DORMA Automatics chosen for Wansbeck Hospital PFI development
 Providing safe access and emergency egress for any building with a high volume of staff and visitor traffic represents a challenge, but surely none more so than the demands of a large hospital complex. Particularly when compliance with Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which comes into force in October of this year, is also high on the agenda. However, the specifiers, designers, facilities managers and others involved certainly rose to the challenge at the Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington. Part of the Northumbria NHS Trust, Wansbeck is a major PFI hospital development and its new £20 million extension has won the ‘Best Designed Hospital Award 2003’. There is no doubt that for a variety of reasons the PFI scheme has many critics and one of the biggest objections from the architectural and design quarter is that PFI developments in the healthcare sector should concentrate less on low cost functionality and more on design. It is felt there should be improvements made in the procurement process, which would result in higher standards of architecture and ultimately better value for money. Effectively a vision is needed for the total healthcare landscape, with buildings created to meet that vision. In this context, award-winning Wansbeck has tried hard. It has vastly improved facilities and is the second of two low energy hospitals in the UK (St Mary’s on the Isle of Wight being the first) to demonstrate how both energy consumption and environmental pollution can be reduced by employing various energy conservation measures and heat reclamation techniques.
Three different door types fitted throughout the hospital
A key element in aiding efficient hospital traffic flow, enabling fast emergency egress and helping to conserve heat within the building is the correct selection of door types for different situations. The ideal solution to meeting these three criteria is offered by automatic doors. They provide an efficient means of opening and closing without any need for physical contact – something that can present a serious barrier to many people with disabilities, the elderly and those with injuries – and they help conserve heat loss. DORMA, one of the world’s leading suppliers of automatic door technology, offers an extremely comprehensive range of solutions and proved to be the choice for the Wansbeck PFI development. DORMA have a solution for practically every internal and external automatic door requirement and three different varieties have been fitted throughout the new Wansbeck extension – sliding, swing and folding.
The DORMA ES90 automatic sliding door operator is suitable for opening widths up to 4000mm, available in a range of finishes and can be fitted to all types of sliding door, including busy main entrances, emergency exits and escape routes. The ES90 is exceptionally reliable and safe in high traffic areas, making it ideal for a busy hospital environment.
The DORMA FFT automatic folding door allows maximum utilisation of structural widths by not swinging out when opened, its depth being only a quarter of the clear passage width. This makes it especially suitable for narrow door openings, passageways and for other locations in the building where space is limited and other types of automatic doors would be difficult to fit. Integrated seals provide effective protection against heat loss and drafts and no floor tracks are necessary for doors of clear passage widths less than 1500mm, allowing for a safe, unbroken floor finish.
Where aesthetics are important, for example the public corridors and walkways at Wansbeck, the DORMA ED 200i in-head swing door operator offers increased design freedom. The operator fits almost invisibly into the overhead transom and operates the door directly, requiring no arm. Door operating speeds are fully adjustable to suit the location and in the event of a hospital emergency or power failure, a breakout facility allows the door to be opened manually in either direction.
For further information contact:
DORMA Marketing Department
Tel: 01462 477600
E-mail: info@dorma-uk.co.uk
The Creative Department
Tel: 07071 226304
E-mail: info@creative-department.com
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