College students experience live construction site at University Hospitals Plymouth
Local college students were recently invited to a building site to find out about different careers in construction and learn about a very special building process currently being undertaken at University Hospitals Plymouth.
The hospital’s Oncology site is currently being extended to include additional linear accelerator bunkers (LINAC), more commonly known as radiotherapy bunkers.
Tilbury Douglas, a UK building and infrastructure company have been appointed to complete the construction and wanted to invite local college students to the site. After a health and safety briefing, the students were supplied with personal protection equipment so that they could enter the site and find out all about the complex processes involved in constructing the bunkers.
The bunkers will contain linear accelerator equipment which is used primarily to treat cancer. The equipment must be shielded to prevent high-energy rays from escaping the treatment room and the most used material for this is very thick specialist concrete called magnadense.
Over 1400 tonnes of the magnadense concrete has been supplied for the bunkers, as the walls and ceilings are up to 2.2 meters in thickness. The concrete is mixed offsite by a specialist company and brought onsite to be poured and cured. The complex process was explained to the students by the Tilbury Douglas team.
Paul Gale, Divisional Director at Tillbury Douglas said: "Our teams were excited to welcome members of the general public and students from Stansfield School and City College Plymouth onto site to learn more about the important project. We shared some of the technical specialisms required to build the LINAC bunker. Specifically, the detail that went into the pouring of the magnadense concrete which will prevent the radiation used in the linear accelerator escaping the treatment room. We also made sure to highlight the array of roles in construction and early career opportunities at Tilbury Douglas.
We're looking forward to sharing more updates on the project and hopefully inviting our guests back for a follow up visit soon."
Richard Avery, Learning out of the Classroom Co-ordinator at Stansfield Academy Exeter said: "Just a short note to tell you how much we appreciated the time, effort and planning that went into our visit to your site at Derriford. We were so impressed with how it was pitched and presented from the gear to the future planning and the hands- on experience laid on for us. You can be sure that post exams our 3 keen engineering students would be very interested in taking you up on your kind offer to re visit. Thanking you once again"
Helena Procter, Lecturer in Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction at City College Plymouth said: "We have been on a fair few visits now and it's been great to see how everyone approaches it.
We had some great conversations when we came back to the college and whilst we have talked quite in depth about concrete, we learnt so much more about the uses in terms of the radiation examples. It’s been a real success for us in terms of passion, confidence and knowledge."
The project to build the bunkers began in September 2022 and is due for completion early 2025.
