Rational decision

The recently opened laundry at Goodmayes hospital is distinguished by a thoroughly modern design, marked by a high-tech-look steel frame and dramatic curves.

The building, with its airy interior makes much use of natural light, providing a pleasant working environment. Perhaps, more importantly it is now supplying Redbridge and Forrest Healthcare Trusts with a streamlined and cost-effective laundry service.

The new Goodmayes laundry carries out work previously handled at two sites, Goodmayes itself and Whipps Cross.

Managers at Whipps Cross needed to release the land occupied by their laundry to develop the hospital’s medical services.

Martin Freeston, project design manager at Redbridge Healthcare Trust, and in charge of implementing the brief to build the new laundry, explained that after considering all the options, the Trusts decided that the best way forward would be to rationalise their two operations and build a new plant at Goodmayes, and to a standard that would be capable of offering a much improved service.

More options

It was then decided to take the project further than the original brief. The Trusts could have chosen to build a plant simply to meet their own needs. However, within the NHS Trusts, the number of on-site hospital laundries is gradually shrinking, and hospitals are sub-contracting work either to the commercial sector or to other hospitals. At full capacity the Goodmayes plant can handle 300 000 pieces per week. This is why linen services manager, John Harbourne, is seeking to build working partnerships in both the healthcare and commercial sectors.

Design consultant

Baily Garner, a multi-disciplinary construction consultancy was appointed to act as project manager and as design consultant. In the initial stages of the project a laundry consultant recommended equipment sizes and requirements. The contracts for equipment supply, design and installation were put to tender and eventually won by Ducker.

Jeremy Lodge, architect and partner at Baily Garner takes up the story: “ From the start it was clear that the old laundry had to operate for as long as possible and transfer time between using the new and closing the old, was kept to a minimum.” From mid-point in the planning regime, the project operated on a twin-track with the completion of the civil and building work taking place in tandem with equipment installation, a procedure that involved a high degree of co- operation on the part of the suppliers and contractors.

The work involved refurbishing parts of the old Goodmayes laundry, which was an old Victorian building, with the new structure built to a modern design on a steel frame. High ceilings were needed to accommodate the monorail-track system that carries work around the plant. It also provides up to 600kg of storage for bags of linen waiting to be processed. The new building was also designed to house additional facilities, including a mezzanine floor, providing office space, kitchen and canteen areas and space for the support services.

The design of the laundry floor, said Mr Lodge, “is intended to allow maximum flexibility in the layout of the laundry line.” Once Ducker had been appointed as equipment supplier, the space had to be customised to suit the equipment.

Environmental considerations have also been a priority and much effort has gone into providing a modern work atmosphere that is both pleasant and safe. Baily Garner was keen to make as much use as possible of natural light and used a relatively new translucent material called Kalwall for the roof.

The result is a light, airy looking environment, contrasting with the previous gloomy atmosphere.

Every effort will be made to maintain these standards. To counter the build up of lint, roof cleaning will take place on a three monthly schedule, with six weekly line cleaning, a weekly clean of machines and daily clean of production areas.

The modern design of the building has been matched by production lines that incorporate the latest technology, and a high degree of automation. In planning the production lines, Ducker worked closely with the laundry management. Production data was used to build a mathematical model of the operation to achieve the optimum layout, one that used space efficiently, produced a logical workflow and minimised manual handling.

Ducker MD, Martin Bull, explained that the lines had to be fitted into a relatively small space and his company had to design a layout that was both compact and ergonomic, maximising the use of space and reducing operator effort. The shape of the building also affected the way the line was constructed.

“We tried to make sure that the major part of the finishing section, the hottest area, was housed in the modern part of the plant with its high ceilings, keeping the production area light and giving more room in the delivery and dispatch areas” he said.

The tender specified all new equipment and machinery for the plant and it was supplied by the Kannegiesser and Passat companies.

“We tried to automate as much as possible” said Mr Bull. “Once the incoming laundry has been sorted, it is stored in bags on the overhead monorail and then called to the two Archimedia tunnel washers in programmed sequences, the first of these machines is a 55kg module, 12-station washer. The second tunnel washer is used primarily for sheets and has the same module size but with 14 stations.” Both machines employ bottom transfer, partly for reasons of cost, but also it is a transfer method that has been tried and tested in hospital laundry applications.

Both machines are fitted with a 35bar membrane press, and the high pressure allows the sheets to be taken straight to the ironer, without the need for preliminary drying. The cakes are simply taken to the tumblers, then passed automatically to the Kannegiesser sheet separator, so that sheets are presented to the operators, ready for feeding into the ironer.

The plant is equipped with six double-load Passat tumblers, again to maximise productivity. Fully dried garments and small pieces, are taken by cart to the appropriate work station where the small pieces are finished on a separate ironer line. Garments go to a Rotaload where they are mounted on collapsible hangers and passed directly to the Ducker Finishing tunnel.

After finishing, the garments are prepared on a Kannegiesser FA4 folder, automating most of the folding work.

Completion

The building was completed on 3 March 2000 and the laundry began work just three days later, becoming fully operational at the end of April. Inevitably there were some teething problems, but linen services manager, John Harbourne, feels the project is already proving its worth, particularly in the degree of automation it uses. The old laundry had introduced a degree of automation 15 years ago but the the latest equipment is demonstrating the advantages of modern technology. Productivity has increased with the sheet separator and the new feeder lines contributing significantly.

“At Whipps Cross, the laundry was producing 70 items per operator hour, a rate that will now increase to 90. The previous operation could handle 500-600 sheets per hour with three operators, now we are working at a rate of 700-800 with two operators” explained Mr Harbourne “and even this rate may be improved.”