ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
borrowed light and views from the atrium itself. Forming the rear of the building, this linear façade works well in terms of providing a secure line alongside the main service vehicle route. It is generally viewed from a distance through a belt of mature trees, which help to break down and screen its massing, alongside a pair of stair towers that rise above the parapet line and project forward of the facade. To the south – the public face of the building, and where there is less screening by trees – the mass is broken up more substantially by projecting the wings of accommodation out from the atrium, creating a sense of a cluster of separate buildings with a more welcoming human scale befitting of a community facility.
Optimal adjacencies The CICC is arranged over three floors, balancing the desire for a compact footprint to facilitate ease of use and an appropriate contextual height, while creating optimal groupings and adjacencies of services and departments. The building layout needs to reflect the clinical operating model, and in particular – with a focus on the primary care – multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) which operate as a series of clusters. This defined the organisation of the first floorplan which houses all GP services. NHS and MoD clinical rooms are organised into a series of ‘fingers’, with each housing a MDT cluster. These are paired around shared ‘touchdown’ or breakout facilities for informal conversations between consultants to take place throughout the working day, and which define a series of external courtyards. The individual ‘consult-exam’ rooms have been standardised between the NHS and MoD to enable sharing of facilities and maximise future flexibility, with a focus on increasing collaboration and integration.
Large activity halls Clinical and spatial requirements dictate that certain services are required on the ground floor. The PCRF (Primary Care Rehabilitation Facilities) service has large activity halls for a range of physiotherapy treatments, which are best located at ground floor level due to their size,
36 Health Estate Journal April 2023
Top left: An internal view of first floor waiting area. Top right: An interior view of the ground floor atrium / café area. Above: The first floor waiting area and information desk.
height, and patients’ mobility. These are nestled under the waiting areas within the split-level atrium and an external courtyard between the fingers of GP accommodation above. The Advanced Primary Care and GP Out-of-Hours service has its own dedicated entrance and facilities located on the ground floor, to provide ease of access, and enable it to function independently when the rest of the building is closed. The same access point is shared with a dedicated ambulance pick-up point for any potential emergency requirements to the patients whilst visiting the facilities. On the second floor the Catterick Garrison Dental Centre is located to the north wing, with the southern clinical wings providing space for the Mental Health and Regional Occupational Health services.
Staff facilities ‘clustered’ into a shared zone
In line with best practice, staff facilities are ‘clustered’ into a shared zone within the western wing of the building, with reception and changing facilities on the ground floor, administrative spaces above relating to the various services on the first and second floor, alongside WCs, a rest area, and bookable multi-functional rooms for conference and training use. This creates a dedicated secure zone accessible
only to staff, which fosters a sense of ownership, and enables cross-disciplinary working and conversations to aid a holistic approach to patient care.
Interior design and wayfinding The building form, interior design strategy, and wayfinding proposals, have been developed in tandem to create a clear and logical patient journey from point of arrival to point of care and return. The entrances to the clinical wings are all defined as a series of timber-clad portals, wrapping over the atrium, and providing acoustic attenuation to the waiting areas. Each portal is defined in its own colour, which is reflected in the adjacent waiting area furniture to aid wayfinding once a patient has signed in. Generous areas of glazing separate the portals in the form of curtain walling looking out onto planted courtyards and rooflights above. These help to create a well-lit space with calming views of nature, as well as breaking up the large volume of the atrium. Internal planting is incorporated throughout the waiting areas to further capitalise on the mental health benefits of biophilia, and create a visual connection between inside and outside.
Variety of seating options A variety of seating options is provided within the atrium to cater for people’s
Credit BDP
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