King’s College London | Rayne Institute
Introba (formerly Elementa Consulting) was appointed by King’s College London to design the mechanical, electrical, and public health systems to refurbish the ventilation systems at the Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering of the Rayne Institute located on the 4th floor of St. Thomas’ Hospital, London.
The project’s scope at the Rayne Institute consisted of six separate laboratories: Main Radio-Chemistry Laboratory, Imaging Hot Laboratory, Tissue Culture Laboratory, Biology Lab, NMR/DNP Laboratory, and Preclinical Scanning Laboratory.
The existing ventilation, air conditioning, and dedicated fume extract systems were in poor condition and woefully inadequate for the requirements of the laboratories. Introba was tasked with ascertaining the shortfalls of the existing system and redesigning said systems to provide a comfortable and safe working environment for the occupants. Supply to the laboratories consisted of a combination of all air systems providing heating and cooling from a roof-mounted air handling unit and distributed via a ventilated ceiling. The Preclinical Scanning Laboratory also has retrofitted fan coil units to provide local cooling.
Extract ventilation was provided from the main building extract system and fume cupboards. This system was not ideal for the application as the Institute did not control the general extract ventilation, often resulting in positively pressurizing the laboratories. The fume extract systems were also insufficient in duty and resulted in failing containment tests rendering them unusable. In addition, the internal temperatures would often rise above acceptable temperatures, resulting in the need for local cooling in portable air conditioning units.
Our design consisted of tackling the associated issues on numerous fronts. The existing air handling unit, chiller plant, and steam to LTHW calorifier were replaced with appropriately sized units. The ventilated ceiling and ceiling void were resealed and validated to ensure optimal distribution within the laboratory. Local duct-mounted heater and cooling batteries were installed to temper the supply air to give local control of the internal temperatures of the spaces to maximize user comfort. The general extract system was isolated from the main building by installing a new roof-mounted unit to ensure that the Institute had total control over the entire ventilation system.
The fume extract fans were replaced, and the ductwork routing was optimized. This ensured that the fume cupboards/safety cabinets operated efficiently and provided a safe working environment. The result was a comfortable and safe working environment for the occupants with dedicated systems under the laboratory’s control.