HiPAF specified for Woodland hospital in Northampton

Woodland Hospital is one of Northamptonshire’s leading private hospitals located in Kettering. The hospital has 35 single rooms, all with en suite facilities, a multi bedded day ward and a two bedded high dependency unit.

When Ramsay Healthcare decided to increase the number of rooms and extend the facilities, one piece of equipment essential to the smooth running of the hospital required attention. The expansion of the hospital gave the consulting engineers FIRN the opportunity to review whether the existing sewage treatment system would be able to cope with the additional load the extra beds would bring. The age and the location of the system were two things that needed to be assessed.

Challenge

Watling Hope, an independent wastewater treatment specialist company determined that the size of the existing system would not provide sufficient capacity to cope with the additional flows and loads. The ageing unit did not have the necessary capacity in terms of treatment and storage. The location of the plant was too close to the hospital and it was deemed appropriate to move the plant to a more discreet location.

Solution

The sewage treatment plant selected was a HiPAF submerged aerated filter system (off mains drainage). This treatment plant is renowned throughout the industry for its reliability, consistently maintaining a high quality of effluent and its ease of maintenance. All criteria Ramsey Healthcare specified when the off mains drainage options were being reviewed. To overcome the location issue the treatment plant was installed by cutting into the side of a bank, using gabions as a retaining wall which also provided a high level of finish to the final installation.

With the plant being relocated to a more discrete position this has freed up much needed space in the service yard, and the servicing and maintenance of the system is proving to be much easier than with the previous treatment plant.