Building Better Healthcare Awards

BBH Awards 2013: Winners of the Special Awards Class

Published: 5-Nov-2013

Find out which entries took home the award in the SPECIAL AWARDS CLASS


The winners of the Special Awards Class of the 2013 Building Better Healthcare Awards are

Clinician’s Choice Award 2013

This special award was presented to the entry, across all categories, that our GP representative deemed had the biggest impact on the patient experience and outcomes

Winner: Salford Royal University Teaching Hospital outpatient reception and associated works (ADP, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust)

Dr Roy MacGregor is a leading GP, working at the James Wigg Practice at the Kentish Town Health Centre, a building which itself won the BBH Award for Best Primary Care Design in 2009. In the same year, he also picked up the Design Champion of the Year accolade.

For the second year running he is using his knowledge and experience to choose the entry into this year’s competition that he thinks beats all others for making a positive impact on the working lives of healthcare professionals and their patients.

Choosing from all 170 entries across all classes, he said he was looking for a winner that puts ‘patients at the heart’ of health and care services.

And this year’s winner is the team behind the revamp of Salford Royal University Teaching Hospital’s outpatient reception.

Designed by ADP Architecture, the scheme involved the refurbishment of the outpatient reception and associated wayfinding enhancement.

They have utilised the trust’s brand colours and bold graphics on the floors and walls to create a strong identity and assist with wayfinding - a striking departure from the traditional hospital environment.

The design team also worked with the trust to develop a bespoke reception ‘pod’ desk design, which is faced in robust Corian to reduce the barriers between staff and visitors.

The layout and servicing of the units allows for remodelling and adaptation in the future and a distinctive feature wall creates a backdrop to the outpatient reception. This element continues up the approach staircase and lift core, announcing the new outpatient reception into the ground-floor principle circulation space.

Other features include carefully-considered lighting and new seating, with the introduction of suspended acoustic disks, table lamps and darker tones to the walls to evoke a hotel reception feel.

Roy said: “This scheme delivers an outstanding departure from traditional hospital design.

“Wayfinding is drastically improved with the usual visual clutter of hospital spaces taken away and allowing for a small number of distinctive elements to create clear spaces.

“This strategy can now be rolled out across the estate, greatly improving the hospital’s internal environment.

“This gets rid of one of my pet hates which is the usual visual graffiti of NHS premises - 42 notices in my GP waiting room for instance. I like the treatment and it raises the bar for interior design for outpatient and hospital spaces.”

Patient’s Choice Award 2013

This special award was presented to the entry, across all categories, that our patient representative deemed had the biggest impact on the patient experience and outcomes

Winner: Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre, Newcastle (Cullinan Studio, Maggie’s)

For the second year running, the coveted Patient’s Choice Award has been chosen by Danny Daniels. He spent 26 years in the hospitality industry followed by 10 years as a lecturer and 14 years as a head of department at a college of further education before retiring from full-time employment in 2001. He has since been working tirelessly to improve patient participation in healthcare service design.

Danny joined the National Association for Patient Participation in 2001 as a trustee, going on to become chairman and, currently, vice chairman. An experienced judge, he provides a patients’-eye view of healthcare services.

As his winner for 2013, he chose Maggie’s Newcastle, the latest landmark facility to be opened by the cancer support charity.

Located at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, the new cancer care centre was completed in May 2013 and injects a seasonally-responsive, fluxing, landscaped realm into the hospital grounds.

Responding to the forces of sun and time, the centre sits still within landscaped banks and under a planted roof, allowing copper beeches, cherry blossom, crocuses, wild flowers and herbs to delight with the seasons.

Energy efficiency was also key to the design, with a south-facing courtyard maximising passive solar heating, heavily-insulated North walls and roof, and an exposed structural frame that stores heat-energy put into the building. The roof is formed to collect sunlight and transform it into energy.

“There is a tangible feeling of joy the second you walk through the door and the way that the building draws you in and towards the beautiful kitchen space – the heart of all our Maggie’s centres – is extraordinary,” said Maggie’s chief executive, Laura Lee.

“The spaces are oases of calm and the sheltered garden merges with the inside rooms and is already well used and much loved.”

Choosing it as his winner, Danny added: “I love the approach they have taken to this and the way people come into such a lovely space.

“The building has good architectural principals and I like the open spaces. It is a building that is very easily navigable and it is furnished very comfortably.”

Highly commended: Addenbrooke’s Major Trauma Centre (LSI Architects, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)

Due to the high standard of entries received this year, Danny Daniels has decided to highly commend the team behind the development of the Addenbrooke’s Major Trauma Centre.

Designated as a regional major trauma centre for the East of England, the trust wanted to increase patient capacity and improve the space and equipment standards, principally in the resuscitation area.

Robert Ayres, operations manager at the centre, said of the new building: “Clinically-informed design has ensured that our facilities are right for our patients. The impact of the improved built environment is far reaching and has significantly benefited a much greater number of patients than solely our trauma patients.

“It is much more than bricks and mortar. However, our bricks and mortar now give us every opportunity to improve health outcomes by ensuring that the space puts our patients and their needs first and foremost in the mind."

Danny added: “I really like how this has been designed with the patient in mind to enhance their experience at what can be a very difficult time.”

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