and installation of six generator sets. It was completed as part of the 10-year, $1.42bn (GBP1.1bn) Barts Health NHS Trust project, which is being delivered by a consortium led by main contractor Skanska UK.
The gensets were installed across three phases of the construction project. The synchronised Cummins-powered standby units are able to deliver up to 4,500kVA of electrical power when required.
Graham Ashley, construction director at Skanska, commented: “You choose a strategic partner for a high-profile project such as St Bart’s with great care to be able to deliver a project to the highest standard.
“JCB Broadcrown provides dedicated resource with the best technical expertise, and we were confident that the business would be effective at delivering this critical contract. Everything from design to installation is carried out by their competent engineers. Even the most complex aspects of this installation were undertaken successfully.”
Paul Aitken, global projects director at JCB Broadcrown, added: “Following the acquisition of Broadcrown by JCB, this project signalled the start of JCB Broadcrown supporting and supplying critical power requirements.
“Working with world-renowned, tier-one contractor, Skanska, refurbishing critical life support equipment in St Bartholomew’s presented JCB Broadcrown with the opportunity to demonstrate 40 years of experience and knowledge of power delivery and generation.”
Under the terms of the contract, JCB Broadcrown engineers commissioned the generators and load banked the completed installation to prove their operation. 2km of electrical cable has been laid throughout the hospital as part of the project, along with purpose-built coolant, engine oil, and fuel lines.
In collaboration with Skanska, the JCB Broadcrown team also incorporated a series of specially designed air ducts into the building’s structure to allow the gensets to perform to their optimum capacity. Stainless steel exhaust pipework was installed prior to the arrival of the units, while the generator room itself had to be designed to allow space for other hospital functions.
The Barts Health NHS Trust project includes the construction of two new hospitals on the existing sites of St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London Hospital.
