Lanes helps prepare drainage system for new cancer centre

Lanes Group has been commissioned by leading construction contractor Laing O’Rourke to carry out drainage surveys and cleaning work at the UK’s newest NHS cancer treatment centre.

The company’s drainage engineers have carried out CCTV camera surveys and high pressure jetting at the £160 million cancer centre, located at Guy’s Hospital in central London.

When it opens in autumn 2016, the centre will be the hub of cancer treatment, training, service development and research for south east London – helping to improve cancer treatments and outcomes.

Lanes Group’s London depot, at Rainham, Essex, has been supporting Laing O’Rourke by carrying out pre-handover cleaning and drainage surveys of the new building’s drainage system.

Steven Murrells, Area Development Manager for Lanes London, said: “This is an important step in the handover of a new or refurbished building.

“Laing O’Rourke and the NHS need to be sure the new drainage system is working perfectly, and that it is joined properly to the surrounding sewer network.

“Our HD quality CCTV drainage surveys have given Laing O’Rourke the evidence its team needed to demonstrate clearly that’s the case.”

Access to the drainage system was through a manhole in a basement, so additional safety measures were incorporated in the risk assessment and method statement, including deploying additional staff.

A specialist high pressure jetting and vacuumation unit, with the capability to water jet at up to 10,000 pound per square inch – over three times the standard pressure – was used to clear one particularly difficult blockage.

A single patch liner was also installed. This is a no-dig method for repairing and strengthening pipes. A glass fibre liner impregnated with resin is inserted remotely in a section of pipe, preventing the need for costly excavations.

The company’s drainage engineers worked in the evenings and at weekends to fit in with Laing O’Rourke’s tight construction schedule, and to ensure patient care on what is live hospital site was not disrupted.

The new cancer centre has been under construction since 2013. It brings together currently dispersed cancer services on to one ultra-modern purpose-built site.

Its doctors, nurses and therapists will treat about 6,500 patients a year. It will also deliver 80,000 radiotherapy treatments every year, compared with 47,500 under current service arrangements.

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