Lambeth PCT Health Centre Submitted For Planning
May 11th, 2009
The new Akerman Road Heath Centre, NHS Lambeth’s latest scheme to be delivered under the NHS LIFT initiative, has today been submitted for planning approval.
Located on the corner of Akerman and Patmos Road near Brixton Road and Camberwell Road in the London Borough of Lambeth the £13 million health centre has been designed by architects Buschow Henley for NHS LIFT developer Building Better Health, Lambeth PCTs private sector partner.
The proposed Akerman Road Primary Care Centre will provide a range of services including 3 GP surgeries, community dentistry, childrens’ services, Podiatry, midwifery, primary care and community health services and facilities. In addition the centre will also be the base for Lambeth PCT’s nursing teams, including School Nurses, Health Visitors and District Nurses, and will also house Lambeth Council Adult Services.
The scheme is being developed for NHS Lambeth by Building Better Health as part of their NHS LIFT agreement. Building Better Health is the Private Sector Partner in three London NHS LIFT Projects and has recently secured a place on the NHS Express LIFT framework.
Buschow Henley, who recently won Health Architect of the Year at the Building Design Awards and Best Primary Care scheme at the Building Better Healthcare Awards has designed the building to create a calm and therapeutic healthcare environment, an exemplary working environment for staff, and for ease of adaptability.
Its design takes its cue from the massing of a cathedral (nave, crossing and choir) and the order of a flat-fronted London terrace. The 4-storey freestanding structure faces a local park and three streets. One elevation repairs a street with an 80m frontage. A glass and steel pavilion and a 5th storey crown of supergraphics mark the entrance. White brickwork elevations rest on a ground floor screen of fret-cut Corten steel which ventilates the basement car park. The screen’s design will be developed with an artist to create a decorated frieze echoing ideas about the place or illustrating a narrative about the Centre and its use. Overhead, an attic storey of cementatious panels forms a backdrop to four roof gardens.
Inside, a foyer bisects the plan connecting street and park, and provides the shortest possible journeys to the clinical suites, office accommodation and staff facilities. To meet current Department of Health sustainability standards the building will be designed to achieve an excellent BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) assessment and will contribute to efficiently managed energy use. The design employs a compact plan, low surface area, thermal mass (concrete frame), green/ brown roofs, biomass boilers, natural ventilation (except where prevented by NHS guidance) and achieves a daylight factor of 4%.
