ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
The ‘tick’ shape groups the day spaces and gardens in the heart of the ward, and the bedrooms down two arms.
General Hospital site, GMMH and the project team were able to influence the masterplan to ensure that the new Park House would be located on a part of the wider site that suited both the needs of an inpatient mental health service, and the wider masterplan. Regular workshops with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and its masterplanning team took place to ensure a unified and coherent development. Various site options were tested between both Trusts and their design teams, with the lands of the former Trust headquarters building being selected for the new development. The finalised design is designed to
integrate seamlessly with other masterplan developments and parameters. Pathways and active travel routes are aligned to give a coherent overall development. The landscape architecture of the entrance approach will complement the proposed ‘village green’ of the wider masterplan. The chosen site also features pleasant views to an extensive wooded area to the south and east of the site, providing an ideal green buffer.
Design At the selected site, it was not possible to locate all nine wards on the one level. With the current Park House having wards
An aerial night-time render of the new inpatient unit.
at ground floor and first floor level, where they both had to share ground floor courtyards at different times, there was an initial understandable hesitancy from the Trust to have wards at first floor level. As a result, we ensured that each ward had direct level access to its own gardens, regardless of level. Site visits to two recent multi-level units in London were undertaken just prior to COVID arriving, where such formats are much more common due to the limited availability of land. The visits to Three Bridges MSU in Southall, West London, and Blossom Court, in Haringey, helped reassure Trust staff on the viability of multi-level mental health units through modern roof gardens. The new Park House would be one of the first of this format in the north of England.
Planning ward typologies With the principles of the levels settled, we then focused on planning the ward typologies with the Trust. A variety of options were tested, helped by the Trust’s own estate experience, and visits to neighbouring Trusts’ units such as Mersey Care’s Hartley Hospital and Rowan View, as well as the visits to London. Cruciform, courtyard, and L-shaped wards, among others, were all debated extensively, which drew out the Trust’s key drivers:
The key aspects of the design approach for the new inpatient unit.
l Excellent lines of sight are vital – not just for staff undertaking observations, but also as a means of reassurance for service-users to know that help is nearby should they need it.
l Each ward needs direct level access to its own garden areas.
l Flexibility is needed – the ability to ‘swing’ 2-3 beds from one ward to another is needed.
l Lots of natural light. l To be safe for service-users. l To allow for speedy staff response to an incident in an adjacent ward.
l To be welcoming. l Each ward had to be as similar as possible to ensure staff familiarity when working on different wards.
The new hospital will be built on the southern end of the wider hospital site. 24
‘Tick’-shaped design These criteria led to the ward design of the ‘tick’ shape, which groups the day spaces and gardens in the heart of the ward, and the bedrooms down two arms. Excellent lines of sight are achieved due to the alignment of the bedroom arms. By angling them at 45 degrees to the main building massing, it ensures a physical connection to the adjacent ward. This provided swing bed capacity and the quick response times. The ward ‘tick’ format evolved further, depending on its location. Lower ground floor wards have
MAY 2022 | THE NETWORK
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