Hannover Center of Translational Medicine HCTM | Germany

The new Hannover Center of Translational Medicine (HCTM) is a distinctive and striking presence within the new Medical Park Hannover complex. The new facility, which has been built for the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM), will help accelerate the transfer of findings from basic research into beneficial applications such as medications and therapies. The research focus at the new facility is on respiratory and infectious diseases.

The new facility's floor space is divided as follows (main divisions): office space (about 1,600 m²), laboratories and a clinic area (about 3,300 m²) and communal, meeting and overnight-stay areas (about 1,200 m²). The equipment installed in the facility's examination areas includes a range of imaging devices, such as CT systems, MRI scanners and PET scanners.

The facility's heating needs, amounting to 920 kW, are met via the district heating network of the Enercity municipal utility. The facility's offices, treatment areas and accommodations for probands/test persons are heated via thermally activated building systems (TABS). In offices, plate radiators have been included as additional heating systems, to guarantee high comfort levels. The additional systems make it possible to regulate room temperatures quickly and individually.

A system has been installed to accommodate retrofittable additional cooling elements that can be operated during the day. The provisions for the additional cooling elements include separate distribution units installed within the suspended ceilings, and pipelines installed within the concrete main structure and fitted with connection sockets. The air conditioning systems are operated with variable air volumes. For optimization of cooling plants, the various users (systems) have been analyzed in terms of their system-temperature and cooling-duration requirements, and then assigned to the appropriate, separate cooling systems, including higher-temperature systems operating at 16/19°C and low-temperature systems operating at 6/12°C. In combination with water-based space-cooling facilities (thermally activated building systems, cooling ceilings, air-recirculation cooling units), use of the higher system temperatures opens up potential for efficient use of environmental energy (such as free cooling, geothermal energy). The facility's total cooling requirements amount to 890 kW.

A central compressed-air generation system has been installed on the attic floor. The medical areas on the ground floor and 2nd floor are supplied with medical compressed air in conformance with the  European Pharmacopoeia. The basement area includes a central gas-storage and handling system for medical oxygen. Banks of cylinders, and cylinder racks, operating with gas pressures of 200 bar are connected to it, and integrated, automatically switched press-reduction units ensure that the flow of oxygen is never interrupted. With a de-ionization system, the laboratory areas produce pure water with parameters conforming to the ISO 3693 Type II standard. Type II pure water is used in the facility's dishwashing machines, autoclave and laboratory areas.

Images: © Solveig Böhl (ZWP Ingenieur-AG)