Derek Quinn, technical manager at Pensher Skytech, which designs and manufactures bespoke, high specification blast-resistant doors, windows, curtain wall, and modular buildings, outlines the company’s approach to developing doors and windows that are not only well-designed, secure, robust, and innovatively engineered, but also help enhance the service-user environment, give service-users a degree of control, and help speed recovery. As he explains, all the products are exhaustively tested to ensure that they will stand the test of time and the rigours of even the most ‘extreme’ environments.
Over the past few years, NHS Trusts have been reviewing the effect that the design of their mental health facilities has on service-users. It has become clear that with artificial strip lighting, inefficient air-conditioning systems, and bulky, prison-like windows, many existing facilities are no longer fit for purpose.
Healthcare professionals now better understand the needs of patients, and there is consequently a greater demand for more therapeutic, less institutional-feeling rooms in the healthcare sector – especially in facilities designed for patients suffering from mental health issues. Building design needs to adapt to this change, and to be sufficiently flexible to cope with changing future healthcare demands.
Because of this, healthcare design is moving away from traditional, overbearing clinical areas towards a more natural atmosphere. Making a hospital feel like a home is central to this philosophy, and this is achieved through the use of high-quality materials and a softer design aesthetic, which have been proven to help encourage faster patient recovery times.
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