Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust’s flagship mental health inpatient hospital was recognised at the North West LABC Building Excellence Awards.
The competition looks beyond a building’s aesthetics and acknowledges key elements such as technical innovation, sustainability and performance.
The Harbour, designed by Gilling Dod Architects, was successful in winning the Best Large Commercial Building category, recognising the high standards of design and construction. The design process included not only contractors and trust staff, but also had great involvement from service users and carers to ensure the building captured the views and experiences of those who have used and supported our services.
Alistair Rose, project director for The Harbour, said: “We are delighted to have won this award, which showcases our extensive pursuit to achieving the very best in high-quality, excellent care.
The Harbour provides a high-quality and therapeutic environment to assist our services users to feel comfortable and at ease while our staff help them to improve their mental health and wellbeing.
“The building delivers the latest thinking about the accommodation required to deliver a modern mental health service and replaces outdated traditional dormitory-type accommodation.
“All service users have their own bedrooms with en-suite facilities, access to private garden space, and there are wander paths on the dementia wards to allow service users to safely access their ward gardens. All the bedrooms also have a countryside or landscaped courtyard view.
“We are extremely proud of this development and hope that it will continue to set both a high standard for future mental health buildings, but also continues to innovate and showcase the highest standards in the provision of mental health care.”
The Harbour is the trust’s innovative new mental health unit in Blackpool which embodies its vision of providing 21st-century healthcare with wellbeing at its heart. It has 154 inpatient mental health beds for people across Lancashire.
Having won the prize for the region, the project has now automatically been shortlisted for the national awards which will take place in London in November.
