ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
Central to the whole development was the creation of a welcoming, warm, and non-clinical feel.
and stylish weighted furniture that all help achieve a well-thought-out interior space. The building has a seamless continuity, brought together through the use of colours, furniture, flooring design, lighting, and fabric choice.
Collaboration was key The project continually developed through the two-year design and construction period, with focus from clinical and design teams on the patient experience, and with outside agencies invited into the process to encourage the exploration of new ideas. User and clinical engagement meetings allowed the design to evolve into the completed unit, a facility that is totally removed from people’s traditional view of a mental health hospital environment. Fortnightly meetings were held with the client during the design process, together with dedicated clinical and service-user workshops. There were weekly meetings with the client during the construction period, which started on site in February 2021, including expenditure reviews, site progress, client progress, site walk- arounds, and technical meetings, to ensure the smooth delivery of the project. FWP, which has offices in Preston,
Manchester, and London, appointed a strong team of experienced consultants
James Halsall
James Halsall joined FWP in 2006, and became an Associate in 2022. He has been involved in a wide variety of projects – ranging from care homes, healthcare facilities, and PICUs, to seclusion units, s136 suites, CAMHS, older adult care, and mortuary facilities, and has also worked on leisure projects for sports facilities and hotels. He specialises in mental health, and has more than 15 years’ experience in this field. His key skills are in specification, technical knowledge, and understanding, of specialist products for use in the design, and as Project lead – communicating with the design team and taking a pragmatic approach, building good relations, and striving to achieve the most from the client brief to the benefit of the project.
Daniel Thompson
Daniel Thompson joined FWP in 1995, and has been a Partner since 2019. He specialises in the dual role of a project and cost manager, and, has worked within the healthcare sector for over 20 years. He leads the multidisciplinary Healthcare team at FWP, and during his time with the practice, has worked across projects in all the main areas within the acute healthcare sector, as well as many of the specialist sectors of mental health. In addition to healthcare, his experience includes sport and leisure, where he has delivered a number of complex stadium projects for high-profile professional sports organisations.
32 NOVEMBER 2022 | THE NETWORK
FWP says the building has ‘a seamless continuity, brought together through the use of colours, furniture, flooring design, lighting, and fabric choice’.
to help deliver the Wesham unit, including Cheadle Hulme-based TACE, which provided mechanical and electrical design support. TRP Consulting, based in Manchester and Preston, provided civil engineering and structural design, and Manchester-headquartered Urban Green has delivered the impressive ecology and external landscape designs. The construction work on the project was carried out by the Eric Wright Group.
Meeting the challenges The project team had to overcome several challenges, not least delivering this major refurbishment and extension during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the meetings had to be held on ‘Teams’, and site visits were restricted to small groups – with the rule of six applying for most of the design and construction periods – to protect the construction workforce and clinical staff. COVID-19 also created several supply chain issues, with a lack of availability and long lead times for some items. There were also issues created by the need to work within the existing fabric of an old building. The team also worked hard to engage with neighbours, as the site had been derelict for several years. This community engagement highlighted how the new-
style centre would be used to enhance the lives of people using it. Eric Wright Construction put together newsletters, which were circulated in the community to keep people in the loop about the project, and several community engagement events were organised for people to attend and give their valued feedback.
A record of delivery The Wesham centre is just one of several important refurbishment projects that FWP has worked on in recent times for the Trust, which provides a range of mental health services for communities in Lancashire and south Cumbria. Its specialist provision includes inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health, and forensic services – including low and medium secure care. The Trust also provides a range of physical health and wellbeing services in the community. FWP’s specialist mental health team
also redesigned the ‘Skylark’ unit in Preston for the Trust. This rehabilitation unit is now helping service-users recovering from mental health conditions regain the skills associated with day-to-day living. Several of its service-users were among the first to use Wesham on their pathway back to living in the community.
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