In April 2006 we were successful with Laing O'Rourke as part of their architectural team of three practices, to join the Designed for Life: Building for Wales Framework.
In early 2007 we were appointed onto the framework for the design and delivery of the new Cardiff Acute Inpatient Unit for Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust at Whitchurch Hospital, in north Cardiff.
This major project is a flagship for mental health services on a local, regional and national basis for the Trust. The design provided 104 inpatient bed spaces as well as a full range of therapy, support and administrative areas. The design approach focues on the creation of wards with clear identities linked by public and semi-public areas and circulation. Emphasis was given to the creation of a controlled hierarchy of levels of privacy and quietness from the fully public entrance concourse to private bedrooms.
The Full Business Case based upon a fully complete and co-ordinated design was approved in 2009, prior to the Client's decision to relocate the service to an alternate site.
The project achieved a NEAT scoring of 83.53 prior to adoption of BREEAM for healthcare projects. The value of the project was approx. £68m.