Health & Wellbeing

Ayrshire Maternity Unit, Crosshouse Hospital

Brief
This project aimed to create a new state-of-the-art maternity unit at Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock.  The unit was to be the focal point of a network of maternity facilities across Ayrshire and Arran, providing a comprehensive service from a single site.  The unit was to embrace all aspects of maternity care from early pregnancy assessments and ultrasound to delivery and neo-natal care.  Although part of a larger hospital, the building was to have its own identity.
Response
Described as a "new era in maternity services" in the community, the design for the facility has been shaped in direct response to the clinical brief and site context.  From a simple ‘figure of eight’ plan, the form is modelled to reduce the impact of the building on the adjacent residential area.  Large courtyard spaces allow natural light to penetrate deep into the plan.  This arrangement gives the maternity unit a sense of identity and focal points, whilst maintaining visual connections to the other hospital entrances along the frontage. The hospital contains fifty maternity beds, two theatres, an outpatients department, ante-natal, ultrasound, an early pregnancy unit and a day ward.  There is also a hostel facility for longer stay mothers associated with the neo-natal unit.  There are seven delivery rooms, eight LDRP rooms and a birthing pool.  LDRP stands for Labour, Delivery, Recovery, Post-Partum and allows the mother to stay in the same room for all stages of the birth process, assuming there are no complications.
Outcome
The design of the maternity hospital builds on the Keppie experience gained through the delivery of similar facilities at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Cork University Maternity Hospital.  This ensured that the best of UK standards were applied during the extensive discussions that took place with clinical staff, such that every detail of the hospital addressed their requirements.  The project was advanced as a Public Private Partnership where our team worked with the Consortia Team and hospital staff to provide funding, design, construction and maintenance of the facilities as an integral service contract.

Team