COVID-19
Operation MOONSHOT was a Government initiative to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 through the implementation of mass testing to enable maximum precision of future lockdowns. The ambition was to eventually deliver over ten million tests per day, which was to be achieved using new testing technologies.
REME Stood Up for MOONSHOT SEP 20. By the time the team finished, we had been on task eight months and 20 members of the Corps contributed to Op MOONSHOT.
REME Support Op MOONSHOT Service personnel from across the REME have been helping the UK government retrofit civilian vehicles with all the necessary equipment to turn them into mobile laboratories. Their herculean effort has made a huge difference in projecting the NHS’s testing programme.
REME Led the Design or Build of Four Different Mobile Laboratories. With the team of 20 spread across all ranks and most trade groups of the Corps and the competence of REME Engineering Officers, we had the capability to Design, Build or Project Manage multiple specialist mobile laboratory projects.
20ft Articulated Lorries Converted into Laboratories. The biggest of the builds the team assisted with the conversion of 20ft lorries capable of processing thousands of samples a shift.
30 Vans Converted into High Readiness, Fast Reaction, Mini Mobile Laboratories. The longest of the builds with the most REME input, 30 vans were designed and built to provide a national quick reaction force able to operate nationally throughout the UK.
The team
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ith REME involvement in the first iteration of Mobile Testing Units (MTUs) for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in April 2020, the Corps were the best choice to support the next generation of capability; Mobile Processing Units (MPU). Mobile Processing Units provide a laboratory function to process COVID swab samples at source. Designed and built with high sensitivity and specificity processing technology, they provide results back to the public within two and a half hours of swab. The solution; a direct targeting, mobile capability for outbreak response during the SARs pandemic. With a REME Engineering Officer embedded in the DHSC since September 2020, the Corps has been able to surge, a mix of engineering capabilities when required to Design, Build and Deliver a number of these processing laboratories ahead of schedule to support the unlocking of national lockdowns.
MACA 20/350: 20 Oct 20 – 23 Nov 20 Capt Fionidi Parker 4Bn REME and Capt Ian Taylor 6Bn REME Design and Build of Small PCR Trailer Laboratory. Mini Laboratories in Small Trailers. The biggest of the engineering challenges, a whole laboratory was squeezed into a small 2.5 ton trailer and is the next generation to Mobile Testing Units (MTUs). REME Provide Engineering Support to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Mobile Processing Units (MPU).
28 craftsmaneditor@reme-rhq.org.uk
The first of the Engineering Military Aid to Civil Authority (MACA) tasks to DHSC, Captains Fionidi Parker and Ian Taylor embedded directly into the Blizard Institute, at Bart’s Hospital, London. With a tight schedule to deliver a concept demonstrator laboratory, their first week entrenched them in the Blizard laboratory understanding the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) process and how they could reduce the eight processing steps and deliver within a mobile setting. Producing a neat set of Key User Requirements (KURs), their solution was a small 2.5 Ton trailer, which could work directly with MTUs and by week two they had purchased the trailer and designed a layout. By the end of the four weeks they had a fully operational laboratory, had
