Almost a decade after its opening, Arcadis revisited the award-winning Woodland View mental health facility to assess how design decisions have influenced recovery, staff wellbeing and sustainability. Here, Karen Flatt, associate principal and mental health lead at Arcadis Architecture & Urbanism, reflects on the lessons learned, and how post occupancy evaluation (POE) can shape the next generation of therapeutic environments.
The UK government and major healthcare framework agreements, such as 'ProCure22' recognise that POE of major capital projects is an essential performance management and continuous improvement tool.
As with every aspect of the built environment, changes in regulations, standards and social evolution mean architectural solutions need to be resilient. Specifically in mental healthcare, changes in the human condition versus models of care can quickly impact the way, we as architects need to continuously challenge our approach to these types of facilities.
This led us to revisiting the Arcadis designed, Woodland View mental health facility. The purpose of the POE was to gain valuable insights into what design approaches continue to work well, whilst highlighting lessons learned for future projects.
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