Gold Coast University Hospital Early Works & Hybrid Theatre

The recently completed Hybrid Operating Theatre at the Gold Coast University Hospital is another successful health project completed by Premis. The new Hybrid Theatre offers the team at GCUH a state-of-the-art facility for both medical imaging and treatment. 

A hybrid operating theatre is a surgical operating theatre equipped with advanced medical imaging devices accommodating complex surgical work including advanced cardiac and endovascular clinical procedures. Premis was appointed as the Principal Contractor after initially completing an ‘Early Works’ package. The project included demolition of an existing storage area and construction of the main operating theatre on level two.

The project included:

• Hybrid Theatre
• Control Room
• Equipment Room
• Anaesthetics Room
• Sterile Store

This is a world class Hybrid Theatre and includes the latest fully integrated equipment from Philips, Stryker and Getinge. 

Scope of Works

The new theatre was built on a surgical floor amongst 20 existing operating theatres. Initial site establishment included infection control hoarding which was key in meeting Level 4 contamination controls. 

Large floor slab penetrations were required to create way for new mechanical duct work and the reticulation of new services. The existing 100mm topping slab was carefully chased, due to the proximity of the main post tensioned slab, to provide electrical services reticulation to the Getinge operating table. 

Structural steel was installed in the ceiling plenum to provide support for the new Unistrut gantry system for the Phillips C-Arm machine and steel droppers were installed to support the light and medical pendants from Stryker. Detailed planning for these support systems was critical for the installation of the 4.5 metre custom linear HEPA filters and the function of the Phillips machine. 

Radiation shielding to all walls of the theatre and control room was required, which included, partitions, doors & observation windows. 

Significant services infrastructure upgrades were done including installation of two new mechanical air handling units – to service the operating theatre and sterile stores. Various sections of walls and doors were removed temporarily, to allow the air-handling units to be manoeuvred and installed into the required position. 

A new CRAC unit was installed within the control room and connected to the chilled water system to monitor and maintain air distribution and temperature. Exhaust flues were installed from level 2 through to level 7 plantroom roof. Significant co-ordination was required for the installation of these flue due to the close proximity of the hospital’s roof helicopter landing pad. A large amount of electrical infrastructure was also required within the hybrid theatre space and a 200KVA UPS was installed in the level one plant room to provide backup power. 

Challenges 

The project was delivered in a live hospital environment with special attention required around maintaining infection control, which is always challenging and requires a team with expertise in this area. 

Special attention was given to the installation of infection control hoarding, use of mobile HEPA filters installed to maintain air quality, and daily inspections and maintenance of the hoarding system throughout the construction process. 

A key challenge was the requirement of 4 large floor slab penetrations through the existing 400mm slab (300mm post tensioned bond deck and 100mm topping slab). The slab was scanned to identify the post tension cabling and the penetrations set out to ensure the structural integrity of the concrete slab was maintained. The slabs were structurally propped from below and cut with a large ring saw. A mobile gantry was used to hoist the concrete slab sections out of the penetrations, where they were then lowered down through the new penetration into the level 1 construction zone and removed from the building on trolleys. The containment of water, concrete slurry, and dust was key to the success of this operation. 

A shut down of the main gas supply, to level two was required to enable the installation of new medical gases to the hybrid theatre. The main gas supply feeds all of level two – months of planning was required to ensure the shutdown could be completed within the limited four-hour night-shift window. Upon completion all affected medical gas outlets were tested to ensure gas supply was working for each facility on level two. 

The new building services as a whole proved challenging as the new theatre services were all retrofitted into an existing space full of existing services. The Premis Team worked collaboratively with all project stakeholders, and our specialist subcontract team to ensure the success of the project.