PFI hospital - a challenge for designers keeping their nerve - by the Edinburgh architects
Images by Gavin Fraser
New Day Care Surgery and Maternity Unit
For the Dumfries & Galloway Acute & Maternity Hospitals NHS Trust
The first baby has now been born at the new Maternity and Day Surgery Unit designed by Reiach and Hall Architects at the Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary.
Images by Gavin Fraser
Reiach and Hall, working with the Canmore Partnership and Amec Joint Venture, evolved the design which provided the new units, introduced flexibility in use and increased affordability without affecting the overall capability of the hospital. As a result of some years of dialogue between architects and users, the final hospital building is a fully bespoke product, tailored to the most up to date requirements of the NHS Trust.
Externally the Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary is conceived as clean and white, with a horizontal emphasis, beneath which the ground falls away allowing the slope of the site to be read. Whilst linking to the existing hospital building, it is not part of it. A clear separation has been maintained, both formally and in terms of materials. White render is the predominant cladding material in the new extension. The primary functions contained in the Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary upper floors are expressed against the supporting role of the lowest floor.
The irregular nature of the clinical plan emerges as a continuous window band of composite cladding, giving complete freedom in the placing of windows, and reinforcing the horizontal nature of the block. The composition is then enriched by the application of a more crafted material, zinc, to the stair towers, which achieve a lightness by being glazed at top and bottom. Most of the land used by the new Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary unit was taken up by car parking. Reiach and Hall’s hospital design allowed a rearrangement of the parking and services provision for the hospital, reducing the extent of parking seen from any one viewpoint, whilst increasing the overall numbers.
The Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary is surrounded by established landscaping. The hospital design preserves the impression of a pavilion set in parkland. The large oak trees to the west of the new building were retained, giving large scale, natural enclosure to the parking. Construction methods were chosen with speed in mind. Masonry walling has been kept to a minimum, the external walls being almost entirely based around a structural metal framing system. This allowed the Royal Infirmary building to be made wind and weather tight at an early stage. The detail design of the hospital was entirely evolved through discussions between architect and contractor. The elegant modernity of the Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary exterior continues inside with fresh, crisp colour and modern furnishings. This is a design-rich hospital with identity and expression which has been well received by all.
Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary - Building PR from Reiach and Hall Architects
PFI Scotland
Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary: Images by Gavin Fraser
Reiach and Hall Architects, 6 Darnaway Street, Edinburgh
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Contact Reiach and Hall Architects on 0131 225 8444