Altnagelvin Area Hospital New South Wing

Client: Western Health & Social Care Trust Value: £45m

HLM Architects (Glasgow Office) in association with Hall Black Douglas Architects (Local Belfast Practice) were appointed in 2000 to masterplan the £150 million redevelopment of the 1960s Altnagelvin Area Hospital situated in Londonderry.

Following a series of enabling works contracts, the New South Wing is the first phase of new build clinical accommodation which provides replacement facilities for some key services, including maternity and neo-natal, oncology, adult acute inpatients and rehabilitation, as well as providing a new patient records department and staff changing facilities.

The low rise buildings of the new South Wing have been designed as an architectural "plinth" to the existing ward tower around a series of landscaped courtyards to complement and enhance the modernist aesthetic of the original buildings whilst maintaining and maximizing the fine views from the new and existing wards southward to the Sperrin Hills and surrounding open landscape. The brief necessitated that the design team establish a robust external vocabulary in terms of massing and elevational treatment through the creation of an exemplar design which would be followed throughout the overall project.

The building has been successfully procured using the innovative Performance Related Partnering route, which has resulted in a sustainable and affordable healthcare facility of high design quality.

Awards

Building Better Health Care Awards 2009 Best Hospital Design Commendation