A reliable supply chain partner for major projects

Spirax Sarco project management skills have proved to be a vital ingredient in the smooth running of one of the UK's largest hospital redevelopments, Russells Hall Hospital in the West Midlands

Russells Hall proves Spirax Sarco credentials as a reliable supply chain partner to the health service.

Spirax Sarco project management skills have proved to be a vital ingredient in the smooth running of one of the UK's largest hospital redevelopments, Russells Hall Hospital in the West Midlands.

Spirax Sarco has supplied almost GBP1.25 million of equipment to the project, but it is the company's after sales service that subsequently distinguished it in the eyes of the customer and the contractors involved.

"I'd give Spirax Sarco 9 out of 10 for customer care," says Mr Graham Poole, project engineer for Haden Young, the contractor that ordered the steam equipment as part of the GBP150 million project in Dudley.

"Once they've sold the goods, too many companies are not interested in helping clients," he says.

"But Spirax Sarco was always willing to come round and help with any problems".

As a normal part of their service, Spirax Sarco project managers regularly visited the site to check the installation and provide expert guidance.

"We deliver an unusually high level of help and advice on how to install equipment," says Mr John Pickering, Project Manager at Spirax Sarco.

"As equipment was delivered, I routinely visited once a week to inspect the installation.

If anything was awry, I could alert the contractor immediately.

Spirax Sarco commissioned all its equipment and I was closely involved in the weekly commissioning meetings on site with the customer and during the commissioning itself.

"In a project this size it's really a partnership, with the supplier and the contractor both having to do their bit," says Mr Pickering.

"Haden Young is a very professional company to deal with".

Accurate delivery times are very important in co-ordinating such an enormous project, and suppliers such as Spirax Sarco are needed to keep the project on track.

The detail is vital, for example ensuring all equipment is correctly tagged for identification and meeting highly accurate delivery times, which were particularly critical for this project.

A complex delivery schedule called for up to three deliveries a day from Spirax Sarco.

"Delivery was tightly coordinated with the availability of heavy cranes to move equipment into position," explains Mr Pickering.

"We met all delivery time slots, which were sometimes only ten minutes long".

Much of the Spirax Sarco equipment for the project was supplied as engineered systems, with Spirax Sarco packaged steam plant delivered on a skid ready for installation.

As well as fast installation on site, this modular approach offers many advantages.

Fabricating systems in a workshop is quicker and safer than on a busy building site, and time is saved at the commissioning stage because quality control procedures such as pressure testing can be carried out before the systems arrive.

"It's really helpful to have elements 'bespoked', as we like to call it," says Mr Poole.

"It makes our job on site quicker and safer".

Russells Hall is part of the Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust.

The PFI project involves a combination of new build and refurbished facilities and will provide 754 beds and employ about 4,000 people once complete in early 2005.

The Trust has contracted Summit Healthcare, a consortium sponsored by Sir Robert McAlpine, Interserve FM and Bank of Scotland Infrastructure Finance to build and operate the hospital in a deal worth GBP1 billion over 40 years.

"On a project with such a long lifetime, it's also reassuring for the customer to know that as a long-established company, Spirax Sarco will be offering its service for all of those 40 years and more," concludes Mr Pickering.

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