Medical Air Technology (MAT) has undertaken the design, construction, installation and validation of four turnkey CL3 laboratory suites for Mater Dei Hospital in Malta. This prestigious new acute hospital is also used as a teaching facility by the neighbouring University of Malta and is a flagship facility for the country’s healthcare.
The facility, which is based in Block 1 and 2, Level 12, covers an area of approximately 160m². It will enable research in a safe and contained environment. The facility is designed in accordance with the latest Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) guidelines. It incorporates four CL3 laboratories, complete with lobbies. Each laboratory has a dedicated air handling unit, and are operating at balanced negative pressures with the supply and extract air via high-efficiency particulate arrestor (HEPA) filters.
The entire suite was finished in welded sheet vinyl, but the walls and ceilings were finished in GRP to ensure that an easy-clean, durable, safe and leak-proof structure was guaranteed. The ability to seal off the suite for gaseous sterilisation was incorporated into the design, as was a ‘man down’ alarm, CCTV system and a link into the Hospital building management system (BMS).