Completion date: January 2006
Contract value: £5m
Gross internal floor area: 3,023 sq.m.
The Practice were appointed following a limited design competition The scheme comprises a new 15 Bed Adult Hospice with associated Educational training/teaching facilities on a Green belt site. The scheme is designed to comply with the Care Quality Commission Registration standards. Planning approval to all conditions was gained through lengthy negotiations on a greenfield site.
Designed to provide 15 Adult Bed spaces Palliative care, Day Care Out Patient and In patient Services with all support staff and volunteers accommodated on the new site.
The Clients brief required maximum privacy, dignity and a peaceful environment for patients and relatives. The building was oriented with the sloping site contours to minimise cut and fill and take advantage of the South facing aspect for patient areas whilst Servicing was placed at the rear North side.
As this is a large building footprint a conscious effort was made to reduce the impact of the building on arrival and negate the feeling of an institutional building type.
On arrival the site entrance is viewed through the landscape From this point the overall size of the building is not evident. The various functions of the building are arranged according to flows of people and usage within the building so that out patients are not aware of the in patient areas and Hearse/ambulance access is discreetly hidden from view.
Patients have the ability to move from their bedrooms into the landscaped gardens with patios and private areas into which beds can be taken if required. All the paths through the landscaped gardens are designed to accommodate wheelchair users. A landscaped courtyard area provides an attractive feature increasing natural lighting levels Materials are drawn from the local Essex vernacular palette using Black weather boarding and bricks with pantiles to the roof.