ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
Function and flow plans of the ground and first floors.
the mass of the two stacked volumes. The external landscaping around the building is permeable, and designed to reduce surface run-off, retaining as much rainwater on the site as possible – to irrigate the existing and newly planted trees and shrubs, while mitigating any local flood risk at times of extremely high rainfall. The extensive canopies of the retained mature trees provide good shade and shelter from extreme future climate effects. A contextually appropriate brick boundary wall runs parallel to the neighbouring road, at a height that acts as a visual buffer between pedestrians and patients. Hedgehog holes added to the wall allow the safe passage of wildlife through the site.
Designed to minimise environmental impact Throughout the building, large openable high-performance windows provide good views and daylight. This allows the window sash to be fully opened, while maintaining safety and security, enabling good passive ventilation and well-being for patients. Roof lights and sunpipes have been used extensively to increase levels of natural light and reduce the requirement for internal lighting. The building is a thermally efficient construction using the ‘fabric first’ approach, which reduces the required input of supporting heating and cooling systems to a low level. All materials have been selected with
consideration for their longevity, the frequency of maintenance, the ability to withstand the adverse site conditions (wooded areas and proximity to the sea), and the demands of a mental healthcare facility. Fitted joinery elements, walls, and doors, have been impact tested to ensure they will withstand challenging patient behaviours. The building is being evaluated using the BREEAM benchmarking system, and is on target to receive a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. The building has been designed with
the flexibility to accommodate changes to the service model delivered by the Trust, but also to be adaptable in the longer term to accommodate alternative uses without
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significant changes to the building fabric. Rooms are generally set out on a 3.6 m grid. This size works well with bedroom sizes, consulting rooms, and offices, and allows some rooms to swap use by simply swapping the room sign rather than reconfiguring walls. The two bedrooms in the high-dependency area can be transformed into offices or consulting rooms in the future, and – likewise – the therapy rooms at first floor can accommodate offices. Rather than allow a room’s use to determine the specific design of a window, windows are designed to enable future changes of room use. For example, changing facilities have the same type of window as any other room – with the addition of a removable translucent treatment – should they need to be adapted to an office or clinical space. Ligature reduction joinery, fixtures, and fittings, have been incorporated to make the facilities safe and suitable for a wide range of mental health services, without significant alteration. These have been integrated so they are inconspicuous to various building users.
Demonstrating a positive impact for patients and staff Early feedback on the new facilities has been extremely positive, and although it is too early to evaluate qualitative data on their impact, there has already been anecdotal feedback from current service-users and members of staff from Kimmeridge Court.
Bob Wills
Bob Wills, a director at Medical Architecture, has over 31 years’ experience as an architect, having spent more than 16 years in healthcare design. He has played a key role in the delivery of various large-scale mental health and acute health projects. These include Clock View Hospital (2015), which the practice says ‘set a national benchmark in mental health facility design’. This year the building received two awards for lasting impact, including the Design for Sustainable Development Award at the European Healthcare Design Awards. Bob Wills is currently leading a suite of projects to improve facilities for mental health and acute health across the county of Dorset, including the recently completed Kimmeridge Court Eating Disorders Unit.
AUGUST 2023 | THE NETWORK Current service-users have said the
following: ‘Moving over to the new building made
it feel like it was a new start, with a fresh- minded approach. It feels much more like how an inpatient unit should be in comparison to the old building. It’s more beneficial to have our own bedrooms with our own bathrooms and space.’ ‘The unit has a lot of natural light, and
this makes a big difference.’ ‘We love having our own dedicated garden space, and we are hoping to get a gardening group up and running.’ A member of staff currently
working in the building, meanwhile, commented: ‘The building allows for a more open and free-flowing space that offers more dignified, respectful, and individually-focused patient care. The layout gives clinicians and patients options as regards comfort, accessibility and functionality.’
Summing up what this building
means for the Trust, and the care that it can provide for its patients, Dr Carla Figueiredo said: “We’ve been long awaiting a modern, fit-for-purpose building, and now we have it; it’s beautiful. With the expanded capacity, fewer of our patients will need to receive care away from their support systems, their family, and their community teams, and this will have such a positive impact on recovery. I’ve looked at other units around the country, and what we have created here makes me very proud.”
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Used courtesy of Medical Architecture
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