The inpatient unit cares for children and young people under 18 and provides a specialist eating disorder unit, a general adolescence unit (Heathlands), and an acute adolescent unit (Ashfields). The investment allowed a transformation of the spaces in their wards, improving the experiences of patients.
The Challenge
The brief was to reconfigure the Healthland and Ashfield units to allow them to offer a better experience by removing dormitory-style bedrooms and providing every young person with a single en-suite room, and brighter and more accessible lounge and therapeutic spaces. The facility remained in operation throughout.
The project team worked closely to ensure that the new layout provided emotionally safe and and therapeutic spaces for the young people.
The Solution
The young people in care were instrumental in the project coming to life from the onset and were involved throughout in terms of the building design.
Whilst working on a live site with residents living nearby, the project team worked closely with the hospital to ensure minimal disruption.
Our design team worked closely with the Contractor undertaking a validation exercise of the existing heating and ventilation services to identify and mitigate potential risks early in the project, reducing the likelihood of costly rework or commissioning issues at project completion.
Heating was provided by radiant panels for enhanced comfort ensuring more consistent temperatures for patients, staff and visitors. The radiant panels were controlled allowing for precise temperature regulation in different areas of the hospital, catering to the specific needs of the diverse spaces.
As part of our focus to drive efficiency we used passive ventilation where feasible, along with heat recovery units to reuse heat from the exhaust air to pre condition incoming fresh air, reducing heating loads.
These works are going to be completely transformative in terms of the care we are able to provide.
Alex Borg, Executive Director
