PROJECT REPORT: HEALTHCARE BUILDINGS 35
asserts is an “extremely low carbon” solution was arrived at by an approach of “material mapping” done around Cardiff to help reflect the local vernacular, and the result is a mix of materials. They wanted to use stone where possible, so the base is gabion walling including offcuts from a nearby quarry, tying the volumes together. The southern wing will have a timber cladding, and the north face will be zinc; the education block is clad in brick. The practice was determined to have as little impact on the existing site as possible. The aim is for landscaping to be kept as wild as possible, and a community kitchen garden and orchard will hark back to the original site and how it was used to grow food for the Whitchurch Hospital. “It’s a beautiful location on all sides,” says Woodford, “patients basically overlook a forest.” Native and indigenous species have been brought in, and there is virtually no boundary between the hospital perimeter and local footpaths through the attractive nature surrounding the site. Structurally, the challenge, says
Woodford, was around minimising the ADF OCTOBER 2024
amount of timber required, versus the performance required for a healthcare facility: “Timber is not ideal for things like vibration. We came up with a flexible structural grid with Arup: keeping the recycled concrete very thin in the floors meets all the vibration record requirements and helps keep the building low.”
Sustainable by nature The all-electric hospital has a million kilowatt hours of PV interwoven with green roofs, and air source heat pumps as well as mechanical heat recovery. In addition the preparation has been beneath the scheme and in the basement for the future possible addition of ground source heating. The nature-focused SuDS system installed include minimal below-ground pipes, a swale network and a retention pond. Where timber is not possible to be used in the build due to clinical requirements, the studio plans to use concrete with recycled ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). The nine concrete linear accelerators in the radiotherapy department contain “a lot less concrete,” than normal,
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A BETTER OUTLOOK The unit’s interiors will benefit from generous views of courtyards, and daylighting
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