HOSPITAL DESIGN


Circle Birmingham Hospital was built


on the site of the former Pebble Mill BBC TV studios. The hospital opened in September 2020, with five operating theatres, ten first-stage recovery beds, ten consulting rooms, 20 second-stage recovery beds and 140 bedrooms. It also has a comprehensive imaging department and a large physiotherapy capacity for elective care and rehabilitation services.


Designed to meet the needs of patients, staff and visitors The design of the hospital is based on a combination of our specific long-term research into the design and construction of healthcare facilities, and our broader research and development into advanced methods of design and construction, namely our Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) platform approach to Design for Manufacture and Assembly (P-DfMA). We optimised the design to improve clinical outcomes and patient safety by applying the learnings from our research into best case departmental adjacencies – including analysis on patient and staff flow – from Circle Reading Hospital. We worked closely with our client to


establish an initial 8,000 square metres ‘nucleus’ hospital design that separated critical, high-tech, high-spec space from non-critical spaces - such as consulting rooms and reception waiting areas - to set up the building typologies in line with the appropriate clinical departments. The full 18,000 square metres ‘complete’ hospital was instructed into the contract following a joint venture agreement shortly after the construction of the nucleus phase started on site. We followed a platform approach to design the hospital, the basic principle of which is to design to the commonalities between spaces both within and across


IFHE DIGEST 2022


sectors. This approach resulted in a rationalised, efficient design using a grid of four- and eight-metre spaces, which accommodated all repeated rooms such as treatment, inpatient and day case rooms.


Perhaps counterintuitively, this has


afforded the client flexibility during all design stages, as opposed to limiting their options. The platform approach gave the client an opportunity to broaden their clinical offering and, indeed, sign a joint venture with a new partner, whose rehabilitation services were added to the nucleus. The entrance to the hospital is


characterised by a large and spectacular


cantilever structure, with two bedroom floors overhanging the administration and atrium spaces. The double-height space within the atrium enables light to flow into the entrance space, creating a welcoming environment. The waiting and café areas overlook the hospital’s garden. It is important, however, never to


forget what the main purpose of a hospital is, and so patient, staff and visitor experience was always our main focus – including considerable engagement throughout with all stakeholders. The hospital delivers absolutely on that front – it is beautiful to look at and a pleasure to be in. This site presented us with a number of specific challenges, including several visually and environmentally important trees which were the subjects of tree preservation orders. We managed to retain these trees - and hence support ecology on site - through careful consideration of both pedestrian and vehicle access, and the way in which we sited the hospital.


Creating a therapeutic environment As with Circle Reading, we have created a hospital that does not feel like a hospital, yet provides a clinical environment of the highest level of quality. The entrance and waiting areas bring a more friendly, even ‘domestic’, feel and link both visually and physically to a calming outside environment. We love the feedback from the client that they heard one child visitor say, “Mummy, I thought we were going to a hospital today”.


Sustainability, carbon reduction, flexibility and future fitness It is not enough for a hospital to be excellent when it first opens its doors. A hospital must also remain excellent in operation and be able to respond not


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©Tim Cornbill


©Jocelyn Low


©Tim Cornbill

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