ARZANAH MEDICAL CENTRE

Arzanah Medical Centre is the first dedicated spine, knee and sports-related injury treatment centre in the Middle East and it includes the latest diagnostic and treatment equipment, as well as very high quality internal spaces, including VIP rooms. It is WSP’s first healthcare project in Abu Dhabi.

WSP provided multidisciplinary engineering services, working with a project team spread across the world, including a local project manager, a concept architect based in the US and a structural engineer in Jordan. Good planning, communication and appreciation of the cultural differences were critical to the project’s success.

Range of Local and Foreign Standards

The building had to meet a range of different regulations, including a mix of local codes and standards as well as those adopted from the UK and the US. These could be conflicting in certain areas: UK codes are very prescriptive in relation to the arrangement of clean and dirty corridors around operating theatres, for example, whereas the US allows mixed corridors. That complicated the ventilation system arrangements and special considerations were required to avoid cross-contamination.

Sustainable Design

WSP’s building services design enabled the project to meet the LEED Silver accreditation for environmental performance, with the building energy model proving that the design achieves over 20% energy savings.