The Client

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) manages the national voluntary donation system for blood, tissues, organs and stem cells, turning these precious donations into products that can be used safely to the benefit of the patient.

NHSBT supplies around 2 million units of blood a year to hospitals in England and Wales, receives around 3,500 organ and 4,000 tissue donations and banks 2,200 cord blood units from across the UK.

The Requirement

The Manchester site was chosen to consolidate manufacturing activities for the North of England. Due to a resulting 150% increase in workload, the Manchester facility would require significant development to be able to handle the extra demand.

A 2 year project was designed that involved 4 phases of building works to include the creation of a large open plan manufacturing hall combined with hospital services as well as the construction of two new cold rooms and the refurbishing of existing ones.

The open plan and ambient areas were to be maintained between 20-24 degrees at all times and the project involved the introduction of almost 100 new items of laboratory equipment.

Having met with the NHSBT project team at the proposal stage, Biomap presented a schedule of work that would demand a comprehensive set of mapping exercises, incorporating large ambient areas as well as cold storage environments. The work was mainly split into 4 x phases over 2 years, where mapping was required after each stage as contractors handed over. This provided a very narrow window for the work that was required and demanding timescales for report turnaround to facilitate the release of the areas for live use.

The Results

After contract award, the protocol documentation was designed with complex floor plans and monitoring foot prints for review and approval.  These were presented at the beginning of each phase and signed off before the work could commence.  The mapping work consisted of 7 x different mapping exercises that were executed as planned and summarized data was provided to the client on the same day that the mapping terms ended.  This allowed the NHSBT team to review the data at the earliest opportunity and have the information to justify the release of the mapped area without delay.  Full reports with comprehensive analysis and recommendations were then submitted for review.