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Major NHS hospital builds drone landing pad for urgent blood deliveries
Cristina Lago Deputy Editor
The landing area comprises 1.52mm-thick walkable interlocking synthetic rubber roofing boards (Image: PermaRoof Commercial)
Contractor CK Group Services has built a “groundbreaking” drone landing area on the roof of the cancer centre at Guy’s Hospital, in south London, to facilitate urgent blood deliveries.
The landing pad will receive blood samples transported by drone from the laboratory at St Thomas’ Hospital in under two minutes, instead of the average 20 minutes it takes to make the 3km journey by road.
During the project, CK Group Services cleared a portion of Guy’s green roof. Specialist roofing company PermaRoof Commercial supplied the contractor with 1.52mm-thick walkable interlocking synthetic rubber roofing boards made of ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM), which were laid on a waterproof membrane.
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CK Group Services cleared a portion of Guy’s green roof for the project (Image: PermaRoof Commercial)
PermaGroup said that the waterproof membrane is a better alternative to felt and other traditional waterproofing materials and has a lifespan of more than 50 years.
‘A challenging but exciting project’
Steve Greaves, from PermaRoof Commercial’s parent company PermaGroup, said: “This was a challenging but exciting project to be involved in. Testing weather conditions and working on a busy hospital site meant we faced logistical challenges, but all agreed timelines were met thanks to the team’s hard work."
The new drone landing area on the roof of Guy’s Hospital in Southwark, south London (Image: PermaRoof Commercial)
Steve Price, managing director at CK Group Services, said: “It was crucial that this project ran smoothly, given the drone transportation will potentially make such a huge difference to patients’ lives. So we needed to use products we knew we could trust, would be easy to install, and will stand the test of time.
“Thorough specification was key to the success of this, and a relatively small but effective roofing project will now have a considerable positive impact on the lives of patients, which is a fantastic result for everyone involved.”
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