It is difficult not to have noticed a lot of contractors working around site over the past 12 months, yet most of the work has not resulted in anything shiny and new that you can attribute to the work and expenditure.
The reason for this is that the work has been necessary to keep the hospice compliant with new and existing standards.
Project 1, carried out either side of the Christmas period, was to upgrade fire barriers in the roof space. Whilst these are unseen by everyone outside of the Facilities team they are essential to create ‘compartments’ to restrict the spread of fire.
Project 2, currently ongoing, is carrying out repairs to the key fire doors on the ground floor for similar reasons.
Our Fire Policy allows us to keep our patients safe on the ward in the event of a wider evacuation entirely because of this ‘compartmenting’ of the building.
Project 3 saw us install a new air handling unit outside of the Willow ward along with new ductwork and ventilation grilles in the roof space. This work was required to bring LOROS up to date with current healthcare building standards and to ensure we have adequate ventilation in the patient rooms.
Personally I get quite excited at having a new air handling unit but, for reasons I don’t understand, not everyone appreciates its appearance!
The long awaited fence has just been installed this weekend, and we will be planting climbers in front to screen it from the patient rooms.
Project 4, again mostly unseen outside of the Facilities team, is installing local meters in key areas to help understand where we use our power, and what we can then do to reduce the consumption and hence reduce the costs.
As ever with work at LOROS, if anyone wants any more details or just wants to ask a question, please stop me around the hospice or come and find me.
