Alexandra Avenue Health and Social Care Centre, Harrow, London
This 3,500m2 state-of-the-art centre provides modern, purpose-built accommodation for health and social care services and has since been received designation as a Polyclinic. It caters for thousands of residents in south and west Harrow and combines a wide range of health, social and voluntary sector services, with a particular focus on children’s services.
The accommodation includes GP surgeries, minor surgery suite, dentist, podiatry, audiology, diabetes and retinal screening, physiotherapy, family planning, paediatric and adult therapy, child and adolescent mental health services, coronary heart disease team, health visitors’ offices and Harrow wheelchair services. It also includes 10 key-worker shared ownership apartments that - by providing third party revenue - helped to make the scheme affordable.
This landmark public building contributes positively to the streetscape and has a welcoming, clearly identifiable entrance at upper ground level that is clad in glass and timber. The brickwork is crisply detailed and punctuated with well-proportioned panels of window and timber. The aluminium-clad top of the building is finished with a gently curving roof.
The sloping site enables secluded external play and observation areas to be provided for the children’s mental health services at the front of the building. Clear wayfinding techniques have been adopted to assist the visitor in negotiating this large building. Murals by the well-known children’s book illustrator, Quentin Blake, now adorn the waiting area and other public spaces.
Client: BHH LiftCo (Brent, Harrow and Hillingdon LIFT)
Construction value: £5.2m
Gross internal floor area: 3,500m2
Completion: July 2006