Marcon instructed us to carry out make safe and remedial works to defined areas of defective concrete to the 1960’s tower blocks of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust’s Wycombe Hospital site.

The objective of the repair work was to secure at least five years more safe use from the affected areas, without structural collapse or concrete spalls/solar shading panels becoming unsafe.

Works were needed to the elevations of the main 8 storey tower block and to areas on the retaining walls to the Staples building and to Marlow Hill. Also to the leaking suspended front car park deck.

Use of scaffolding to access the tower facades was not favoured by the Trust (BHT) due to high cost and the ensuing major disruption of hospital operations.

The works involved making safe crumbling concrete facades around the site and making safe potentially crumbling concrete and corroding steel glass screen support panel framing on the four main tower block facades below 7th floor level.

Previous investigations had revealed a high degree of carbonation in exposed concrete at a number of locations. Concrete repairs were required to be sufficient to secure five years more safe use and not full remediation.

Nevertheless all concrete repairs were of course required to be to current Concrete Repair Association/BS/EU standards.

Abco worked in cooperation with our client to investigate the most appropriate concrete repair method and the selection of materials to produce a specification for each repair type. Further, on our close inspection of solar panel supports we were able to offer successful alternative means of making safe to that originally envisaged by the Trusts surveyors.