Bowral District Hospital

Our client – Bowral District Hospital

The Bowral District Hospital is a community hospital located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. The hospital provides medical services to the local community, including emergency care, surgery, and maternity services. The hospital also has a rehabilitation unit and a palliative care unit.

Originally founded in 1889, Bowral District Hospital has been serving the needs of its local population for over a hundred years. From humble cottage hospital origins, the hospital now offers a range of general and specialised services.

A $68.6 million investment in the hospital's redevelopment saw a new Clinical Services Building open in late 2020, providing much-needed additional capacity for the increasing number of patients using the hospital each year. The new building houses a state-of-the-art emergency department, new operating theatres, intensive care, and high dependency units. The redevelopment also includes an improved entry and drop-off area, making it easier for patients and visitors to access the hospital.

Building requirements

As part of the redevelopment of the hospital, ControlWorks was contracted to design and install a Building Control Management System (BCMS) to optimise the hospital’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

As the project included the construction of new purpose-built wards and theatre spaces and the refurbishment of existing wards and offices, the requirements of the new HVAC system included temperature, humidity, and air quality control within each defined area. Remote monitoring and automatic alerts sent to staff for servicing or faults were also essential.

Our Building Management and Control System solution

The HVAC system installed at Bowral District Hospital is a complete Distech Controls-based Building Management and Control System.

The network and building controllers are BACnet devices that can all be controlled from a central location. The extensive system includes chillers, cooling tower fans, boilers, pumps, air handling units, humidifiers, fan coil units, and JCI VAV boxes throughout the hospital.

The upgraded Building Management System now monitors the building conditions and alarms and provides trending and historical data analysis. Operators can view real-time data, setpoints, schedules, and trends for individual pieces of equipment or the entire system on wall-mounted touch panels throughout the facility.

Inputs from temperature, humidity and air quality sensors are monitored by the BMS, which controls the operation of air handling units, dampers, and variable speed drives to maintain comfortable conditions and sterilisation procedures within the hospital environment. Fault monitoring and logging are also provided along with web-based front-end graphics for easy access by hospital staff via PCs or mobile devices. 

The BMS also provides graphical representations of zone conditions and energy usage to help operators make informed decisions about system optimisation.

In addition to the web-based interface, the BMS can be accessed remotely via laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

The result

The system has been designed to meet the hospital's comfort and energy efficiency needs. The fully integrated solution delivered by ControlWorks has resulted in simplified maintenance routines and energy cost savings for Bowral District Hospital. The ControlWorks team is proud to have been part of such a landmark project that will improve patient care for many years.