ESTATE DEVELOPMENT
and with physical health services at the Whittington Hospital, will enable the Trust to provide high-quality, efficient care that considers both the mental and physical healthcare needs of service-users. Sharing synergies between both of its own mental health hospital sites will optimise staff support and facilities management, driving efficiency across the C&I campus. Wards will be reconfigured based on clinical appropriateness. High acuity mental health services will be based at the Highgate West site, co-locating them with the Health Based Place of Safety. Other wards, which include rehabilitation and services for ageing and mental health, will be housed on the new Highgate East site, closer to physical health services at the Whittington Hospital.
In preparation for the move of all inpatient services from St Pancras, co- design work with staff and service-users has also begun to upgrade wards at Highgate West to ensure consistency in the quality of inpatient services, and enable the planned ward reconfiguration.
Collaboration and stakeholder engagement
A successful building is one that truly meets the needs and aspirations of the people who own and occupy it. We consider it fundamental that the people who can benefit most from a project are listened to, so that the spaces we design respond to their needs. This includes everyone from project decision-makers, to people who will use, neighbour, live in, or visit, a building, as well as those living or providing services in the local area. To achieve this, the facility will be brought to life through its users’ vision. The design team carried out extensive stakeholder engagement with Trust staff, service-users, and carer groups, as well as a comprehensive pre-application meeting process, to ensure that the ambitions set out would be successfully accomplished. Alongside public consultation with local residents and businesses, and several meetings with the design review panel, the team also worked in conjunction with international architectural firm, C. F. Møller, in a series of workshops, with the practice acting as ‘a critical friend’ to inform the design.
Local authority planners The team held numerous meetings with local authority planners, to ensure that the designs were fully aligned with the aims and aspirations of the Council for this area. The key points of discussion were the quality of the spaces and the architecture, the response to the existing context dominated by the Grade II listed Jenner wing, the treatment of the north boundary and its relationship with the neighbours, and the front elevation along Dartmouth Park Hill. Façade composition, materials palette, and landscape, were also part of the discussions, until the local authority was completely satisfied with the proposals. All discussions provided crucial input into
THE NETWORK | OCTOBER 2021
The new facility provides adult acute, older adult, and rehabilitation inpatient accommodation, together with associated therapy, support, and administration functions.
the design, and have contributed to the Trust’s evolving plans.
Approach to mental health design While the layout of the building is designed in response to Department of Health and Social Care guidance, an important part of the design process for us was to avoid stigma – by creating a building where other local residents would also feel welcome – blurring the lines between hospital and community. We did this by locating community facilities such as a café and gym to the front of the building and alongside offices, to further enhance the feeling of community purpose at the campus, which is also completely accessible to all users.
The multi-storey solution and aesthetic create an urban response with safe and secure sky gardens, allowing access to fresh air at all levels. Progressive privacy and flexibility are achieved through clustering bedrooms together, each with a quiet room and garden access, which also helps management of potential future pandemics. The new facility provides adult acute, older adult, and rehabilitation inpatient accommodation, together with associated therapy, support, and administration functions. All wards provide single en suite bedroom accommodation, unlike existing
wards, where some service-users may need to share, as well as associated day, treatment, and support space, and secure roof terraces which offer access to fresh air for each ward.
Architecture
The building has been developed as two primary blocks – one to form the entry from Dartmouth Park Hill, and one sitting behind the Jenner building, which is a Grade II listed heritage asset. There is a glazed link connecting the two, which forms the vertical circulation.
The entry block to Dartmouth Park Hill is set back to create a landscape zone, and to reinforce the green boundary, as viewed along the street. At four storeys, the entry level sits at the first floor, which gives an elevation of effectively three storeys high. To the southwestern corner, a part five- storey level contains offices and meeting rooms, and is connected via a dedicated stair and lift accessed from the main reception. The massing has been developed to ensure that the views of the Jenner building from Dartmouth Park Hill are increased and improved.
Key views across the city The block behind the Jenner building is four storeys, and has been designed to not
The team held numerous meetings with local authority planners to ensure that the designs were fully aligned with the aims of the Council for this area. Key discussion points included the quality of the spaces and the architecture, the response to the existing context dominated by the Grade II listed Jenner wing, the treatment of the north boundary, and the front elevation along Dartmouth Park Hill.
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