PHS+

Houghton PCC Webcam

Adrian Evans — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:32:03 +0000

Willmott Dixon have installed a webcam at the Houghton le Spring Primary Care Centre site. This can be viewed by visiting http://82.69.62.3:8002

Should you wish to view the progress of this project, you will need a user name and password to gain access to the webcam. Please contact me, via email, for confirmation of both.

30th Bupa Great North Run

Adrian Evans — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:46:24 +0000

The 30th Bupa Great North Run, the world’s biggest half marathon, will take place on Sunday 19 September 2010. I will be particpating to raise funds on behalf of The Alzheimer’s Society.

Alzheimer’s Society is the UK’s leading care and research charity for people with dementia and those who care for them.

There are 750,000 people with dementia in the UK with numbers set to rise to one million by 2025. Alzheimer’s Society is a membership organisation, which works to improve the quality of life of people affected by dementia in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. To find out more, visit their web site at http://www.alzheimers.org.uk

If you would like to pledge your support for both me and my chosen charity, please sponsor me by visiting my fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/adrianevans-bgnr2010

Many thanks

Nottingham Radiotherapy Centre Nears Completion

Patrick Kelly — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:01:30 +0000

Due for completion later this month, the new Linacc building at Nottingham University Hospital has recently gathered pace in preparation for handover. Following a recent site visit the building has been extremely well recieved with the end users and general staff. A few minor tasks remain including the installation of the decorative glass canopy and feature wall designed by a local artist as part of the Breeam credit.

WAN Architecture Awards

Wendy De Silva — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:54:39 +0000

World Architecture News is a web based international architecture magazine. It has some good stuff on it from time to time and it has awards in several categories. I was a jury member for the healthcare awards this year and think the shortlist and winners are pretty interesting. Have a look for yourself. .. Oh, and if you want to have something to pull my leg about next time you see me, also have a listen to my very first YouTube appearance! Wend

WAN Awards Home Page

WAN Awards Healthcare

myPANTONE Palettes colour selection software

Chris Lawes — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:10:49 +0000

myPANTONE Palettes is an interactive color workspace that provides an easy and engaging platform for selecting and working with colors. It integrates into any application that supports system level color pickers. There are multiple ways for designers to select colors through the software:

-Color Pickers: Colors are selected within a hue circle or square hue gradient color picker, or by manually entering RGB or HTML values for known colors.

-PANTONE Palettes: Colors are selected directly from PANTONE Libraries (only with Libraries installed)

-Eye-dropper Tool: Allows users to pick up any color appearing on their desktop.

-Color Blender: Forms a color gradient between two user-defined colors with up to 83 individual steps between them.

-Color Schemes: Colors are selected according to color harmonies: monochromatic, analogous, complementary, split complementary, triadic and tetradic colors.

-Image Palette Builder: Allows users to import an image into the Image Palette Builder and automatically generate a palette using the dominant colors within the image. As many as 12 colors can be automatically generated.

Defining, Saving and Exporting Color Palettes
After selecting individual colors, users can drag and drop them within the myPalettes area to create a color palette. They also have the ability to view any saved palettes, print, export, organize and lock palettes, as well as edit individual color properties.

myPANTONE is a free download once signed up as a Pantone member

Revit / ADB Link

kayrichardson — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:39:22 +0000

After a few minor problems, I have managed to successfully use Revit with ADB to load one room in the Morpeth NHS Centre model with furniture and other fittings. This link has not yet been used within P+HS so I thought I would show you what it can achieve. The blocks imported from ADB are basic, and are subject to a few minor problems (the usual chair appearing in the ceiling etc), however these are easily rectified and in a short space of time I created the following images and a short walk through.

It works in a very similar way to the CAD/ADB link, meaning changes in the Revit model are fed back into the ADB room data sheets and generic room layouts can be saved and duplicated easily and quickly and new items of furniture can be created.

Another Part II Success

Diana Cole — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:03:29 +0000

Joe Stenson from our Leeds office has been awarded a Merit in design for his Part II thesis. Joe says:
“heartiest of thanks to all staff for the help and support offered to me throughout the “hard fought slog” – (Geraldine) that was my Part II. The feedback and commentary received from colleagues throughout were invaluable to the general design process.”
Joe’s scheme is a Crematorium complex that amalgamates the existing facilities in the Leeds metropolitan area onto a secluded site bordered by the River Aire and the Leeds / Liverpool Canal. Key to the thesis was investigating the provision of bespoke buildings for semi-outdoor cremations, as required by those of Hindu, Sikh & Buddhist following. A few images of the scheme are shown here:

The Final boards Joe presented are available here: X:\Resources\Students\Presentations\JJS Thesis Boards if you are interested.
Congratulations Joe.

The majority of HBN 40 has now been superseded by HBN 00-03

Jaime Taylor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:27:34 +0000

Note that whereas HBN40 ‘Common Activity Spaces Vol:2 Treatment Areas’ (now superseded) set the height of a clinical basin at 860mm to the rim, HBN 00-03 ‘Clinical and Clinical Support Spaces’ now sets the height at 800mm.

Rivendale Completion

Diana Cole — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:46:02 +0000

Congratulations to the team on the handover of Rivendale, a new Extra Care facility for Broadacres in Northallerton.

Photos courtesy of Doug Jackson

Porch Close, Northallerton on site.

Benjamin Garfitt — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:38:54 +0000

Construction has started on Porch Close (The Ardens) in Northallerton for Broadacres Housing Association. Accommodation comprises 10 apartments for rent to people over the age of 55. The project is due to be completed in February 2011.

The site is located to the rear of Porch House, the oldest house in Northallerton, and falls within the conservaton area. The building is largely traditional in appearance with some modern features such as the double height curtain walling and a glazed canopy to the entrance.

The building will achieve Level 3 under the Code for Sustainable Homes, using solar panels for water heating and high standards of thermal insulation. Each apartment has also been designed to meet Lifetime Homes, with full disabled access and storage for mobility scooters within the hall.

One of me because Steve will be disappointed if I don’t include this photo!

More updates to follow as work progresses…

Breeam Daylighting Factor (HEA 01) - Hospitals & Medical Centres

Patrick Kelly — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:50:50 +0000

As part of achieving Breeam Excellent at the design stage for LINAC, the new radiotherapy centre Nottingham, a credit was gained for compliance with the 3% daylighting factor required for a typical 12 - 15sqm Consultant / Exam room. The photograph and sketch above illustrates the actual size of the window in relation to the room.

In this instance, the size and proportion of the window was governed by the fact that the room depth is greater than the room width, meaning that a large surface area of glazing is required in order to achieve 3% daylighting.

An alternative to this type of window which would still achive a 3% daylighting factor, would be to consider rotating the room by 90 degrees (so that the room depth is less than the width). This method would improve the quality of light transfer into the room and provide an opportunity for more interesting elevations in terms of external window fenestration. The down side to this however, would be the possibility of longer corridors.

Blaydon Primary Care & Leisure Centre

Rob Partlett — Tue, 11 May 2010 09:11:21 +0000

Work is progressing well at Blaydon with completion targeted for September 2010 as per original programme.

P+HS Architects are responsible for the design of the Primary Care Centre, while S&P Architects are responsible for the Leisure Centre.

The project is being delivered under the scape procurement method.

Contractor: Willmott Dixon Limited

Contract Value: £17.5m approx [AMP]

Completion Date: September 2010

36 The Calls Competition

jamespark — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:34:25 +0000

We were recently short-listed for the international “36 The Calls Design Competition” run by the Architects Journal with developer Citu. After attending the final interviews on the 30th March, we have found out today we didn’t win. Entrants were asked to draw up proposals for an ‘iconic’ commercial building in Leeds, on a tight car-park plot on the north bank of the River Aire. The competition attracted around 95 anonymous submissions, including 20 from overseas.

Our idea was to keep the scheme as legible as possible with a building design that could be described conceptually as four simple elements:

Yellow skin
Glass box
Floor plates
Core

The yellow skin has a dual role, acting as the superficial ‘iconic’ wrapping and contextualising the building with its form; it has been manipulated to reference the surrounding industrial roof-scape, and to dip down and connect the site with the water. The River Aire has played a defining role in the history of Leeds, and particularly The Calls. The connection is a stepped link that enables barges to moor up, creating a transport link, a summer garden or the start of a future walkway along the river.

The glass box creates a flexible space that the developer can inhabit as required. It encloses the floor plates without detracting from the strong form of the skin. The building could simply be office space, but there is potential to create a ground floor restaurant with a stunning terrace over the water and above there could be unique, luxurious apartments with balconies.

The core is a key element of the scheme: whilst the core physically links the building together, the services housed within it link the building with the surrounding site. The building draws/rejects heat from the river through a series of heat pumps to control the internal temperature. Pipes submerged in the water like roots rise up though the core, pass through heat-exchangers, and spread out under the floor screed at each level, forming a direct relationship between the building, its occupants and the water.

Permitted development changes

Gill Traynor — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:26:19 +0000

A new permitted development regime for non-domestic buildings came into force on 6 April 2010. Access guidance here [PDF]

This information was taken from the Planning Portal.

P+HS Designs Published

Diana Cole — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 09:06:17 +0000

A new book, Primary Care Centres A Guide to Health Care Design by Geoffrey Purves is now available.
Published by The Architectural Press, this second edition does what it says on the cover and includes an outline review of the main issues in designing health buildings, international comparisons, the political framework, briefing, measuring design quality, art in health, and loads more. There are planty of floor plans and images (I know how you Architectural types love these) and of the 19 featured Case Studies, 2 are from P+HS: The Vermuyden Centre and Washington Primary Care Centre.
Anyone wanting to borrow the book, please see Diana who has an office copy.