Hospital air conditioning

What we do in hospitals, and what we don’t

Hospitals contain two very different kinds of air system. One is specialised ventilation: operating theatres, isolation rooms, critical care, pharmacy clean rooms and similar spaces where air movement, filtration and pressure are part of patient safety. NHS England’s HTM 03-01 gives guidance on specialised ventilation for healthcare premises, and that work is designed, installed and validated by specialist engineers. We don’t do it, and we will say so if a request falls into that category.

The other kind is comfort cooling and heating in the many spaces that are not critical: offices, meeting rooms, outpatient waiting areas, staff rooms, seminar rooms, IT and comms rooms, records stores and small plant rooms. That is our work. In independent hospitals and private clinics the same line applies.

Typical spaces we cool

• Offices and admin areas, often in older blocks with big windows and no cooling.
• Outpatient and waiting areas, which fill up through the day and often have glazed fronts.
• Staff rooms and rest areas, where cooling makes a real difference on long shifts in hot weather.
• Comms and IT rooms, which need cooling all year with a standby: see server room cooling.
• Training and meeting rooms, used heavily and often windowless.

Where a request involves a ward or a clinical room, we check with your estates and infection control teams first whether comfort cooling is appropriate there, and what conditions they set.

Working on a hospital site

Hospital estates have their own rules, and we work within them. That usually means a permit to work, a site induction, agreed routes and times, and an infection control risk assessment for any work near patients. We provide a risk assessment and method statement for each job, our F-Gas and NICEIC certificates, and the product data your engineers ask for. If your trust or hospital requires particular contractor checks, tell us at enquiry and we will confirm what we can provide.

On site we contain dust, keep corridors and fire routes clear, and plan noisy work for times agreed with the department. Areas are handed back clean and tested.

Choosing equipment

For individual rooms, wall-mounted splits or cassettes are usually the answer. For a floor of offices or an outpatient department, VRF gives central control and many zones from shared outdoor plant. Units with smooth, wipeable casings and easy filter access suit healthcare cleaning regimes. Outdoor units go on roofs, in plant areas or screened yards agreed with the estates team.

Older blocks and temporary buildings

Many hospital sites have a mix of old and new: Victorian or post-war blocks, newer wings, and modular buildings used as offices or clinics. Older blocks may have thick walls, asbestos registers to check and limited routes for pipework. Modular buildings heat up fast in summer. We review the asbestos and services information your estates team holds before any drilling, and plan pipe routes and plant positions to suit each building.

Integration with the building

Larger hospitals have building management systems, fire alarm interfaces and existing ventilation. New air conditioning must fit in with them. We can provide fault and run signals for the BMS where the equipment supports it, and agree with your estates engineers how the system should respond to a fire alarm. Where new cooling sits in a space with existing mechanical ventilation, we check it will not upset the room’s air balance.

Independent hospitals and clinics

Private hospitals, day surgery units and diagnostic centres have the same split between specialised ventilation and comfort cooling. We work on offices, consulting suites, reception and waiting areas, staff rooms and IT rooms, and leave theatres and other specialised spaces to the specialists who designed them.

Electrical work

As an NICEIC approved company, we fit the circuits and isolators for the equipment we install, working to your site’s electrical permit system. Connections to the hospital’s own distribution are agreed with your authorised person in advance.

Breakdowns and hot weather

Heatwaves put pressure on every system at once. Our 24/7 line takes emergency calls, and we reply to enquiries the same working day. For critical IT rooms, a standby unit and an alarm are the best protection. Where a room needs temporary cooling while a repair is arranged, our air conditioning hire service may help.

F-Gas, TM44 and maintenance

Hospitals hold a lot of refrigerant across many systems. The operator is responsible for F-Gas leak checks at the interval set by each system’s charge, and for keeping records. Hospital buildings almost always have more than 12 kW of air conditioning, so a TM44 inspection by an accredited energy assessor is needed at least every five years. A maintenance contract can cover servicing, leak checks and asset records for the systems we look after. Hospital work is priced after survey, on a fixed-price quote.