St Richard's Hospital, Chichester

This is predominately a three-storey steel structure with 'clean air' operating theatres and wards on the first floor, plant room on the second floor and a spectacular central full height atrium. The upper floors consist of varying sizes of Asymmetric SlimFlor Beam sections supporting ComFlor 225 deep decking, creating clear spans of over 8 metres between columns.

Careful vibration analysis was carried out by the Steel Construction Institute and led to significant savings in steelwork. It also confirmed that the structure met the stringent requirements of Health Technical Memorandum 2045 (HTM2045) and BS 6472 for operating theatre environments.

The Slimdek system offered:

• shallow structural depth, maximising useable floor depth for services
• vibration response within HTM2045 limits
• flexibility for openings
• good acoustic performance
• rapid construction system
• future flexibility for new installations and refurbishment