NHS Tayside and the North of Scotland Planning Group have chosen Brtiplas’s anti-ligature Safevent windows for new mental healthcare facilities at the Murray Royal Hospital in Perth and Stracathro Hospital in Angus.
The Safevent was developed to meet the sector’s requirement for an anti-ligature window which, alongside offering safety and security, would allow in maximum natural ventilation and light.
Under a “circa £3m contract” for main contractor, Morgan Sindall, Britplas will fit aluminium Safevent windows and curtain walling and door systems in three buildings that form a new mental healthcare facility within the Murray Royal Hospital’s grounds. Safevents will also be fitted to a new £20 m mental health centre at Strathcaro Hospital.
The Safevent comprises a double fronted window and free-sliding internal / external sash. The window has one glazed area, with the other incorporating an “invisible” stainless steel mesh; it thus “delivers security in a sensitive, subtle manner”. The in-line sliding action provides patients / occupants with a greater degree of control, while Britplas says that, because Safevent windows open fully, they not only allow effective ventilation while remaining secure, but can also “reduce or even eliminate the need for noisy, expensive, and carbon-intensive air conditioning and handling”.
