Construction group Interserve is currently on site at the Christie hospital in Manchester, delivering the UK’s first NHS high energy proton beam therapy centre.
This state-of-the-art project, procured through the NHS Procure21+ framework, is a major achievement in the advancement of cancer care in the UK and has reached a major milestone by receiving ‘Emmeline’, its cyclotron, named after local suffragette, Emmaline Pankhurst, that will produce the cancer-treating proton beam to treat up to 750 patients a year.
The cyclotron arrived from Germany and has been craned into position. The successful crane lift of the 90-tonne kit was witnessed by two 11-year-old girls who have both received proton beam therapy in the US.
Proton beam therapy is a specialist form of radiotherapy that targets certain cancers very precisely, increasing success rates and reducing side effects. It targets tumours with less damage to surrounding healthy tissue and is particularly appropriate for certain cancers in children who are at risk of lasting damage to organs that are still growing.
The cyclotron will supply protons to three treatment rooms at the hospital and also for research performed in collaboration with The University of Manchester.
After its installation and testing the cyclotron will start to deliver treatment in 2018.
Phil Shaw, associate director of Interserve, said: “Thanks to the hard work of the team we were able to achieve sectional completion ahead of schedule, making the installation of the cyclotron a certainty.”
In achieving this critical “ready for equipment” date, Interserve and its supply chain had to:
- Build the new facility within a live acute oncology site, adjacent to residential areas.
- Secure the right team for the client two years before the project came into the market.
- Travel across Europe and USA researching PBT technology and construction techniques to develop UK expertise.
- Pour and place 17,000m3 concrete, 1,700 tonnes of reinforcement in walls over 6m thick in places.
- Develop specialist reinforced concrete mixes for radiation protection with the ability for it to be pumped.
- Undertake a test pour to monitor how the concrete striking time would react to specific weather conditions and develop a methodology to prevent shrinkage and thermal cracking of the concrete.
- Undertake concrete pours of 700m3, equivalent to 127 concrete wagons in a single day.
- Carry out 107 pours in total, sequenced to prevent any lock-ins with the associated build-up of pressure.
- Use BIM to model radiation protection: a first for the UK.
