Juliet Erridge, an associate director at David Morley Architects, describes the context and background to the practice’s work to bring St Bernard’s Hospital, a low secure unit in Ealing which was originally the first purpose-built asylum to be completed in England and Wales, ‘into the 21st century’ for the West London Mental Health NHS Trust. She spoke about the redevelopment of the new medium secure campus at May’s Design in Mental Health 2015 conference with Barbara Wood, the Trust’s redevelopment programme manager (Service and Business Change).
Designing facilities for people with mental health problems offers significant opportunities to create settings that help reduce the stigma attached to mental illness and give people hope. At David Morley Architects we use our skill and expertise from other sectors to enrich our healthcare work via the use of natural light, sustainable design, and the design of new buildings in historic environments. This article describes the context of our work to bring St Bernard’s Hospital into the 21st century.
The cross-government strategy document, No health without mental health,1 states that mental health must have equal priority with physical health. The reality is that mental healthcare is so often the ‘poor relation’. This is not really surprising when you realise that the idea of recovery, and the concept of treatment for mental health problems, are comparatively new.
As a society we have made changes for the better in our attitudes to disability. Many positive changes have been made to the built environment to promote inclusion for those with disabilities, although there is still much that should be improved. About one in six adults of working age are affected by disability. This is similar to the proportion of the population at any one time with mental health problems. A corresponding change is needed in society’s attitude to mental illness, as has occurred with disability. There is still a stigma attached to mental health; people do not readily admit to mental health problems. The portrayal of mental illness in the arts and in artistic communities helps to raise awareness. Many will have read the award-winning first novel, Elizabeth is Missing, by Emma Healey, or seen the recently released Oscar winning film, Still Alice, both of which are about people suffering from dementia.
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