Windows by leading
UK architectural glazing systems supplier Kawneer have helped meet a host of
complex criteria for the UK's
first dedicated healthcare facility for adults with autism.
The Mitford
unit at Northgate Hospital in Morpeth, Northumberland, where fenestration
was led by architectural glazing specialists Polar NE, uses a variety of
Kawneer window and framing systems including a bespoke secure healthcare window
specially fabricated for the £10 million project.
This specialist
window - based on the Kawneer AA®3110HW
horizontal slider - has been used in the bedrooms and some communal areas
alongside Kawneer's AA®540 fixed casements in corridors, AA®541 top-hung
casements in offices and reception, and 451PT framing in communal areas and
corridors.
Supplied in moss
grey (RAL 7003), they were specified by Medical Architecture in conjunction
with Kawneer dealer Polar who had a team of two specialist installers on site
for 11 months.
The new BREEAM
"Excellent" Mitford unit for Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS
Foundation Trust provides 24-hour inpatient support and treatment for up to 15
adults with severely complex autistic spectrum disorders.
Built by Kier under
ProCure21+, the accommodation comprises eight single-person and two and
three-person shared flats within four fingers of accommodation linked at their
southern end by a band of shared spaces interspersed with staff facilities.
Patients typically stay 18 months to two years, during which time individual
stimuli and appropriate therapies are used before they return to the community.
Given there was no
precedent in the UK for this type of building, the project team had to develop
design standards harnessing knowledge gained from visits to other residential
buildings for autism patients, information from organisations such as the Autistic
Society, and first-hand knowledge from the trust's clinicians.
The development of
the design was particularly extensive regarding the patient flats and a
full-size mock-up was built to test bespoke joinery and other details for
robustness and particularly acoustic properties.
The trust's key
objectives included incorporating best practice from around the world and
becoming a leading-edge national autism service, enhancing the facilities for
research and development to provide a national centre of excellence, and
building a sustainable commercial model to ensure the capital costs of the
building were recuperated over an eight-year period.
The unit's design
has created a calm and protective setting that helps ensure the comfort and
privacy of its residents while responding sensitively to the existing
established features of the wider hospital site. External materials, forms and
overall heights have been carefully matched to the surrounding buildings.
Medical Architecture
director Paul Yeomans said: "Mental health inpatient windows are a very
specialist product and we have developed designs with one of the few
manufacturers/fabricators over a period of 11 years. Polar chose Kawneer's
AA®3110HW system components as a basis and we adapted the successful design to
the particular needs of the autism unit."
The Kawneer systems
helped to meet a multitude of criteria. "Windows in mental health
inpatient buildings are complex things," he added. "They need to
facilitate natural ventilation, preferably be controlled by patients but be
extremely safe and robust as well.
"Creating a
ligature-resistant window is a challenge that very few
manufacturers/fabricators take on. It also needs to facilitate a challenging
cleaning regime and in some cases prevent the passage of contraband, so all in
all a complex component that is vital to creating a therapeutic yet safe
environment.
"This
particular project required an internal shutter in place of curtains so we were
able to adapt the already successful horizontal slider mental health window
unit to work in a pocket alongside an internal shutter."
The windows were
required to incorporate thick toughened and laminated glass for safety reasons
so achieving the appropriate thermal performance within the width capacity of
the frame was challenging at times. A bedroom window, for example, required a
10mm toughened inner and a 10mm toughened outer as the bedroom windows looked
out onto a courtyard area.
"Aesthetics are
definitely secondary to performance in this case," said Paul. "The
Kawneer range of components has allowed us and the window designers to achieve
innovative and bespoke design where necessary. In this instance the need was for
a very simple, discreet appearance from the inside and a clean robust outer
appearance. I think we achieved this despite the inherently ‘heavy' nature of
the unit."
The trust engaged a
local artist to design artwork on a vinyl film that was incorporated into some
key windows for a combination of stimulation and privacy.
Polar NE director
Sandy Baxter said: "This was a unique window design. Using our Wansbeck
Secure healthcare window - of which the ‘platform' is the existing AA®3110HW
horizontal slider from Kawneer - we were required to further develop the design
to meet the criteria for this specific project. It was installed so the patient
only had access to the internal sliding sash. The rest of the window was
concealed inside the wall.
"The Polar NE
Wansbeck Secure windows had night vents as part of the design due to being in
service users' bedrooms and manual Teleflexes to open high-position windows
were used along staff-only corridors for increased ventilation."
Medical Architecture
has specified in conjunction with Polar NE, with whom they have collaborated on
10 other window projects, since 2007.
"Most of the
projects have been for the NHS estate so BREEAM compliance has been essential
and the aluminium construction has contributed to this," said Paul.
"This client has been a close partner in developing these window types for
their estate over the past 11 years so is very happy with the window
design."
