Jun 17, 2010
Renfrew Health and Social Work Centre | Holmes
Photo courtesy Holmes
Project: Renfrew Health and Social Work Centre
Architect: Holmes
Client: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Renfrewshire Council
Location: Renfrew town, Renfrewshire
Contractor: Interserve Project Services Limited
Contract value: £11 million
Completion: March 2010
Photo courtesy Holmes
The £11 million purpose built Renfrew Health and Social Work Centre, which uniquely combines NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde run services with those provided by Renfrewshire Council, was designed by Holmes following their successful bid in an invited bid with Interserve Project Services Limited.
Responding to the overall brief, the building adopts a light, airy non-institutional design approach to support and facilitate a range of patient care facilities – including GP practices, as well as a dental services, physiotherapy, podiatry, speech and language therapy, community nursing, and Renfrewshire’s Joint Learning Disability Service and Renfrew area’s Social Work team.
Photo courtesy Holmes
Essentially, the new facility, which was delivered in conjunction with specialist healthcare contractor Interserve, takes the form of three rectilinear accommodation blocks connected by a glazed entrance and triple height circulation route. The building appears from the main road as an elegant black box with rhythmic, controlled window positions breaking up and articulating the elevation with coloured glass ‘fins’ adding a dynamic visual element.
Photo courtesy Holmes
The two additional accommodation blocks behind the main road elevation are a continuation of the simple rectilinear box form, however these have been articulated via white rendered finishes and a controlled random appearance of windows. These have been carefully designed and modelled to maximise daylighting and ventilation to the rooms within, thereby meeting the aspirations of the passive design strategy for the building, and achieving a ‘Very Good’ rating under the BREEAM certification scheme.
Looking out over the newly created public square, the building’s frontage has been designed to offer an appropriately welcoming and accessible face. This has been achieved via the use of locally sourced larch cladding, which provides a natural warmth to the pre-cast concrete panels and extensive coloured glazing. This arrangement of textures and materials also succeeds in breaking up the building mass. A low-pitched standing seam aluminium roof with a clipped and simple edge, maintains the simple geometric form of the building, which is seen as a powerful new presence in Renfrew’s public realm and as a result a key catalyst in terms of the town’s and the wider Clyde Waterfront regeneration programme.
Photo courtesy Holmes
Internally, the double storey covered entrance space is effectively a continuation of the public square leading into the building. In recognition of its important civic function, the building’s interior is envisaged as a ‘streetscape’, featuring a triple height volume with glazed screens at either end of the building and rooflights above to flood the space with natural light.
Photo courtesy Holmes
The central ‘street’ space provides direct access to a vertical circulation ‘core’ of open accommodation, stairs, lifts and public toilets, which are clearly visible from the main entrance arrival space. These continue to open directly onto reception and waiting areas on the first and second floors. Individual departments and consultation areas, contained within the three accommodation blocks, are securely self-contained, a device that not only enables maximum patient privacy, but also allows the main streetscape in the public entrance building to remain independently open and accessible.
Photo courtesy Holmes
A uniquely close and extensive collaboration with local community groups, as well as the client and end users, ensured that the completed building nurtured a real sense of ownership within the wider community. Meetings, presentations and discussions were undertaken with the local Community Council, Disability Group, Primary and Secondary Schools and the local Reid Kerr College. In addition, internationally renowned Glasgow based artist Toby Paterson was commissioned to complete a major new site-specific artwork in the entrance of the new building following an invited competition held by the centre’s ‘Artworks Public Involvement Group’.
Photo courtesy Holmes
Holmes Partner Callum Houston comments: “Renfrew Health and Social Work Centre provides a user friendly, flexible and welcoming ‘one stop shop’ for patients to meet all their healthcare needs in one building at the heart of the local community.”
Photo courtesy Holmes
“Working closely with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Renfrewshire Council and Interserve Project Services Limited in an open and collaborative manner has ensured the delivery of a landmark building, where a high level of care and consultation has been taken to craft the interior and spatial quality to meet the specific requirements of each individual user group and patient needs.”
About Holmes
Holmes was formed over fifty years ago and has established a reputation for delivering innovative and intelligent solutions across all sectors. With offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Holmes works with clients across all sectors, including residential, commercial, education, industrial, and justice. Current workload includes major residential regeneration projects; city centre and business park commercial developments; and an extensive school building programme for local authority clients. Holmes is an approved architectural consultant within a supply chain on the ‘NHS Scotland Frameworks Scotland’ procurement process. www.holmespartnership.com
Artwork Design Statement:
Toby Paterson’s approach to the artwork was to consider the new building within the context of the town of Renfrew as a whole, “exploring the connection between a brand new, forward-looking building and the existing town.” The large-scale wall painting represents something of a composite ‘hypothetical landscape’ image composed from the town’s architectural features. This, Paterson describes as, “very much a subjective ‘snapshot’ of the town as it currently exists, but also an image that proposes different perspectives and orientations, taking the everyday and familiar and reconstituting it into something surprising and beguiling.” In this way, Paterson aims to, “make a link between a new and unfamiliar building and the area and people it serves.” Paterson adds: “I very much enjoy the notion that this work can be derived from a particular place, time and set of circumstances, but as those circumstances change (hopefully positively) around the work over time, that change is reflected by the work’s constancy.
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