Published on : Thursday, March 6, 2014
Barbara Weiss Architects (BWA) has completed the extension and change of use of a redundant 1990s office block into the new Wokingham Medical Centre, to create the largest single-site GP practice in the UK.
The 1,600 sq m NHS building, provides new facilities for up to 16 GPs (currently home to 11), and five nurses, along with a new pharmacy and flexible medical suite. The relocation from two separate sites, now occupies a site in the heart of Wokingham’s town centre in Berkshire, a key area for the continued regeneration of the town.
The brief was simply to accommodate a large number of patients (the centre will serve a catchment area of up to 32,000) and GPs within a calm, non-insitutionalised environment. BWA substantially extended the existing building and added a penthouse conference room on the roof. Design features include bespoke joinery used to create an intimate suite of consulting areas throughout the building and ‘clinical’ examination areas at the rear. The use of Intelligent Glass glazing on the front elevation at first and second floors, provides touch-of-a-button privacy to the consulting rooms behind.
BWA began the design process with the complete strip-out of the existing steel frame and cavity wall office building and remodeled the space to meet a number of key objectives including need for additional floorspace for new services and clinics, and additional consulting and treatment rooms.
To meet government ambitions on the provision of more care locally, the new building also needed to allow for the co-location of a pharmacy, physiotherapy and other services, whilst comfortably catering for the likely increase in patient numbers, a predicted additional 9-10,000, from 4,000 newly built homes in the area.
Along with a number of successful alterations to the existing built fabric, BWA designed the integration of a new third floor to accommodate a pavilion, housing a meeting and conference space. The third floor extension is also set back from the northeast elevation and opens out onto a spacious terrace.
Externally, the new extensions are rendered with simply proportioned window openings. Window frames are made of aluminium, with the exception of the glazed screen in the entrance elevation, which is framed in deep oak mullions and transoms to provide warmth, and a degree of privacy from upward views. The service and escape door and adjoining screen are also faced in oak.
The building is approached, from Rose Street, along a new 1.8m wide pedestrian-safe access, separated from vehicles by new, modern lighting bollards and a mixture of newly-planted, largely indigenous trees. The Wokingham Medical Centre was completed on site in just over a year and is now fully operational for the public use.
Tags: Barbara Weiss Architects (BWA), largest single-site GP practice, Wokingham Medical Centre
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