Saint-Gobain revamps Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital

Saint-Gobain contracted to specify product for the interior construction of the recently relocated Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital (CBMH).

Originally located in the centre of Cape Town’s City Bowl, CBMH is one of the city’s oldest private hospitals.The 28000m2 hospital prides itself as a super-specialized centre of excellence in cardiac services and transplantations because of:

  • 248 beds
  • 11 theatres
  • 110 medical doctors and specialists
  • Cardio-catheterization laboratories and other facilities

The structure, which was developed as a commercial building in 1969, was converted into a hospital building 26 years ago. The landlord and hospital group proceeded collaboratively to adapt the shell into a new and improved version of CBMH, and Saint-Gobain Gyproc was requested to specify products to contribute towards fulfilling Netcare’s fit-out brief for the building.

“The project required a material that could offer time and cost effectiveness together with comfort and safety features like acoustic control, fire ratings and thermal balance, whilst being durable and sustainable. Brickwork was initially going to be used for the fit-out, however, after in-depth consultation with the client and the various project teams, we concluded that drywall construction was the optimal solution”, says Janet Thompson, Project Specifications Manager: Saint-Gobain Gyproc

The footprint at each level of the ten-storey building needed to meet world-class hospital design requirements and comply with the department of health’s regulations, therefore the fit-out construction was designed to achieve this.

“To achieve flexibility in layout, we specified innovative plasterboard systems so that rooms can be reconfigured to meet the institution’s planned or retrospective needs as the high-rise building develops over time”, said Thompson

Drywall installation was used throughout the interior of the hospital and Saint-Gobain Gyproc 106mm drywall together with a combination of plasterboard panels were selected for the fit-out.

In any build environment, comfort features like acoustic and thermal properties are important, and these considerations are particularly relevant in a hospital environment where patient comfort is essential. Thompson’s team specified drywall systems that were able to provide a decibel rating upwards of 50dB, which is higher than the sound transmission performance of a 220mm brick.

Certain drywall panels together with insulation were also specified to ensure a one-to-two fire rating and help manage thermal properties, which added the benefit of reducing electricity usage and increasing sustainability standard.

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