DORMA Automatics chosen for Wansbeck Hospital PFI development

Providing safe access and emergency egress for any building with a high volume of staff and visitor traffic represents a challenge, but surely none more so than the demands of a large hospital complex. Particularly when compliance with Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which comes into force in October of this year, is also high on the agenda. However, the specifiers, designers, facilities managers and others involved certainly rose to the challenge at the Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington. Part of the Northumbria NHS Trust, Wansbeck is a major PFI hospital development and its new £20 million extension has won the ‘Best Designed Hospital Award 2003’. There is no doubt that for a variety of reasons the PFI scheme has many critics and one of the biggest objections from the architectural and design quarter is that PFI developments in the healthcare sector should concentrate less on low cost functionality and more on design. It is felt there should be improvements made in the procurement process, which would result in higher standards of architecture and ultimately better value for money. Effectively a vision is needed for the total healthcare landscape, with buildings created to meet that vision. In this context, award-winning Wansbeck has tried hard. more…

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