Monklands Hospital

Acoustic Assessment and Air Tightness Testing, Monklands Hospital Theatres and ICU Upgrade, Airdrie

Client: NHS Lanarkshire

Contractor: Graham Construction

Architect: Oberlanders Architects

Project Value £19 million

Project team: Richard Mackenzie, Dale Porteous

RMP were commissioned to provide an acoustic assessment of the proposed development to the intensive care unit and operating theatre at Monklands Hospital.

We undertook noise and vibration measurements and provided acoustic design review advice to meet the requirements of HTM08-01. The design is set to achieve BREEAM Very Good.

As part of the estate’s ventilation and energy-efficiency improvement programme, RMP was appointed to carry out airtightness testing, leakage diagnostics and specialist consultancy across key clinical areas of the existing hospital building.

The areas tested included large, interconnected zones, significant internal air volumes, complex service routes and essential ventilation pathways — all of which had to be assessed without interrupting hospital operations or affecting patient care.

RMP developed a bespoke multi-fan testing strategy to suit the building and project objectives. This included controlled zoning, simultaneous fan operation and real-time pressure balancing to achieve stable test conditions across large and complex areas.

Alongside the testing, RMP provided consultancy support to help the project team interpret the results in practical ventilation terms. This included explaining leakage data, pressure behaviour and performance implications, while supporting discussions with the ventilation contractor as the methodology developed.

The resulting data gave the client a clearer technical basis for future upgrade decisions, helping to reduce the risk of over-sizing, under-sizing or misapplying high-value ventilation plant and equipment and demonstrates RMP’s ability to deliver specialist airtightness testing in complex live environments where planning, communication, diagnostic insight and technical judgement are just as important as the test result itself.