The Harbour, New Inpatient Mental Health Facility

What We Did

The new 154 bed Inpatient unit in Blackpool represents a major investment by Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust and has seen significant engagement with not only staff and service users but also local residents, Councillors and relatives. The project is being delivered under Procure 21+ with IHP as PSCP, this project is part of the Trust ’ s long term development strategy for their Inpatient services across the region with two further major projects planned.

The scheme is located at the ‘gateway’ to Blackpool adjacent to a windmill a local landmark. The layout, scale, relationships and materiality all enhance the site with the entrance, cafe and meeting rooms responding to the windmill location. The scale and materiality provide a high quality architectural statement fitting of the approach to Blackpool. The unit adjacencies relate to the site constraints with a clear entrance point, PICU close to the entrance for access to the S136 and the remaining units benefiting from the aspect of the fields, setting a fluid private/public relationship relating to site and clinic needs.

The ‘street’ is an important driver in the concept of the building and care delivery. This is first demonstrated externally with a spine wall standing proud of the scheme in a differing material hinting at the unit linking and internal progression prior to arrival. Once inside the ‘street’ links all of the care types encouraging interaction between varying clinical needs and access to shared resources. All the units are accessed from the ‘street’ with pebble like receptions defining the entrances. This concept was well received and developed with CABE to ensure high design quality.

Client Testimonial

Gilling Dod Architects has produced some excellent buildings for the Trust that are performing to high levels of user satisfaction and efficiency.

~ Alistair Rose, Assistant Director of Estates and Facilities for the Trust