No-nonsense techniques for quality, uninterrupted care at CH Les Viviers
A brand new hospital opens its doors in Charleroi. CH Les Viviers is the largest non-university hospital in the country. As the designer of this healing environment, Sweco, in collaboration with Réservoir A, would like to highlight some key concepts. Also, check out our blog articles about the healing environment solutions and general design approach of this exceptional project.
The technical installations at CH Les Viviers form the beating, often invisible heart of the hospital for its users. In a healing environment, they are crucial to ensure uninterrupted care. The engineers at Sweco face an additional challenge due to the constant evolution of the medical sector. Therefore, flexibility and expandability are important parameters alongside reliability.
The installation concept for CH Les Viviers reflects these needs, combining proven, reliable techniques with innovative methods that anticipate future developments. Of course, we also consider the budgetary framework set by the subsidizing government. We call this a no-nonsense approach or “design to budget”.
CH Les Viviers presented several challenges, partly due to the scale of the project and partly due to its location atop a spoil tip with a mine tunnel system underneath.
Installation concept with energy transition in mind
For heating and cooling, we explored various geothermal options:
| 1 | The ‘classic’ closed geothermal system based on Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES) |
| 2 | The possibility of using water from the abandoned mine tunnels beneath the site as an energy source |
| 3 | Utilizing a deep (> 2km) aquifer with a constant temperature of 70°C as a source for heating and absorption cooling. |
A test drilling indicated that, due to unknown mine tunnels beneath the site, a BEO field was a risky and therefore unsuitable option. The use of water from the mine tunnels was also not feasible due to unknown factors in the tunnel system. A deep aquifer is a very suitable option in terms of both temperature regime and sustainability. However, the high investment cost and an excessive available capacity for the hospital alone elevate this option to a higher level. This option needs to be considered on a larger scale, with the government or a private partner. Then the aquifer could form the basis of a heating network, with the hospital as one of the users. This presents an opportunity for a broader societal issue.
During the design phase in 2014-2015, a scenario was chosen that considered the energy transition as much as possible, at a time when “full electric” was not feasible, with low-temperature heating and high-temperature cooling. Heating is provided by two gas-fired boilers. Two gas-fired boilers are also used for steam production, serving as a backup for heating via a steam-water heat exchanger. Three water-cooled chillers combined with cooling towers provide cooling.
Heat pumps facilitate direct exchange between cooling and heating during winter and mid-season, optimizing energy consumption. When outdoor temperatures are sufficiently low, a dry cooler can use free cooling. Two combined heat and power (CHP) systems simultaneously produce heating and electricity.
Additionally, we optimized insulation and airtightness within the limits of a large-scale project.
Climate control favors TCO
A thoughtful distribution of air handling units limits their number and thus reduces the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Critical services naturally have their own air handling unit. Less critical services are served by central air handling units with corresponding main ducts, incorporating necessary redundancy. Non-critical services use heat wheels for recovery, minimizing the need for (steam) humidification and reducing energy consumption.
Where possible, cooling and heating are provided by climate ceilings: in patient rooms, offices, consultation rooms, etc. Depending on comfort requirements, other rooms are climate-controlled via air handling, fan coil units, or other systems. For operating rooms, the hospital opted for a differentiated approach: five rooms are equipped with an ISO5 unidirectional plenum, while the other rooms have a dilution-based air handling system guaranteeing an ISO7 class.
Climate control favors TCO
A thoughtful distribution of air handling units limits their number and thus reduces the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Critical services naturally have their own air handling unit. Less critical services are served by central air handling units with corresponding main ducts, incorporating necessary redundancy. Non-critical services use heat wheels for recovery, minimizing the need for (steam) humidification and reducing energy consumption.
Where possible, cooling and heating are provided by climate ceilings: in patient rooms, offices, consultation rooms, etc. Depending on comfort requirements, other rooms are climate-controlled via air handling, fan coil units, or other systems. For operating rooms, the hospital opted for a differentiated approach: five rooms are equipped with an ISO5 unidirectional plenum, while the other rooms have a dilution-based air handling system guaranteeing an ISO7 class.
Reliability in water and energy
Electrically, the hospital is fed directly from the Elia transformer station in Gilly via two separate, parallel feeders. This guarantees a very high reliability at the grid level.
Three emergency generators of 1,500 kVA each ensure internal electrical redundancy: except for part of the cooling, they can provide emergency power for the entire hospital. Each building section has enhanced reliability through its own medium voltage substation with redundant transformers and General Low Voltage Boards, and its own uninterruptible power supply (UPS). A performant and redundant control system regulates and monitors all electrical installations.
The hospital also has the necessary high-performance low-voltage installations such as a nurse call system, extensive access control, CCTV, ICT infrastructure, etc. As a central server room (MER room), the hospital chose prefabricated containers on the logistics plateau, ensuring a high degree of autonomy and flexibility to seamlessly accommodate future ICT developments.
Water is as important as power in a healing environment. The hospital has two storage tanks of 100 m³ each, providing approximately 8 hours of autonomy during peak consumption in case of issues with the public distribution network. The production of sanitary hot water is decentralized per building. Toilets are flushed with reclaimed rainwater, after necessary purification and filtering, via flush systems.
Ready for the future
Hospitals are among the most complex building types. New hospital construction projects can take up to a decade from preliminary design to completion. The design team is expected to deliver a performant building at the time of handover, meeting comfort, energy, and efficiency requirements at the time of commissioning and in the years to come. Despite the lack of a crystal ball, the design team must be able to foresee future developments and design the building to flexibly handle circumstances that are still unknown at the time of design.
With a mix of proven applications and innovative solutions, our technical experts designed an installation concept prepared for the energy transition and other future challenges.