Archive

A strategically important ward refurbishment project at Freeman Hospital to create an environment for care that is both supportive to clinical staff and reassuringly calm for patients. Part of the Newcastle Hospitals Internal Improvement Programme, this included the continuation of clinical ward refurbishments and upgrades to lift lobbies and circulation spaces.

A new medium secure hospital at the heart of the redevelopment of Northgate Park Hospital, allowing all secure services across the Trust to be brought together in a single, integrated centre of excellence. Providing inpatient accommodation for 72 patients, the building offers a wide variety of indoor and outdoor settings for relaxation and activity, ensuring a meaningful day for patients.

Sited in a protected wooded glade, Kimmeridge Court has been carefully crafted to preserve the quality of its natural setting and to create a uniquely private and therapeutic environment for the treatment of patients with eating disorders. Through close consultation with clinical staff, the facilities have been specially designed to meet a growing need for the service, enabling patients to re-establish a positive relationship with food and exercise.

The refurbishment of an existing primary care hospital building to provide a modern healthcare environment for the local community. The introduction of a single storey extension creates a new main entrance and waiting area, improving the patient experience. The building exterior has been rejuvenated with new windows, window reveal detailing and enhanced landscaping.

The first phase of our redevelopment of safety suites for Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, utilising a standardised design approach which safeguards the dignity and wellbeing of service users who need to be cared for in seclusion. The project provides a new standard of seclusion facility across six sites, which is suitable for various mental health services.

A national facility accommodating 170 high, medium and low secure mental health beds, including dedicated facilities for adult, child and adolescent, mental health intellectual disability, and intensive care rehabilitation. Designed with Scott Tallon Walker Architects, it is formed as a series of pavilion buildings around a ‘village green’, achieving intuitive wayfinding through a narrative of colour, art and landscaping.

This new academy is a learning space to nurture the next generation of healthcare experts, with a particular focus on personal development and wellbeing. Created through the adaptation and reuse of an existing building at St. Nicholas Hospital, it provides office and training spaces for staff and educational facilities for students.

In collaboration with Canadian practice Cumulus Architects, we completed the strategic planning and initial design phase for the redevelopment of St. Joseph’s Health Centre hospital, to provide over 75,000 sqm of new accommodation for emergency care, critical care, and inpatient services. This involved clinical planning of the hospital reorganisation, analysing clinical flows and key adjacencies, testing spatial fits, and block planning at 1:200 scale.

A multi-phased development control plan, which supports current and future acute services and makes efficient use of the existing hospital estate. This includes strategic development projects to improve the experience for patients, visitors and staff, such as improving wayfinding, centralising outpatient services and a new diagnostic hub with improved access.

A review on behalf of UCLH, of the technical compliance of their £380m Grafton Way Building, a pioneering proton beam therapy centre designed by Scott Tallon Walker Architects with Edward Williams Architects. The specialist building is one of two new facilities in the UK funded by the Department of Health to treat highly complex cancers.

Our redevelopment of Whitby Hospital has created a modern health and social care hub which supports the integrated delivery of primary care, secondary care, and community services. The under-utilised site has been rationalised and rejuvenated, taking advantage of the hospital’s elevated location, which overlooks the historic coastal town of Whitby.

Essential improvements to the clinical operation and patient experience at the Paediatric Emergency and Assessment Unit in Darent Valley Hospital. As well as improving the care environment, the new unit provides improved facilities for mental health assessment and a greater level of pandemic preparedness, with increased triage capacity and improved patient flows.

An adaptable site masterplan for St George’s Hospital which transforms the existing facilities into a cohesive mental health campus focused on therapeutic treatment and patient recovery. The new masterplan is underpinned by meticulous planning which will celebrate the best of the existing site’s assets, while creating a flexible estate which can easily adapt to meet future service requirements.

Blossom Court represents a new approach to design for mental health, with modern therapeutic spaces that promote direct and independent access to outdoor space. The unique two-storey arrangement sees four wards stacked around two terraced courtyards, creating a positive focal point for patients, and an abundance of natural light.

This programme involved the development of a new strategic blueprint for NHS Improvement, developing plans for a new generation of adaptable, scalable, integrated community hubs to support the transformation of primary and community care in England. We are now involved in the development of pilot schemes to implement its rollout.

Forming part of the estates strategy we developed with the Trust, the internal improvement programme brings a structured and consistent approach to strategically important refurbishment projects across their two hospital sites. The internal spaces provide an environment for care that is calming and reduces anxiety, whilst conveying a sense of professional efficiency.

A new intensive care unit at St Helier Hospital in the London Borough of Sutton, which features a revamped layout resulting from detailed briefing sessions with the clinical team. The new unit reflects a patient-focused model of care with support space provided around individual bed spaces, which allow the facility to operate seamlessly and efficiently.

Our estate strategy provides a clear vision for the Trust's estate and a guided framework which supports their leadership in sustainable development. The works illustrated in the strategy range from a new £135m clinical block to smaller scale refurbishment upgrades, as part of a fully costed and plotted 10-year programme.

In association with Cumulus Architects, we developed a sustainable long-term masterplan for Hillsborough Hospital, a mixed acute and mental health hospital on Prince Edward Island, a small province off the coast of Canada. With a focus on independence and access to nature, the development supports the full continuum of care, creating a clear pathway to recovery and community integration.

CAMH is the leading psychiatric hospital in Canada. Phase 1D is the fourth phase of a comprehensive redevelopment of its downtown campus, providing new forensic inpatient and wide-ranging outpatient facilities. The dense urban design makes the best use of the site by arranging seven floors around a central well of safe, private terraces and gardens.

A phased series of complex refurbishment projects to increase capacity and reduce waiting times at the UK’s largest dedicated neurological and neurosurgical hospital. Each phase of work at this 160-year-old institution required careful design to overcome the challenges of limited space, and construction alongside live, acute clinical services.

Working in collaboration with the Institute for Cancer Research, this six-storey project was designed to hugely increase the hospital's capacity, to provide ‘bench to bed’ personalised medicine. It involved significant remodelling of an existing heritage building adjacent to their existing Chelsea site, located in a conservation area.

This new £50m centre is completely charitably funded, providing a new flagship for the Royal Marsden's leading cancer treatment service. We were appointed to develop the brief and concept design, which incorporates treatment, research, and education within a single facility. The concept promotes the exchange of knowledge between these previously separated departments.

The pioneering integrated care centre is the first of a new class of NHS facilities to cater for the needs of an increasingly elderly population, providing out of hospital care and reducing the need for hospital admission. Adopting a new way of delivering health services, it provides a more holistic approach to health, care, and social support.

Cleadon Ward houses a new specialised service at Monkwearmouth Hospital, providing assessment and treatment for patients who are physically frail with a functional mental health illness. The project involved the refurbishment and extension of an existing building to create an 18-bed ward, a modernised new entrance, and an attractive outdoor courtyard.

Partners in Health, an American NGO, entered Liberia to help with the Ebola crisis in 2014, and opted to stay to help repair and enhance the country’s healthcare infrastructure. In 2016, we were commissioned to masterplan a 309-bed acute referral and teaching hospital in eastern Liberia, and to design the first phase for 150 inpatients.

Mitford provides inpatient support and treatment for adults with severely complex autistic spectrum disorders. The first building in the UK specifically designed for this service-user group, this pioneering project is founded on the observed correlation between the environment and positive outcomes for people with autism.

Our estate strategy provides a guided framework for investment, helping align the estate's functions with the Trust's business activity. It details how the Trust can meet the required capacity set out in their strategic plan affordably, within their long-term financial model. It also helps deliver this model by providing savings and efficiencies through a sustainable environment.

Clock View Hospital has set a new national benchmark in mental health facility design for the quality of its therapeutic environment and the level of engagement with the community it serves. The building presents a positive frontage to the surrounding neighbourhood, creating a strong local connection and projecting a message of openness and inclusivity.

This care unit is located within the former Oakland’s Hospital site, providing long term residential accommodation for eight adults with autism who require 24-hour support. The facility is inward-looking while the central courtyard provides abundant natural daylight, creating a private, secure, and therapeutic setting for its residents.

Hopewood Park is an exemplary 122-bed inpatient facility for adults and older people. The extraordinary site overlooking the North Sea inspired the creative evolution of the architecture, landscape, art, and wayfinding strategy. A sense of community is fostered through the clustering of wards and gardens around a communal heart.

A comprehensive and consistent strategy for improved dementia care across a number of sites within the Trust’s estate, including accident and emergency, a number of older patient acute wards, an intermediate care unit, and community facilities. The design enhances the environment for patients with dementia as they move through a typical care pathway.

A pioneering building for emergency services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, creating a calm, dignified environment for staff, visitors, and patients, and defining a new benchmark for emergency department design. Its design principles are based on a patient-centred model of care and an optimised use of space by developing standardised, flexible treatment rooms.

We helped develop the ‘Design for Future Climate: Adapting Buildings’ programme, which funded 26 key project case studies from different sectors, aiming to future-proof the design of buildings from climate change. Our Edge Lane TIME project for Mersey Care NHS Trust is at the forefront of current research.

The Heart Hospital is one of the UK’s major cardiac centres, providing leading specialist care and a unique range of services. We reviewed the existing arrangement and identified opportunities to increase clinical capacity with minimal disruption. Working closely with the clinical and estates team, we identified several adaptations to provide additional bed capacity.

This dementia care campus consolidates the Trust’s dementia services into a single location on an existing site. It includes refurbished accommodation, a new 24-bed assessment and treatment facility, day hospital clinics, and session work departments for adults and older people. Working alongside world-leading researchers at Stirling University, the project integrates the latest findings in dementia studies.

Glenside Health Campus is a 130-bed integrated mental health and substance abuse facility, which forms a strong connection to its local community. Jointly designed with Adelaide-based, Swanbury Penglase Architects, the facility is a place of refuge and healing that fosters patient autonomy.

This specialised, low secure, forensic facility in the Northgate Hospital site provides long term care, treatment and rehabilitation for men who have a learning disability. The new building is made up of four self-contained flats, each with six ensuite bedrooms and communal day spaces, with gardens and abundant daylight creating a bright, tranquil environment.

A feasibility study involving the medical planning and phasing of a new 462-bed hospital in New South Australia. Our proposal focused on creating a number of integral public centres linked by a landscaped pedestrian boulevard. The strategic masterplan integrates the proposed hospital into the existing and proposed urban environment, creating a flexible framework for future development.

A strategic long-term masterplan to inform development of Royal North Shore Hospital, ensuring that it can respond to the current and future needs for clinical, academic, teaching, and education services. Developed with Deicke Richards Architects, it optimises the potential for redevelopment and promotes a people-orientated environment, with direct access to quality external space.

Phase three of the Roseberry Park mental health village, extending the development to create a forensic mental health unit. The building provides 51 single-occupancy bedrooms, all with views to the outside, arranged over four ward quadrants. Each residential ward is designed to meet the needs of a specific user group, ranging from learning disabilities to medium risk.

Ferndene is the first specialist building in the UK that brings together children and young people’s mental health and learning disability services. Developed with input from the young inhabitants, the building responds directly to their needs, cleverly avoiding characteristics of a traditional mental health building whilst providing a safe, therapeutic, and rehabilitative environment.

We were responsible for the healthcare planning, schematic design and internal planning of several mental health wards and departments, a rehabilitation department, and new sports facilities, at this 457-bed acute care community hospital in Ontario, Canada. The hospital serves more than 180,000 people from the Oakville community and surrounding areas.

A facility designed with Donnelly O'Neill Architects, providing respite care for eight young people with a disability, aged 4-18 years. Set in private grounds, and designed around a central courtyard, the innovative structure allows carers to view the doors of all bedrooms from their workstation, while fins in the glazed wall provide privacy between patients.

A feasibility study to develop several initial options to regenerate the mental health service at the Springfield Hospital site in London, underpinned by a masterplan proposal by Patel Taylor Architects. The study enabled the Trust to select one option that can be developed into a full detailed scheme and submitted as an Outline Business Case.

This 312-bed inpatient mental health complex provides adult and forensic mental health services, including learning disabilities care. The therapeutic benefits of nature are fully utilised, with buildings and wards intimately entwined around a series of gardens and courtyards.

This 12-bed, specialist, short-term inpatient assessment and treatment centre provides care for working-age adults with a range of learning disabilities and mental health illnesses. Due to the nature and complex needs of the patient group, our design discretely addresses the three specific and specialist types of care provided, creating an environment that supports wellbeing and recovery.

A mixed gender inpatient facility for adults with acute mental illness, featuring an 18-bed acute ward and a 10-bed psychiatric intensive care unit, with community team bases and outpatient facilities. Part of an overall integration strategy, the centre brings mental health services into the wider community to eliminate the associated stigma.

The new Mandeville Wing at Stoke Mandeville Hospital consolidates services previously distributed across the hospital site into a single, patient-centred environment, providing day-surgery theatres with recovery beds, outpatient services, and an elderly care day centre. The modular building solution allowed construction on site in 20 weeks.

The Trust required the consolidation of maternity services at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and nearby in High Wycombe, ensuring alignment with the Trust’s future change and expansion strategy. The preferred proposal was to expand services at Claydon Wing, Stoke Mandeville Hospital and a scheme was developed which enabled existing operation to be maintained during modernisation.

Development of an exemplar design for the replacement of Royal Adelaide Hospital to create the largest hospital in South Australia and the cornerstone of South Australia’s Health Care Plan. Our work brought together a modern approach to departmental organisation, workforce planning and the highest quality patient environment in a low energy and ecologically conscious design.

This project involved the refurbishment of the Dene Ward; a 1970’s building forming part of Cherry Knowle Hospital in Sunderland. The work comprised of two phases, enhancing the existing space to create a positive environment for patients where services operate efficiently and safely.

The refurbishment and extension of two 12-bed, single-sex assessment and treatment units for people with learning disabilities and mental health problems. Internal rearrangement of each villa allowed a new entrance and visitor facilities to be created. Day and therapy spaces on the ground floor provide generous access to the south facing gardens.

The refurbishment of a building from the late 1800s, combined with an element of new build, to create two sensitively integrated units – a 7-bed adolescent learning disability unit and a 14-bed adult psychiatric intensive care unit. Generous access to courtyards provides views and aids in orientation, whilst the internal organisation improves observation, safety and security.

Commissioned partly by the Department of Health to aid research for HBN04_01 ‘Adult In-patient Facilities’, this project pioneered new approaches to single bedroom occupation. Three differently configured wings, housing 24 ensuite bedrooms, were designed based on evidence collected internationally, resulting in increased observation, reduced nurse walking and fatigue, and improved communication with patients.

This project comprised of the refurbishment and upgrade of the existing psychiatric intensive care unit, and associated wards, within the Bede Wing at South Tyneside Hospital. The scheme carefully reorganises the accommodation to provide a clearly graduated privacy, while carefully retaining good observation and patient safety.

This primary care centre incorporates several GP practices, along with diagnostics and imaging, minor operations, counselling, and outpatient departments. It features a generous, bright, and welcoming three-storey atrium, which forms the main entrance, circulation, waiting area, and heart of the building, while providing natural light deep inside.

Based on an existing hospital site, the 30-bed low secure unit is for patients with severe and enduring mental health problems who are preparing to return to life in the community. By designing gradations of territory, a normalising, de-institutionalised environment has been created that offers a full range of therapeutic opportunities, supporting recovery or rehabilitation.

This 41-bed medium-secure and personality disorder inpatient unit at St Nicholas Hospital is designed to provide a therapeutic and safe environment for patients vulnerable to self-harm and prone to aggressive behaviour. Designed to enhance the patients’ sense of wellbeing, the building uses the architecture as the secure enclosure, whilst providing direct access to gardens.

This residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit is a supported accommodation project for people with severe and enduring mental health illnesses. It involved converting two existing buildings adjacent to a large inner-city psychiatric hospital, the Maudsley, into ten one-bedroom flats and two wheelchair-accessible flats, with associated communal and staff areas.

An exemplar of NHS modernisation and the second operational ambulatory care centre of its kind in the country, the centre provides a one-stop clinic, primary care centre, local minor injury centre and a rehabilitation service. It is designed to optimise the patient experience, and this is reflected in the material quality, ambience and user-friendliness of the environment.

Three new facilities for inpatient services at Highcroft Hospital to provide modern, safe, and effective environments for care, including, a high dependency unit, older adult assessment unit, day hospital, acute unit, rehabilitation unit, and an activity centre. Graduated and controlled territory is a central driver in the design, providing a mix of public, semi-public and personal spaces.

In order to address the demands of the rising local population, this surgery was reconfigured into a more efficient layout, with a new extension built to the site limits, retaining the existing car park. It was constructed in three phases, which allowed the GP’s to continue to practice throughout the 20-week construction period.

Two 24-bed adult acute community treatment units for patients in St Albans and Hemel Hempstead, providing facilities for short term care and assessment, and day care. Largely single storey and framing three courtyards, the units are designed to complement the existing landscape and respect the scale and privacy of their neighbours.

Sited in an inner-city location, the building brings together a health centre, GP practice and a community mental health centre, with 14 acute beds. The facility is designed to offer flexible space for use by various medical services, with shared staff offices and facilities encouraging service integration and improved communication.

This older adult assessment unit comprises a 32-bed residential care and assessment ward and a 40-place day hospital. The building is in the form of seven linked single-story pavilions, arranged to take advantage of the sloping site and to make intimate, partially enclosed terraces and gardens around its perimeter.

The building exemplifies the use of multi-function space to allow future flexibility for an increasing range of GP services. The rooms are planned around two courtyards which can be accessed by waiting patients and staff. The central high space, projecting canopy and eaves detail provide a civic presence to the entrance and reception space.