Client: Greater Peterborough Health Investment Plan
Drywall subcontractors: Astins
Type of works: supply and installation of Knauf Soundshield and Knauf Fireshield high-performance plasterboards.

Innovative rib deck soffits called for imaginative detailing to preserve the acoustic- and fire-performance of drywall compartment walls and partitions in a major new hospital. Using high-performance plasterboards Knauf Soundshield and Knauf Fireshield, drywall subcontractors Astins cut 60,000 individual profiles to create the necessary notched head-detailing at Peterborough City Hospital, which has 20 miles (32,000m) of drywall. The hospital, due for completion in 2010, is the largest of three developments in a £335 million healthcare facilities upgrade in Peterborough. Knauf Drywall systems, installed by Astins, are used throughout.

One of the biggest PFI projects in the NHS, the Greater Peterborough Health Investment Plan is designed to deliver a wide range of medical and mental health services in modern facilities including the 612 bed Peterborough City Hospital, the Cavell Centre – a 102 bed mental health unit, and the City Care Centre – a 34 bed rehabilitation unit, pharmacy, and outpatients facility. They are being developed for Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership Trust, and Peterborough Primary Care Trust by Progress Health, a PFI consortium of Macquarie Bank and Brookfield Infrastructure.

The Knauf Drywall and Astins technical teams developed solutions for the hospital based on extensive experience on other major public and private sector developments in healthcare. The Peterborough solutions include 208mm partitions with 92mm Knauf ‘I’ Studs staggered in 148mm Knauf ‘U’ channels and two layers of 15mm Knauf Impact Panel on each side. The solutions provide appropriate fire- and acoustic-resistances for each type of partition. Astins ensured integrity by completing floor-to-soffit partitions, with deflection head detailing, to the lowest point of the rib soffits, and infilling head spaces between the ribs with the individually cut profiles. Astins Project Manager David Breadman says: “We endeavoured to have the profiles cut off-site, but were unable to source anyone suitable. In the end, cutting profiles was a full time, two man job for three months.”

The hospital also has the Knauf Shaftwall system for mechanical risers, and for the fourth side of electrical risers, enabling these to be completed from the room side as out-of-sequence operations. The other three sides are completed as conventional partitions, with 15mm Knauf Fireshield on either side of 70mm Knauf ‘C’ studs.

The Care Centre has mostly 100 and 130mm partitions, using one or two layers of 15mm Knauf Soundshield on 70mm Knauf ‘C’ or Acoustic ‘C’ Studs, with 25mm Knauf Crown Partition Roll in the voids, to achieve a range of acoustic performance requirements from 40dB (Rw) to 57dB (Rw). The Cavell Centre has additional impact resistance with a layer of plywood added to combinations of Knauf Impact Panel and Knauf Soundshield.

Astins sourced its Knauf Drywall systems through CCF, East London, and used Knauf Drywall’s recycling programme throughout the project, separating plasterboard waste into 40-yard skips for return to the production process. Astins is a specialist contractor offering a bespoke internal fit-out service for main contractors, owner clients and architects, from design inception to quality installation. Founded in 1996, Astins is now one of the largest dry-lining contractors in the UK, with an impressive range of projects in healthcare and other sectors.

Knauf Drywall manufactures a full range of plasters, plasterboards, insulating laminates, dry flooring, drywall accessories, and metal sections for domestic, commercial and public sector applications. Knauf Drywall pioneered carbon neutral plasterboard in the UK with Knauf Futurepanel. Knauf Drywall also actively promotes recycling from building sites and has a zero waste policy in its energy efficient factories at Sittingbourne in Kent and Immingham on Humberside.