Berlin, 7 February 2022 – SPIE, the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of energy and communications, has secured a contract from the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin hospital to renovate and upgrade electrical installations on four wards at the Benjamin Franklin campus while the hospital continues to operate. In doing so, the multi-technical service provider is ensuring that the wards are safer, more comfortable and more energy-efficient. The project began in summer 2021 and is scheduled for completion in mid-2022.
Renovation alongside day-to-day operations
SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa is upgrading the general and safety lighting system as well as the fire safety system for the wards, which contain around 180 beds in total. The SPIE experts are supplying and installing a high-voltage facility, the low-voltage main distribution board and 16 sub-distribution boards, as well as approximately 70 kilometres of cables and wiring, including the cable support systems. In addition to those, there are around 300 metres of dado trunking, installation equipment such as switches, sockets and junction boxes plus roughly 1,300 energy-saving LED lights, as well as occupancy sensors that automatically keep the lights on in a room for as long as they are needed and cable bulkheads in fire walls and fire ducts.
“One particular challenge lies in making sure we don’t disrupt hospital operations during the renovation work. We can carry out particularly noisy work only at certain times. We are therefore coordinating closely with the clinic throughout the course of the project,” explains Rudolf Kollmer, project manager in the CityNetworks & Grids operational division of SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa. “The state-of-the-art technology will help to improve comfort and safety for patients and nursing staff while also optimising the energy-efficiency of the wards at the same time. The upgraded lighting system alone will cut the clinic’s energy consumption by around 20%,” added Rudolf Kollmer.
Later on in the project, SPIE will also assume responsibility for the maintenance of the building technology.
Many years of trusting cooperation
The multi-technical service provider has already been working closely with the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin for 20 years or so, and it is a partnership built on trust. “We’re excited to be working on this project. The customer values our years of experience and our expertise in problem-solving across a wide range of projects, many of which we have implemented alongside ongoing operations,” said Matthias Richter, head of the Energy Facility Implementation unit in the CityNetworks & Grids operational division at SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa.