The Lowy Cancer Research Centre at the University of New South Wales has recently opened, becoming the first centre in Australia to bring together childhood and adult cancer research at the one site. The $100 million-plus facility houses up to 400 researchers from UNSW and the Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia, and is one of the largest dedicated cancer research centres in the Southern Hemisphere.
The initiative, which NHP was proud to be a part of, involved the construction of a state-of-the-art cancer research facility on the upper campus area of the UNSW Kensington Campus. The Kensington campus is adjacent to the existing UNSW biomedical research and is also in close proximity to the Prince of Wales and Sydney Children’s Hospitals.
The facility comprises of almost 15,000m2 of floor space over eight levels, including two basement levels. The two basement levels will house stores, support services, holding and procedure rooms, wash up facilities, plant and equipment, and will also be used for animal research. The Ground floor and levels 1 to 3 includes laboratories, technical support rooms and office accommodation, level 5 is home to epidemiological research, and level 6 is dedicated to Children’s Cancer Institute accommodation.
The Lowy Cancer Research Centre is one of UNSW’s first buildings aiming for a “5 Star” Green rating. One of the key design principles of the building was to ensure the most Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) is achieved. Some of the measures that were adopted in the design included:
Whilst ESD measures were important to the overall design scope of the building, other technical elements for the day to day functioning where required by the tenants. NHP provided many products that met with the functional specifications required by the University of New South Wales for this key project as well as the technical performance specification detailed by Aurecon (formally known as Connell Wagner). The issue of electrical isolation was important for two reasons: the first being the safety of personnel, which is paramount in any situation, and secondly, in the C25 facility, accidental switch off could comprise time based experiments within the laboratories, jeopardising research studies that are on-going. For this reason NHP’s Concept Powersafe was the switchboard of choice for the UNSW Engineering Team headed up by Mr. Chris Sanderson.
Electrical Switchboard Manufacturer K.E. Brown also played a key role in the Lowy Cancer Research Centre and were pleased to be a part of such an important project for the University of NSW and cancer research. K.E. Brown manufactured the Upstream Main Switchboards, Generator, UPS and other switchboards that included the lighting control panels, utilising Terasaki circuit breakers. Supported by a time current curve study, these circuit breakers minimise electrical outage to problematic circuits rather than potentially disrupting other areas of the facility.
Electrical services contractor Downer Engineering, who were the successful contractors to Bovis Lend Lease, selected NHP as the successful supplier for two main reasons according to Downer Project Manager, Jim Onasis. Onasis recalled basing his decision on NHP’s ability to understand and comply with UNSW technical specification as well as their capability to deliver large numbers of Distribution Boards in a relatively short time frame as per the construction schedule.
“Downer EDI has worked with NHP on a number of large projects and we have of the upmost confidence in NHP as they always keep us informed from a manufacturing and delivery point of view,” says Onasis.
“Once the MSB and DB switchboard drawings were approved by Aurecon and Bovis Lend Lease, it was a simple matter of getting the ball rolling and getting updates on where NHP and K.E. Brown were at so as to fit with our installation commitments. They did a great job at a switchboard manufacturing and contractor’s level, keeping us informed which assisted us during our progress meetings with Bovis Lend Lease”.
With the C25 Cancer Building completed in November 2009 and officially opened in early 2010, Chris Sanderson is now looking forward to the next group of projects for the UNSW.
“It is important to the Engineering and Facilities team at UNSW that we are informed about the new technologies that suppliers like NHP are able to bring to market”, said Sanderson.
“At UNSW we are always interested in products associated with energy efficiency, electrical safety and power distribution and we not only encourage development of new ideas, but also employ these products once commercialised to their best use”.
For more information on Cubic Modular Switchboards, NHP Powersafe Distribution boards or Terasaki Circuit Breakers, contact the NHP Project Department’s Andrew Bau, General Manager Projects.
