Planning & Design Practice are pleased to announce the approval of the redevelopment of the Outwoods site based at Queens Hospital Burton, to provide a new health care village.
On behalf of the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB), Planning & Design Practice prepared and submitted an application for a transitional care unit, 85 extra care apartments, a 72-bed care home, community hub, a GP and primary care facility, and a 100-place children’s nursery. This application followed a previously approved outline application for a similar scheme.
Over the years there has been an increased pressure for new clinical accommodation in the area, with the hospital serving communities with an ageing population and deprived areas with higher than average rates of certain illnesses. UHDB continues to invest in state-of-the-art equipment and strives to continually improve the quality of its patient care, generating a need for more space.
The Outwoods site includes vacant areas and buildings with high ongoing maintenance costs, and the aim is to demolish the inefficient existing buildings to make way for the new health care village concept; this development takes into account the existing topography of the site.
At Planning & Design Practice we were involved in conversations with the clients and third parties to create a scheme which would be beneficial to the community, whilst also having a positive impact on the built and natural environment. This open conversation between all the stakeholders of the project allowed for a successful outcome that will benefit both the immediate and wider community.
The approval of the Outwoods Hospital Site redevelopment follows a number of other approvals that we have gained for the UHDB Trust through our long-term partnership. These have included our two recent approvals at Royal Derby Hospital for the retention of a temporary ward, a rooftop extension and refurbishment supporting day case services and a new multi-storey car park at Royal Derby Hospital.
Over the last 20 years, Planning & Design Practice have worked with and for a wide range of public sector and not-for-profit bodies including the NHS, Government Agencies, District and Unitary Local Authorities, County Councils and Town/Parish Councils. A number of our senior team have extensive experience of working in the public sector and this undoubtedly helps us to understand the requirements of public bodies. For more information or to discuss your project please contact us on 01332 347371.
The first approval was for the retention of a single storey ward and adjoining link. This ward was installed on car park 1 of RDH in late 2018 on a temporary basis, but as the need for the ward continued, subsequent applications were made to allow for the retention of the ward until February 2023.
The ward was installed quickly in 2018 as a response to acute winter capacity pressures at the hospital. It has since proved to be an extremely valuable facility in terms of delivering patient care. Although only intended as a temporary structure, the ward was nonetheless fitted internally to a high standard, as befits healthcare provision in 2019, and offers modern, spacious accommodation, as well as much needed additional capacity. Since the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic in March 2020, the ward has proved an invaluable resource due to increased pressures on the NHS.
Planning & Design Practice submitted a retrospective application to allow for the retention of the ward on a permanent basis due to the increased demand of the hospital. The permanent retention of the ward was considered by the planning officer to be acceptable in policy terms and that it would not detrimentally affect the car parking provision within the hospital site.
The second approval was for a rooftop extension to the Kings Treatment Centre (KTC). This application follows a similar scheme that was submitted in 2018, but was never implemented due to funding not being secured at the time.
The proposal involves the infill of an existing rooftop courtyard at the south end of the KTC and installation of an additional air handling unit on an adjacent existing rooftop to support the additional accommodation being provided. The extension will accommodate the relocation of an existing Elective Procedures Unit from another location within the main hospital building, to provide a more efficient and combined Unit as well as providing additional space for the expansion of the Intensive Care Unit in the main hospital building.
The planning officer determined that the extension would have a neutral impact on the setting, character and appearance of the building, and that it broadly complied with the policies in the Local Plan.
Over the last 20 years, Planning & Design Practice have worked with and for a wide range of public sector and not-for-profit bodies including the NHS, Government Agencies, District and Unitary Local Authorities, County Councils and Town/Parish Councils. A number of our senior team have extensive experience of working in the public sector and this undoubtedly helps us to understand the requirements of public bodies. For more information or to discuss your project please contact us on 01332 347371.
Planning & Design Practice have a long, successful and healthy relationship working as planning consultants for the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHBD). Recently we have worked with the Trust to submit applications for a transitional care unit, 85 extra care apartments, a 72 bed care home, a community hub, a GP and primary care facility and a 100 place children’s nursery at the Outwoods Hospital site, Burton upon Trent. In addition we have recently submitted an application for the construction of a new outpatient’s department at the Royal Derby Hospital. We are lucky in Derbyshire to have these large-scale hospitals and their smaller partner hospitals, its hard to imagine life without them. In this article, our Heritage Consultant Ruth Gray takes a brief look at some of the more significant contributions to the healthcare system that have originated here in Derbyshire.
Almost accidently, quarantine was pioneered in Eyam in 1666, by the selfless acts of the villagers who segregated themselves from the general population after they discovered that the plague had manifested itself in the village via a parcel of cloth arriving from London. Doctors later realised that their use of an enforced quarantine zone limited and helped prevent the spread of disease. Other break throughs discovered from this terrible episode were around contamination with the realisation that the washing of coins in vinegar before being left in payment for food parcels prevented the spread of the disease to those who left food parcels at the edge of the village.
Riley Graves – Eyam
Before the 18th century medical provision in Derbyshire, and across the country as a whole was not the concern of the state. If you became ill you had to depend on family, friends, neighbours, and the poor and labouring classes either used the services of friendly societies or if they couldn’t afford that the clergy and parish provided some outdoor relief and medical treatment. Medical advice was unregulated and provided by a variety of commercially motivated apothecaries, surgeons and physicians. With the industrial revolution came the need to keep the workforce healthy and it was this need that allowed for the beginnings of a public owned health service.
Derbyshire Infirmary opened June 4, 1810, its establishment in Derby had its beginnings with the inventor, poet, and Lunar Society member Dr Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802)-who founded a clinic and dispensary in Derby financed through a philanthropic society. Darwin and some fellow Doctors gave their advice for free whilst the local apothecaries benefited from alternating in making up prescriptions. The aim of the Enlightenment philosophers, philanthropists, architects, and governing committees was to limit infection by isolating the sick from the rest of the population ensuring that the general labour force remained productive 1. Darwin hoped his clinic and dispensary would be the foundation of an infirmary and if he had been younger, he may have taken on the task himself but that was left to William Strutt (1756–1830)2.
Derby Royal Infirmary 1819
Strutt already had considerable experience of designing bridges and mills. One of Strutt’s most important concerns was the development of fire-resistant structures and technology in textile mills (one he pioneered when he rebuilt Belper North Mill) and the application of these in other contexts. The Infirmary was one of the first British hospitals to use, iron pillars and beams, iron-framed windows, and a fire-proof ceiling (over the baths). It also contained (amongst other innovations) a new heating system that allowed the patients to breathe fresh heated air whilst old air was channelled up through the glass and iron dome at the centre. Strutt’s design is significant not just for its construction but also because it is an example of design bringing together all the concerns of Enlightenment architecture, scientific rationality, and the in-built design efficiency of public institutions.
Outside of the main city, smaller towns across Derbyshire began to benefit from voluntary hospitals being more conveniently situated, patients benefited from remaining close to relatives and friends 3. Initially these were founded by aristocratic benefactors such as the Duke of Devonshire but as the Victorian era progressed it was the industrialists that organised their workforces into contributing their wages towards forming hospitals that provided accident and emergency facilities that were essential in saving lives for the workers of the heavy industries of mining, steel and railways. Voluntary hospitals became an integral part of the Derbyshire community, and society as a whole. Funded by charity, subscriptions, and public events such as fetes, parades, and concerts, voluntary hospitals mirrored the fortunes of the local community with the hospital thriving if the community was thriving.
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) understood from her own experience as a charitable gentlewoman that charity alone was failing the large industrial populaces, since they lacked the training and organization required to tackle the problem at scale. Nightingale who was raised in Lea in Derbyshire was a very influential figure in nursing following the Crimean war in 1854 her passion for creating a better healing environment for patients prompted her to write ‘Notes on Hospitals’ in 1863 outlining her priorities for designing hospitals. She concentrated not just on the efficiency aspects of hospitals to get people back to health but also the social requirements of patients 4. Nightingale was revolutionary in that not only was she was instrumental in steering healthcare provision away from religious groups and charities towards state run systems 5, but also her influence on hospital design was recognized and implemented over the next hundred years.
Healthcare pioneer- Florence Nightingale
The twentieth century with its two world wars proved that as Florence Nightingale had known, healthcare provision would suffer under a poor economy. The National Health Service Act in 1946 was the death knell for the voluntary system 6, and the 5th of July in 1948 was the end to voluntary fundraising for the hospital system. By the time the NHS came about, people expected medical cover as a part of their professional and personal life.
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust now provide healthcare for the region, and we at Planning & Design are happy to have been able to assist with their expansion, helping to provide infrastructure for the 21st century, and support as visitor numbers increase to pre-Pandemic levels.
For more information on our team and our work, and to find out how we can help you achieve a positive planning decision contact us on 01332 347371 for a no obligation consultation.
Notes and Further Reading:
1: The Derbyshire General Infirmary and the Derby Philosophers: The Application of Industrial Architecture and Technology to Medical Institutions in Early-Nineteenth-Century England PAUL ELLIOTT 2: M.Craven, Derby an Illustrated History. Breedon Books. 3: Community and the Voluntary Hospitals in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, 1900-1946: Economy, Society, Culture. Edward Cheetham A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Nottingham Trent University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In collaboration with the Midlands 4 Cities Doctoral Training Partnership September 2020. 4: http://www.mahlum.com/pdf/HistoryofHealthcareArchBurpee.pdf 5: R. Bates and J. Godshaw Memel, Florence Nightingale and Responsibility for Healthcare in the Home. 6: Community and the Voluntary Hospitals in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, 1900-1946: Economy, Society, Culture. Edward Cheetham A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Nottingham Trent University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In collaboration with the Midlands 4 Cities Doctoral Training Partnership September 2020
Heritage is not all about the past, we live with examples of buildings that can teach us lessons about new ways of living today. Sometimes it pays to look back at innovations designed by architects to resolve issues of their day that are also contemporary concerns, states the latest addition to our Heritage team, Ruth Gray.
For example, ventilation is currently very much on the agenda. With the Covid 19 pandemic wreaking havoc throughout the country we are again wanting methods of ventilation to ensure our patients and nurses in hospitals and schools’ children and teachers are healthy and can maintain a high standard of education. The below case studies of Planning & Design Practice projects with community buildings are a fascinating example of what can be learned from our heritage buildings.
Planning & Design Practice were commissioned by Green Square Accord on behalf of Worcestershire County Council to prepare an assessment into the heritage significance of Holyoakes Field First School and Nursery, which is situated on Bridge Street, Redditch. Whilst there is historic interest in the school being an example of the work of talented Architect Lieut.-Colonel Alfred Vernon Rowe (1880-1940) it is not his most notable or high-profile work. But our research found that the school is possibly unique for A. V. Rowe, who built many larger, multi-storied schools but these did not include Holyoakes experimental feature, the ‘marching corridors’.
The Education Act of 1907 introduced periodic medical inspections in schools to address the poor health of children across the country. This resulted in experiments in school architecture with a greater focus on light, ventilation, and provision of space indoors and outdoors for exercise. The use of single storey school buildings allowed a larger plan form, with open air verandas stretching the length of the building allowing for ‘marching corridors’, often leading to a large hall where indoor recreation could be held. Holyoakes is one example of such a plan form and having been designed in 1911 is quite early, whilst these principles had been established in the early 1900s it took some time to gain traction, being adopted nationwide after WW1. Read more about this aspect of school design here. 1
Planning & Design Practice recent research of Outwoods House as part of their assessment into the heritage significance for a project with University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) NHS Foundation Trust, found that the original part of Outwoods House was constructed in 1895 from brick and sandstone dressings in a gothic revival style. The original building was purpose built as part of an isolation hospital, which has historic significance and modern-day resonance. The Isolation Hospitals Act (1893) enabled County Councils either to provide isolation hospitals or compel local authorities within the county to do so. From the early 1890s to 1914 some 300 local authority isolation hospitals were built. Hospitals were large, dominated by parallel rows of detached ward blocks linked by a covered way, in an extreme form of the pavilion plan that even provided distinctive ventilated basements to allow the free movement of air beneath the wards.
We discovered that overall, whilst buildings of this age/type are not uncommon, and the building has been subject to some alteration/ extension, the original core is a reasonably good example of its type (architecturally speaking) and there is historic interest deriving from its links to the hospital and the story of healthcare in the area. Read more about Isolation hospitals in Historic England’s Health and Welfare Buildings document here. 2
Neither of these case studies are listed buildings but Holyoakes school is potentially eligible for categorisation as a “non-designated heritage asset” by the local authority and Outwoods House is identified by the council’s conservation officer as a non-designated heritage asset. Meaning their importance is recognised for the role they can play in providing future generations solutions. Essentially heritage buildings can help us to understand the society of former eras through their architecture, architects, and their ideas. By understanding our heritage, we can prepare for the future. These two buildings that we have discussed are commonplace but were both designed with ventilation in mind they are examples also of why heritage assessments are an important part of the planning process as the collaboration between conservation officers, planners and developers means that we can retain and reuse buildings and, in the process, discover and retain key pieces of our heritage.
At Planning & Design Practice, we recognise the importance of the built heritage in our towns, villages and rural areas. Our Heritage team includes Director Jon Millhouse, who is a Full Member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, Architectural team leader Lindsay Cruddas, a registered Specialist Conservation Architect and Heritage Assistant Ruth Gray who recently completed a Masters in Public History and Heritage at the University of Derby. For more information on the heritage services we offer, or for a free, no obligation consultation to discuss your project or property, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out how we can help.
Planning & Design Practice Ltd were delighted to receive planning permission for a three storey extension to the Treatment Centre Building at The Queens Hospital, Burton-on-Trent.
The Hospital site is situated on the western side of Burton-on-Trent and is accessed off Belvedere Road.
The Belvedere Road Site was originally developed and opened as Burton’s 4th hospital (Burton District Hospital) in 1971. In 1990, a £34 million capital development began to re-develop the Belvedere Road site and include all the facilities housed at the General Hospital which opened in 1942 so the old General hospital could be closed. The new Burton Hospital was completed by the end of 1993, and opened officially by Her Majesty The Queen on December 7, 1995. The following year the hospital changed its name to Queen’s Hospital.
The application for a new 3-storey, modular building, is linked to the existing Treatment Centre. It will have an overall floor area of 3,967sqm and have a flat roof. The ground floor internal layout has been agreed. It includes 28 new beds and will allow the centre more capacity for elective surgery.
The Building will be supporting local communities and will enable the NHS to deliver the operating capacity required to enable the Queens site to develop and have the capacity it requires to keep ahead of the growing needs of the local health economy.
Planning & Design are delighted to get the permission through for the NHS, where a first class new ward facility has been secured at a challenging time for the NHS.
Over the last 20 years we have worked for many District and Unitary Local Authorities, Government Agencies, Parish Councils and the NHS. We are pleased to be working as planning consultants for the Derby & Burton Hospitals University Foundations Trust to deliver new buildings & facilities across Southern Derbyshire & East Staffordshire. In the past 12 months we have secured permission for a 3 storey ward extension across the front of Derby Royal Hospital, and we are currently working with the Trust, Derby City and East Staffordshire Council to deliver a new medical centre; further ward extensions and a multi-storey car park.
