REPURPOSING BUILDINGS
Kieren Morgan
Above: Glass doorways and large windows increase access to natural light throughout the building.
Left: Considerable attention to detail is extended to the wayfinding signage.
Inset left: As the former supermarket was essentially a windowless box, introducing natural light into the centre was a key challenge for the designers.
population, particularly as the area suffers from an irregular public transport service. It also decreases pressure on the main hospital, which recently declared a critical incident, urging people in Cornwall to use pharmacies, Minor Injuries, and GP practices, for non- urgent care. We designed flexible spaces for community use, health
promotion, and wellbeing, locating these within the public welcome area and foyer that is visible from the pedestrian and vehicular access ways. This zone can also be used to separate vaccination clinics from the main consultation area, while providing potential expansion space in the future if required. Staff spaces are segregated from the main consultation spaces – providing confidentiality and privacy for healthcare workers.
Welcoming sunlight into dark space The former supermarket is essentially a windowless box. A key challenge was therefore to introduce natural light into the new centre. We suggested a layout that positions rooms, and as many as possible, on the external walls. Our design cuts new window openings into the existing structural bays while also utilising internal glazed screens for borrowed light where appropriate. While retrofitting an existing building poses many design and technical challenges, we must begin to consider creative ways of using them if we want to sustain economic growth and not contribute further to the climate crisis. The shell of the former supermarket was built in 1984, and is surrounded by neighbouring buildings and a car park. While the orientation of the building cannot be altered, its energy performance and consumption can be
changed, improved, and future-proofed. As such, the team has explored and embedded several key elements within the retrofit based on a ‘building within a building’ concept. New insulation fitted to all external walls and the roof creates a warm building inside the shell of the existing supermarket. Newly-formed openings have been carefully located within the existing structural grid. Thermally broken door and window units with specialist glazing, sized to maximise natural light and improve energy performance, have been installed. The main source of heat is through ground source heating, which required the contractor to drill 12 boreholes to an impressive 1.3 km depth within the building footprint. The south elevation of the 1,500 m2
roof
will be covered with solar panels, generating electricity, and considerably reducing the running costs of the new centre. Work on the scheme commenced in March 2024, and
the new healthcare facility opened its doors last month, meaning it took just 14 months for the first phase of the building project to come to fruition. It’s been such an exciting programme to work on. Like everyone else who has been involved in making this great vision become a reality, we look forward to the commissioning of the facility, to learn how people respond to the building, and how it serves the Helston community.
An example for other high streets Hopefully the project will demonstrate what can be achieved on high streets throughout the country. It will illustrate how, with the right vision and support, we can bring healthcare to the community – improving access to medical treatment and prevention for so many, while also revitalising local communities.
As a director at MJ Medical, Kieren Morgan leads the company’s healthcare design studio. An award- winning architect with over 30 years’ experience developing advanced healthcare environments both in the UK and overseas, previously – as the Health Development director for Nightingale Associates – he successfully led the development of the practice’s health business and design research for nearly a decade. He also led international healthcare facility design and research for Hassell UK Studio. His projects included the Royal Hospital for Children & Young People in Edinburgh, the Hampshire Critical Treatment Hospital, the Bahrain Oncology Centre at the King Hamad University Hospital in Bahrain, and the reference design for the new Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff. His experience
expands beyond healthcare projects for the NHS and private practice, with work on award-winning cultural and residential projects, urban design, and masterplanning projects for commercial and retail sites.
Kieren taught at
the Welsh School of Architecture for over 12 years, and served on the Design Review Panel for the Design Commission for Wales and NHS Estates in England for over 10.
June 2025 Health Estate Journal 37
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