Highgate East mental health facility in North London was the Healthcare Development winner at ATLAS 25’, the Secured by Design awards.
The complex project involved innovative designs and bespoke solutions to create a secure and safe facility, with its success partly due to the experience and expertise of Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs), Steve Downing and Ellen Ramasawmy from the Metropolitan police.
The new £82 million hospital facility is part of the North London Mental Health Partnership’s vision of ‘Better Mental Health. Better Communities. Better Lives’, aimed at transforming and destigmatising mental health care.
Constructed to replace the ageing in-patient facilities of St Pancras Hospital, Highgate East is a purpose built cutting-edge facility that paves the way for a new approach to mental health – one that values both therapeutic care and the sense of well-being that comes from being in a calming and safe physical environment, where architecture and design play a key role.
The challenge for everyone involved in the project was to create a welcoming, modern inclusive environment that was also secure and kept patients and staff safe from harm, and to protect them from intrusions onto the site by others or break-ins.
This vision was brought to life through collaboration and partnerships between the North London NHS Foundation Trust, the Kingsway Group, Ryder Architecture, BAM Construction and the Met DOCOs Steve Downing and Ellen Ramasawmy. Service users also played an important role in shaping the design, feel and look.
Every aspect of the building was carefully considered with both design and safety in mind. For example, the reception area is light and welcoming, but it also has full height laminated glass screens, access control and includes extra layers of security. Within the facility there are compartmentalised spaces throughout which create safe spaces for staff and service users that can be isolated off and accessed with remote audio and visual controlled door-sets.
To further protect service users and staff, CCTV monitoring is in place throughout alongside practical anti-harm measures such as specialist doors and hinges, security windows and handrails with smooth rounded edges. SBD member company Kawneer UK Ltd supplied the curtain walling and profiles, but many of the requirements needed unique bespoke designs that weren’t readily available off the shelf and the DOCOs Downing and Ramasawmy worked closely with the design team and site manager to advise at all stages of the build.
