5.200 sqm
UK
2008
Barking & Havering LIFTCo is an award-winning partnership seeking to create an exemplary primary healthcare estate of modern, sustainable, fit-for-purpose facilities.
Located in Barking town centre, the Child & Family Health facility is one of the company’s flagship NHS ‘one stop shop’ projects: an integral part of Barking’s regeneration initiative and the wider Thames Gateway development. Laid out over five levels on a constrained urban site, the building comprises a mix of community health and social care facilities, along with 22 affordable housing units.
Centred on a semi-private courtyard and play area, its key design driver has been achieving a balance between openness and intimacy. The U-shaped plan reconciles a number of complex service, access and user requirements, with facilities branching off a central corridor common to all floors. The result is a stimulating, child-focused environment with easy wayfinding and views out to the townscape. Sustainably designed, the building has a NHS Environmental Assessment Tool (NEAT) rating of Excellent. Public areas present active facades to the street, promoting community ‘ownership’. Private functions are tucked away from the bustle of the civic square.