Development of a field hospital dedicated to the coronavirus in the Hanover exhibition center

SPIE, an independent European player in multi-technical services in the fields of energy and communications, has won a contract to participate in the development of the infrastructures of the field hospital dedicated to the Coronavirus on the exhibition grounds of Hanover.

This field hospital is designed to accommodate 500 patients who do not require intensive medical care. More than 80 doctors and a hundred medical staff will be able to treat these patients. The operation of this health center will be taken over by the Hannover Medical School. It will have to be put into service as soon as all the regional hospitals have reached their maximum capacity. The transformation of halls in an exhibition center into a field hospital requires numerous technical installations.

State-of-the-art equipment

A SPIE team from Hanover is installing the infrastructure for this field hospital. Such an operation presents a high level of requirements, particularly with regard to the technical equipment and logistics surrounding it. "The biggest challenge in this operation is to transform an empty exhibition hall into a state-of-the-art medical center - starting with the installation and networking of the telecommunications system," says Wolfram Ermlich, project manager in the Information & Communication Services division of SPIE. Next to the hall intended for the treatment of patients, other halls had to be transformed - for example, for bed management, for staff changing rooms, for the cafeteria, for the logistics and storage area and for vehicle parking.

“In cooperation with Deutsche Telekom, we have installed around 250 telephones and 16 DECT antennas in the patient care area, and installed 15 kilometers of copper cables and one kilometer of cables for optical fiber. In addition, five individual WLAN networks are available to this field hospital ”, indicates the project manager. In this way, fast, secure and uninterrupted communication can be guaranteed inside the health center.

With regard to the electrical installation, countless sockets and connections have been provided to supply individual and collective spaces, as well as administrative services located in the adjoining rooms and adjacent halls.

An excellent partnership

A good collaboration between the various people in charge of the operation - the Hannover Medical School in its capacity as operator, the Deutsche Messe AG as contracting authority for the halls as well as the Technische Hilfswerk as technical director general of the project - contributed to its success.

“The customer is pleased with the good cooperation between all stakeholders and is very satisfied with the way in which such a demanding operation has so far been carried out. ", comments Wolfram Ermlich.