Knauf offers solution for new hospital build in Cardiff
As the nation prepares for a challenging winter ahead, Knauf is offering a solution with its Fire Panel plasterboard that is being used on the construction of a new hospital in Cardiff designed to manage an increased demand for hospital beds over the coming months.
The new £33 million, 400 bed facility will be built next to University Hospital Wales in Cardiff following the decommissioning of the Dragon’s Heart Hospital at the Principality Stadium.
Knauf Fire Panel is a natural choice when it comes to building in the healthcare sector where the selection of an appropriate cladding component in partition and lining systems is vital for patient, visitor and staff safety. The board offers superior fire protection – containing special additives which increase core cohesion at high temperatures. As a result, a single layer of 15mm Knauf Fire Panel each side of a Knauf Performer Partition can replace two layers of 12.5mm Knauf Wallboard and still achieve a one-hour fire rating.
Many hospitals utilise progressive horizontal evacuation where bed-bound patients are moved away from the location of the fire to the safety of an adjacent compartment until the fire is dealt with or are evacuated further.
This places greater importance on the integrity of fire rated partitions in healthcare facilities than in other building types where the whole building is immediately evacuated when a fire alarm is activated.
Josh Singleton, Area Sales Manager for Knauf says, “When our Customer Services Team received the large order of 5,000 Fire Panel sheets for the new hospital in Cardiff we were keen to ensure the special order could be fulfilled quickly and the contractor would receive the Fire Panels in time.”
This is not the first time that Knauf has stepped up to support the NHS. The Company supplied its hygienic Danotile ceiling panel for urgent work on Bath Hospital’s intensive care unit in March this year. For further information on Knauf Fire Panel, click here.
