ARCHITECTURE AND BIOPHILIA
planting. Elsewhere, a sheltered roof garden enclosed on all four sides will offer micro-climate conditions conducive to a creatively planted, verdant oasis for retreat and relaxation. While it will be accessible, this interior garden will be primarily experienced from within the building, offering a pleasant and relaxing view from the spaces that overlook it.
Across the Welsh border Ecologically diverse, green, and nature- attracting interior courtyards are a prominent feature of another major hospital we’ve been working on which is now approaching completion. Head west across the Welsh border to a vastly different, but equally beautiful, landscape, on agricultural land outside Cwmbran, and you’ll find the newly opened Grange University Hospital. The £230 million specialist and critical care centre, commissioned as part of the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board’s Clinical Futures Strategy, was due for completion in 2021, but this spring large parts of the flagship 471-bed facility opened a remarkable one year early in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Right back at the beginning, long before considering what the hospital would look and feel like, deciding where on the site it would be situated was key. We started by consulting the community. Strengthened by the public response, we advocated strongly for it to be sited in a way that maximised views of the surrounding landscape. Sited on the edge of a designated area of special landscape, it’s an incredible setting which we sought to celebrate throughout the hospital site planning and design. The building offers panoramic views of its stunning natural
The new Grange University Hospital, a £230 million specialist and critical care centre commissioned as part of the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board’s Clinical Futures Strategy, is situated near Cwmbran in attractive Welsh countryside.
surroundings, maximising opportunities for patients to engage with the healing natural landscape.
Woodland and hedgerow pockets retained
As many of the existing ecological habitats in and around the site have been protected as possible, and in many areas enhanced. Existing trees, woodland, and hedgerow pockets, have been retained where feasible, and, in line with the aspirations of the Torfaen Biodiversity Action Plan, further developed to increase coverage and species richness, along with the planting of new woodland, meadow, and grassland. Belts of woodland planting extend along the banked edges of the parkland, where the approach roads enter
the site, helping to screen them from views from the hospital wards, and visually link the parkland with its wider rural setting.
The unique natural environment is also actively reflected in the design and built form of the hospital itself. Fully integrated into the surrounding landscape with its open agricultural land, parkland, and residential community to the west, the design seeks to capitalise on the healing benefits for patients of providing views out to the open countryside.
‘Wrapping’ around the building We made the conscious decision to run the countryside right up to the building – wrapping around it. Until now, hospitals have often been surrounded by car parks,
ctant ready Myco 3 Smartphone
Disinfec Use it wearin
Nitrile (0.05mm (0.035mm)
ng gloves m) and vinyl
Hot swappable Use it 24/7
battery
Ascom.com/uk 0121 502 8906
September 2020 Health Estate Journal 65
©Laing O’Rourke
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92