The £7 m project – for Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust – will include the demolition of an existing building on the site, and the subsequent construction of a single-storey building incorporating eight en-suite bedrooms, one with a seclusion suite. Procured through Procurement Hub’s Major Projects framework, Willmott Dixon is part of a project team that includes architect, Design Buro. Dan Doyle, Operations director at Willmott Dixon, said: “Being a business with rich Birmingham heritage, it’s an honour to be playing a significant role in a local project that will enrich the community’s healthcare offering. The new building’s completion will enable Brooklands Hospital to provide a high-level service to its future patients in an environment that accommodates their specific needs, which is something we’re an expert in, and are pleased to have been brought in to deliver.”
With land prices and the cost of outward expansion the more expensive option, Willmott Dixon says redeveloping a disused area of the Brooklands Hospital site is ‘a strategic and cost-effective move’. Future occupants will be well catered for, with the secure unit ‘taking into consideration that distance from society is sometimes essential for recovering from negative experiences’.
The contractor says the new building will provide a safe environment, ‘with the bonus of optional social communal spaces that offer comfortable accommodation’. Willmott Dixon said: “It is particularly important for patients to have access to a safe communal space alongside self-contained areas to help with rehabilitation and avoiding prolonged periods of detrimental isolation. The balance and choice given to end-users has been strategically planned.” The facility will incorporate external features including an anti-climb roof, and 4 m perimeter fencing, while internal design elements incorporate high-quality ventilation and anti-ligature lighting.
Professor Ashok Roy OBE, Consultant Psychiatrist and Associate Medical Director at Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, said: “The new autism secure service fills the gap in service for a group of patients who have for a long time had poor access to services, and have therefore languished in unsuitable surroundings such as prisons and distant hospitals. It will now be possible to provide a specialised, local service for the West Midlands which provides appropriate skilled treatment, preparing autistic people to take steps towards well-supported community living to achieve rewarding and fulfilling lives”
The building will be heated by air source heat pumps, in line with the Trust’s commitment to no longer install gas-fuelled systems.