NEWS
3 February 2011
Shared space at the Pyramid
We have reorganised our reception area, which has created additional desk space for rent in our Pyramid.
Conveniently located in the trendy Shad Thames area, right next to Tower Bridge, only a short walk away from London Bridge and Tower Hill stations.
Easy terms with all facilities provided including very flexible IT and phone systems.
The uniquely shaped building includes two floors of offices and a meeting room in the apex.
The building is light and airy and sits in a quiet
courtyard space between two mixed-use warehouse conversions completed by Dransfield Owens de Silva fifteen years ago.
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28 September 2010
New Health Centre in East London
The new Blithehale Health Centre, design by Dransfield Owens de Silva for NHS Tower Hamlets, has just been completed in the trendy Brick Lane area of East London. Formed within the vacant ground floor space of a multi-storey mixed-use development, the 1000m2 building includes 8 GP consulting rooms, treatment rooms, staff accommodation as well as community and group rooms.
The scheme has been designed to permit maximum exploitation of daylighting whilst also ensuring both visual and acoustic privacy – particularly important in this case as the mainline approach into Liverpool Street station borders the southern boundary of the site.
The design includes an attractive ‘shop-front’ of coloured glazing that helps to animate the main street façade and this coloured glass also serves to enliven interior spaces and provide delight from within. These colours have been continued through the wall and ceiling finishes and help brighten deeper areas of the plan.
The Borough of Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived in London and the new health centre offers a cheerful, optimistic and modern replacement to the service that had previously been provided from nearby GP surgeries operating from within adapted Victorian houses.
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14 April 2010
New CAMHS Unit Opens in Northampton
A newly completed Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Unit in Northampton by Dransfield Owens de Silva has just been completed and become operational.
Named ‘The Sett’ in recognition of its local badger population, the unit includes 10 single bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms arranged around a central landscaped courtyard that provides permanently accessible and secure external space. Tall circulation spaces are adopted in conjunction with rooflights in order to emphasize the feeling of space and light and to assist with natural ventilation. A lantern tower clearly and proudly marks the entrance to the building.
The scheme also features a ‘green wall’ as well as roof mounted solar panels that help reduce carbon emissions through the provision of hot water to occupants.
The internal colour strategy has been developed in close consultation with the building users and strong colours feature throughout to help give identity to different areas of the building and to provide individual identity to each of the bedrooms.
As a result of this close collaboration with building users – an approach that Dransfield Owens de Silva always promote – we have been delighted to receive comments from all connected with the project that it has exceeded all client expectations.
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13 November 2009
Best Mental Health Design - Building Better Healthcare Awards 2009
The Oak and Beech Units at Harperbury Hospital in Hertfordshire won the Award for Best Mental Health Design at at the Building Better Healthcare 2009 Awards.
The £9.5m building contains a Low Secure Unit (Oak) and a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (Beech) each arranged around their own private landscaped courtyard that provides freely accessible, yet secure and therapeutic external space.
The judges highlighted that the quality of this year’s entries for this particular category was of an exceptionally high standard. They particularly liked the way in which the winning design was
developed in close consultation with service users and has been designed to relate sensitively to its site, both within the context of the existing considerably sloping site and with the newly formed landscaping. As a result, the well understood therapeutic qualities of nature are allowed to permeate the building and its artwork.
The design responds to the considerable slope by locating each unit at the further ends of the building, thereby setting each with a close connection to adjacent ground levels. These are linked by a central two-storey section that includes the main entrance, staff and shared therapy accommodation. The building features extensive timber cladding, a sedum roof and an excellent energy rating.
Practice director, Paul Tanner, described the project as ‘hugely satisfying and enjoyable.
We’re absolutely delighted with the win which we think recognises the considerable effort of all of those involved with the project and we are particularly pleased to see how proud everyone is of the completed scheme.’
Chief Executive of the Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Tom Cahill, described the completed scheme as an ‘outstanding building that sets a quality benchmark for future mental health care developments.’.