The new John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, designed by architects RTKL, has been completed. The new hospital, situated on the existing site, approximately three miles north of Oxford City Centre, will provide a children’s hospital, a head and neck centre and a diagnostic block to relocate services from the Radcliffe Infirmary in the city centre.
The £135 million development was created to reinterpret healthcare environments as a social rather than institutional space while also keeping costs and maintenance down.
Completed on-time and on-budget, the nine-storey scheme provides 285 beds for inpatient accommodation and replaces an outdated building with new, state-of-the-art facilities. The project required 52,000 m2 of new build and provides key flow links into the existing facilities for services, inpatients, staff and the public. The design also took on the challenge of a very aggressive sustainability strategy, integrated into the concept from its inception.
Building height was minimised to preserve the natural views of local residents. Ventilation through the atrium and natural light were also maximised to reduce energy demand. Grasscrete was used in the car park to allow a natural element in a traditionally austere environment.
Ensuring that the hospital offered a comforting environment to its youngest patients was a key priority according to RTKL project manager Curtis Warmington: “Artwork supplied by local children was used in signage for the children’s centre and bright colours were incorporated because children react differently to vibrant hues. It can affect how activity is maintained in their mind and help engage their interest. Fifteen bay windows, colourful from the outside, are also a fixture to provide relaxed space for families to spend time together in the wards.”
Utilisation of space and evidence-based design were also crucial to the project’s success. “Creating the feeling of space was crucial to increasing utilisation while striding to create a genuinely comfortable facility. Spacious common areas provide a feeling of openness for the entire facility. Colours proven to speed recovery were also used to help with way-finding. Commonality of design, which has been demonstrated to reduce instances of clinical error, was implemented across the hospital,” said project director Alan Morgan. “Keeping costs down was a key priority in creating this design. Space was maximised by overlapping the two main buildings, shops were incorporated into the scheme and plant and services including plumbing, electrics and ICT were centralised to minimise cost and disruption.
“Success for this project was based on maximising space while addressing people’s preconceptions about hospitals. We designed a facility that doesn’t feel clinical and is less intimidating to its young patients. At the same time, it takes maximum advantage of space without intruding on its spectacular, natural surroundings.”
