We often talk here at Monkeytoe about our XBEAM platforms. But working with Westmead Hospital in Sydney gave us the chance to do something a little bit special: an XBEAM room.

When fitout and construction experts Renascent started work on the Westmead Hospital refurbishment, they knew that they needed a plant platform solution on the roof. A steel platform was designed but, as we know, the roof simply couldn’t have handled the weight of an almost 400sqm steel platform on it. So rather than add new supports into the roof and floors directly below the proposed platform, Renascent approached our Australian division looking for a solution.

Normally, a plant platform on a roof would include the likes of our Hushmonkey panels for both acoustic and visual minimisation, but in this case we were also tasked with designing a roofing frame from our extrusions to protect this platform from the elements.

It took some convincing to get the architect’s sign-off, but in the end we were able to deliver an impressive structure: around 28m long, 15 wide, and 5m high at the peak of the roof, with roofing sheet on the top and Hushmonkey panels as cladding on the long sides. The new structure now safely houses the HVAC and electrical/plumbing services needed, and looks great too – all while being a fraction of the weight of the proposed steel solution, and without requiring any additional building work or hot works on site.

With limited access to the site, our installers had to be quick so as not disrupt the busy, active hospital. Because our solution is a fraction of the weight of a steel solution, and didn’t require any hotworks on site, we were able to complete the fit-out over a Saturday morning. Little wonder Westmead Hospital and Renascent are chuffed with the result.

This has been a great chance for us to show what is possible with a dedicated design and install team, and the benefits of taking a leap with a new solution that really delivers.