Working with Interserve and healthcare client Proton Partners International (PPI), Icarus LSF designed, manufactured and installed a full load-bearing light gauge steel solution for the construction of one of the UK’s first Proton Beam Therapy Units in Northumberland.
The unit will offer a comprehensive range of cancer treatments to patients, being the first in the region to offer high-energy proton beam therapy. As a highly innovative provider of healthcare solutions, PPI wanted innovation to drive the highest possible performance in their construction project – which led them to approach Icarus LSF to ensure the building could rapidly deliver a high-quality solution.
Using pre-boarded light steel frame (LSF) wall panels, floor lattices and roof cassettes, Icarus LSF enabled the technically and architecturally complex building to benefit from a 40% programme improvement when compared with traditional methods, meaning valuable cancer treatments can now be delivered to patients much sooner than originally anticipated.
The unit included two storeys of load-bearing light gauge steel frame with steel stairs and lift shafts provided, with the LSF construction method enabling installation to continue in all weather conditions. The accelerated programme and rapidly weathertight system enabled follow-on trades to rapidly progress their works, contributing to significantly reduced prelims and a faster ROI for the end client.
The project fell in line with Icarus’s A+ Green Guide rating, as well as its zero waste-to-landfill policy, whilst also delivering against the project’s BREAAM requirements. The warm-frame nature of the solution meant that the building benefited from U-values significantly exceeding requirements.
Full BIM models of the engineered solution were created using bespoke CAD software and linked directly via computer aided manufacturing (CAM) and computer numerical control (CNC) to high tolerance roll-forming machinery. Panel assembly was de-skilled using machine-applied dimpling to remove the need for human interpretation of fabrication drawings.
As with all of Icarus LSF’s offsite projects, it was important that all supply chain partners were aligned at every step of the project. An initial supply chain workshop was used to ensure all parties fully understood the complexities of the project and the client’s requirements and this was followed by regular checkpoint reviews where time, cost, quality and risk were reviewed in collaboration with all key supply chain partners. Information management at every step of the project value chain was key – ensuring the effects of any late architectural or design changes were managed and the effect of any site risks or constraints were understood by all parties.
To manage the flow of information and ensure alignment of the supply chain, a dedicated project management team was allocated to the project, ensuring each supply chain touch-point had a single point of responsibility within Icarus, who could then act as a conduit of information to and from the client team. This collaborative and highly controlled approach gave all parties continued confidence throughout the project that the supply chain was combining to deliver the most cost effective and speedy solution for the ultimate client.
The client played a leading role in choosing offsite as a key construction method with Icarus LSF’s design, manufacture and installation sub-contract successfully completed, on-time and well within the required programme.
For more information visit: www.icarus-lsf.com
If you want to learn more about offsite construction in the healthcare sector, book your place at Explore Offsite Healthcare on the 20 September at the NEC, Birmingham.
