Healthcare Sector

Seamless BMS upgrade enhancing efficiency and patient comfort

The Children’s Hospital, located in the UK, is one of Europe's largest and most renowned paediatric centres, offering specialized care in areas such as surgery, oncology, and cardiology. The hospital is designed to provide a supportive, child-friendly environment for patients and their families.

The hospital recently undertook a major upgrade of its Building Management System (BMS) to improve energy efficiency and ensure patient comfort. The project involved replacing 220 main controllers in a complex, high-demand environment with the collaboration of MITIE and the NHS Trust. The hospital, housed in a modern but intricate building, required careful planning to execute the upgrades without disrupting critical hospital operations. Working proactively and in collaboration with the hospital, this was an initiative that we identified and agreed with the hospital to implement. Our engineers replaced controllers using the advanced Tridium Niagara System and this was completed in the course of one year. The majority of the work was executed during the day, with particularly sensitive areas requiring planned shutdowns and out-of-hours scheduling to minimize risk.

The complexity of the site demanded a significant allocation of resources, with several engineers working simultaneously to ensure a seamless transition. Meticulous engineering preparation of software and system integration ensured each controller was down for a minimum period of 15-20 minutes, resulting in minimal downtime. The BMS upgrade required not just technical expertise but also precise coordination, especially in high risk areas like operating theatres, where safety was paramount. Despite the scale and challenges, the dedicated project delivery team’s careful planning made the process look effortless, reinforcing and supporting the hospitals commitment to providing a safe, comfortable environment for its young patients.

Enhanced support and continuous improvement

A large London hospital, considered a historic teaching hospital in Central London, serving over 2 million patients annually with a workforce of over 20,000. To meet its extensive operational needs, the hospital partnered with SSE Smart Buildings to manage its Building Energy Management System (BEMS).

SSE has been working in partnership with the hospital for over 30 years, and were chosen for our proven expertise and Master Partner status on the Siemens Desigo platform. This expertise facilitates the implementation of a bespoke maintenance contract where we provide blended approach to our support maintenance services. This blended Reactive and Remote service provides predefined support levels, ensuring budget predictability, reducing administrative costs, and adding value through actionable management insights. This allows SSE to focus on the current building performance alongside in-depth analysis of any current issues. Our services include:

• Dedicated Account Management Team
• A blend of 210 reactive visits with 24 hour remote specialist service via the EMC per annum. The 24/7 remote service is managed within an agreed annual budget, known as a token service.
• Weekly network management visits
• Access to our secure Customer Portal for service reports, improvement quotes including monthly critical alarm management reports and everything relating to our bespoke services.
• Wide range of projects underway and successfully delivered to date examples include:
  • High Availability Server upgrade and backup NAS storage for BMS historical records
  • East Wing Critical Care ward
• Proactive monthly operational account meetings to identify innovation and improvements

Operating 24/7, the hospital faces the challenge of maintaining uninterrupted building operations while meeting stringent environmental and clinical requirements crucial for patient care and pharmacy operations. To ensure these critical systems are safeguarded, it's essential to prioritise network upgrades, which prevent vulnerabilities and strengthen the resilience of infrastructure needed for seamless maintenance and operational continuity. Monthly meetings and reports, along with tracking individual tasks and alarms, further enhance the efficiency and customisation of our maintenance services for this large hospital complex.

Furthermore, SSE recently completed the installation of the latest Siemens BMS technology into the newly built adjacent children’s hospital, on the Siemens Desigo CC platform. The rest of the site will also now experience the same upgrades in a phased delivery scheme. The enhanced support services and improved operational efficiency ensure continuous and high-quality patient care.

"As a large central London Hospital we have a necessity to work with contractors that support the needs of the Trust by being both proactive and reactive. SSE have consistently demonstrated their commitment to supporting both the capital projects and the engineering teams.”

Head of Technical Assurance Design and Development.

Seamless BEMS integration for large desteam project

A hospital located in the north east is a key healthcare facility, serving the wider North East UK area. It provides a range of medical services, including emergency care, surgery, rehabilitation, and outpatient services. Managed by Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, the hospital is recognized for its commitment to high-quality patient care and innovation in healthcare delivery.

The Desteam Project, supported by SSE in collaboration with both the main contractor and the client, involved providing BMS control for a new energy centre in the hospital by integrating systems such as boilers, chillers, and backup generators. To optimise energy efficiency and maintain the hospital's critical heating and cooling needs, we designed, implemented, and commissioned our solution using the Desigo CC PX range. This system included 21 BMS control panels that manage plant rooms for low-temperature hot water (LTHW) and chilled water through plate heat exchangers, ensuring effective control and monitoring of the hospital’s heating and cooling infrastructure.

The projects key achievements for the hospital included:

• Successful design and installation of large, multi-sectioned control panels in the energy centre
• Seamless integration between the BEMS and various equipment.
• Precise communication between systems and efficient energy load management.
• Enabled the hospital to maintain optimal environmental conditions throughout its infrastructure.

SSE played a key role in supporting the hospital’s main contractor on with the energy centre project, taking charge of the BEMS integration. By delivering the project on budget, SSE demonstrated strong value through competitive pricing and seamless Siemens technology installation. The result is a highly efficient energy centre that meets the hospital's operational needs, improves comfort, reduces CO2 emissions by 75% by 2030, and saves the trust £500,000 annually, while mitigating power outage risks.

“I am pleased with the results from this week’s site visit. The boilers are performing much better, and I managed to close some of the remaining tracker actions that were waiting for me to check on site. I am also pleased with SSE’s engineers common sense and professionalism, putting the brakes on my enthusiasm to keep trying different solutions”

Lead BMS Project Engineer