Newham Centre for Mental Health Day Hospital

Client: East London NHS Foundation Trust

Location: Newham, London

Area: 250 sqm

Value: £300,000

Procurement: Traditional

Reports suggest we are entering a new age of austerity in healthcare development. A responsible approach to redeveloping hospital sites is to assess the quality of the existing building stock and to identify where and how it may be refurbished or extended in a logical way as part of a robust development control plan. This will maximise flexibility and functionality without compromising initial design intent or any future expansion.

Fleet Architects were asked to evaluate the feasibility of a proposed extension to the Day Hospital at the Newham Centre for Mental Health (NCfMH). The proposal sought to provide additional accommodation for the Home Treatment Team who have outgrown the area available to them.

The NCfMH Day Hospital was designed as the centre piece of a £10 million PFI contract in Newham sited on a made ground escarpment overlooking the A13, Newham Way. Upon visiting the site and Home Treatment Team it became clear that their operational requirements would much better suit the grouping together of office and assessment suites. As such, in addition to reviewing two discrete extensions, we also prepared two additional single suite options; one single storey and one over two storeys. The single building suites compared very favourably in cost terms to the split-suite option. This was due to savings in construction phasing, and connections to existing services whilst also creating stronger functional adjacencies for the Home Treatment Team. The Fleet proposals offer the additional benefits of a discreet entrance, making the suite more flexible and attractive to future re-appropriation for the same capital expenditure.