Health & Wellbeing

Ballymena Health and Care Centre

Brief
As part of the Keppie appointment to Health Estates Primary Care and Community Infrastructure (PCCI) Framework; the project in Ballymena is the first of three Health and Care Centres to be designed for the Northern Trust.  The fifteen million pounds building, to be built in the grounds of the existing Braid Valley Hospital, will provide treatment, diagnostic, dental, children's and mental health clinical accommodation.  It will also house seven local GP practices and the local pharmacy, along with office accommodation for social work and Professionals Allied to Medicine (PAM).
Response
Although a larger site was originally designated for the new facility, a decision was taken at the outset to minimise the building footprint to reduce the requirement for extensive decanting of existing accommodation. The design is formed around an entrance atrium block at three storeys high with an adjacent two storey development around a courtyard.  As well as providing light and greenery for all the buildings' users, the courtyard will be used for rehabilitation services.

The atrium and courtyard also help to create a highly legible interior, assisting in wayfinding.  The design was intended to create a contemporary non-institutional building that welcomes users.
Outcome
The overall effect is a very light and transparent building that maximises opportunities for natural and daylight ventilation benefits.  The building, whilst being respectful of its adjacent residential neighbours to the north and west, presents an appropriately civic frontage to the south and east, where it looks on to the adjacent existing hospital buildings.

Considerable time has been spent working in collaboration with Gareth Hoskins Architects and with the various clinical user groups to ensure that the clinical adjacencies and patient journeys have been optimised and that a hitherto disparate range of accommodation has been blended together in a comfortable manner.

Team