INPATIENT FACILITIES
service needs. During the project’s design stages the ethos of consultation remained at the forefront of the development. Between October 2016 and January 2017, 60 facilitated consultation events took place with stakeholders including the public, local authority members, and council scrutiny committees. In addition to the public engagement, P+HS Architects and TEWV undertook an extensive participatory design process with the Trust’s clinical teams, service-users, families, and carers. From the project’s inception to date, over 55 interactive design workshops have been held to seek feedback, allow input, and ensure a full collaboration between the design team and the building’s future users. As advocates of service-user and clinical stakeholder input into the design development, P+HS Architects fully commits to the engagement of people, not only at the beginning of a project, but during and after the construction period. No two projects are the same, and the knowledge and passion that people bring to the table is often fascinating and truly rewarding. In York this was particularly evident. Further to the Trust’s requirements for meeting current guidelines and best practice, it was often reiterated how important single-storey accommodation with unimpeded access to outdoor areas was. It was evident from the beginning that the people of York felt strongly about their heritage and local character. Feedback and discussion reinforced the need for a new hospital which reflected this character – a landmark building which both gave a sense of permanence, and built upon the history of Bootham.
‘Not to look or feel like a hospital’ The consultation established the principle very early on that the new hospital was ‘not to look and feel like a hospital’. The proposed environment and setting were to ‘revoke the very nature’ of the old ‘asylum’, and ensure people did not consider the building represented a clinical or institutional facility. The early concerns and opposition to the closure of Bootham quickly turned to opportunities and delight at the proposals for the new hospital. The challenges that were brought about by the CQC resulted in a positive and forward- thinking consensus between clinical, service-user, and public representatives.
The design
The initial design concept followed the usual delight at the contradiction of designing for mental health – the need for good clear lines of observation but areas of privacy, the provision of a domestic feel, but one which was robust and maintainable, and the freedom for service- users, as far as practical, to go where they wish, but with appropriate levels of safety and security as required.
From the very beginning of the design process, the principle of how people
THE NETWORK | JANUARY 2020
Martin Dale, Strategic Project manager at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.
The topping-out at Foss Park on York’s Haxby Road last August.
experience the building was the key element. A person’s ‘journey’ extended beyond the service-user – to staff, visitors, maintenance, and deliveries. The accessibility of therapy was also fundamental, and it was understood by all involved that this was not simply an act contained within a specific room, but that the therapy starts as soon as the service- user enters the site, and continues throughout the journey. Following many discussions, the team considered questions such as ‘What do you see from the car window on arrival?’, ‘What are the first impressions as you enter the building?’, and ‘What are the thoughts as you walk along a corridor?’ Ensuring that the environment complemented the therapy, the building design needed to assist with reducing anxiety, and to afford a calm and relaxed atmosphere.
A pebble and a pool of water The ethos of the new hospital design follows a pebble and a pool of water. When the pebble is dropped into the pool it makes a splash, and creates a crescendo within the act. As the activity reduces from the epicentre, so the rippled effect calms to the edges of the radial pattern. This was mirrored in the design of the new hospital; at its centre the entrance and reception, with the intensity of activity, and highest level of public activity, and, as the plan radiates out from it, the level of public activity reduces gradually. Firstly, within the central ring, the building accommodates offices, consulting rooms, ECT, a gymnasium, and research and development facilities. The second zone provides for visiting rooms, ADL, kitchens, staff welfare, and supporting accommodation. Moving through the building the ripples calm, and the more private service user rooms are situated. The third zone provides areas of day activity, lounges, dining rooms, group rooms, and quiet sitting spaces. Finally, at the building’s outer ring we have the most private and discrete area, the bedrooms.
Connecting routes with light-filled space
Each connecting route along the journey from public to private is afforded light- filled space, and views to landscaped courtyards and gardens. Again, circulation is not seen as merely corridors, but an extension of the therapy and recovery process. External spaces are ‘mixed use’, with gardens providing unobstructed access for service-users, spaces for contemplation, and activity areas for recreation such as gardening or minor ball games.
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