Location
Little Bromwich, Birmingham, UK
Client
NSW Health Infrastructure | Northern Sydney Local Health District
Role
Architect, Health Planner, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect
Year
1994
Value
£2m
Contact
Mungo Smith
MAAP's innovative design for Little Bromwich supported one of the most forward approaches to mental health policy in the UK, pioneered by the Mental Health NHS Trust in the 90’s. The original Trust plan for a conventional 100-bed psychiatric unit was overturned in favour of three small centres each with beds, day spaces and outpatient facilities which also serves as CMHCs. These smaller centres offer opportunities for more flexible provision and serve communities of differing character.
Little Bromwich
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The final design is made up of a 32 bed older adult assessment unit and a 40 place day hospital. The building maintains the separate functions of each of its parts. It takes the form of seven linked single story pavilions arranged to take advantage of the sloping site and to make intimate, partially enclosed terraces and gardens around its perimeter.
A long timber canopy leads into an open forum, the hub of the building where day-patients and visitors are received. From it radiate two day hospital pavilions (for organic and functional illnesses) with a ramped link to the inpatient facilities. The plan form also divides the service users into the two groups with a flexible swing zone which can accommodate residents for more closely observed assessment and take up fluctuations in each group.