Ulster Hospital Acute Services Block

Ulster Hospital’s stunning new Acute Services Block is the last phase of the South Eastern Trust’s £260m redevelopment Programme and completes a new central cluster of inpatient and emergency accommodation helping the Trust to transform patient care for the 21st century.

The design was developed in close collaboration with the Client and stakeholder teams including patient groups with a focus on quality and on the creation of a stimulating therapeutic environment that enhances the lives and wellbeing of all building users. The eight-storey building provides 213 inpatient beds within Generic and Specialist Wards, including Acute Surgical and Medical Assessment Beds, Stroke, Renal and Gynaecology. Other facilities include an Emergency Department with Observation and Ambulatory Care Beds, Radiology with Nuclear
Medicine, Therapy Areas and a Central Kitchen, Staff Changing, Mortuary and FM.

A restaurant and concourse area creates a central space in the heart of the newly configurated hospital complex providing a relaxing transition and refreshment space for visitors and staff. The wards, located on the upper four floors, benefit from a design which maximizes natural daylight and views to the landscape through generous glazing both in the bedrooms and in the connective spaces which helps to create a positive healing space with early integration of art.

The design delivers 80% single rooms with en-suite bathrooms, an element which was fundamental to the success of the ward plan. Early engagement with the Client team allowed a full-scale mock-up to be constructed and tested with the end users prior to sign off. The rooms maximize natural daylight and views through generous glazing both in the external wall and in the ward corridor. Integrated services and fittings at the bed head and in the en-suite and built in storage and wardrobe facilities create a clutter free space that is easier to maintain and clean. The corridor glazing provides good patient observation for staff as well as allowing the patient to have contact with other patients and staff if required. Privacy is provided through powered blinds that can be controlled from the patient’s handset. This flexibility is beneficial in combating possible feelings of isolation that some patients might experience within single bed wards. Large full height windows ensure that all departments feel strongly connected to nature and the seasons.

A consistent design ethos has been applied holistically from the considered enclosures and framed views of carefully landscaped courtyards to the detail and material choice of fittings in bedrooms and the early integration of art. The ward plan and innovative single room design has been praised by staff for its role in the successful containment of Covid outbreaks during the pandemic and as a precedent for future hospital
developments.

The Acute Services Block and all other buildings within the masterplan have been designed not only to integrate successfully into the wider hospital infrastructure, but to incrementally improve the hospital through the introduction of modern, well designed, highly sustainable buildings that provide the local community with modern healthcare services within a fully accessible, safe and therapeutic environment.