In partnership with East Renfrewshire Council NHSGGC has just opened a new £18m health centre in Barrhead. The new building, designed by Avanti Architects and built by Graham Construction, is located in the town centre on Main Street. It provides accommodation for 3 GP practices, a bookable clinical zone, 2 dental practices, adult mental health services, a children’s speech and language and a podiatry and physiotherapy department and a sexual health clinic. The day care centre for the elderly has its own entrance and garden.
All of the clinical accommodation is located on the ground and first floors and is organised around a triple height top lit atrium. Access to the clinical areas is from the atrium and each reception is identified by a different coloured canopy. Clinics are self-contained and are planned on a straight section of corridor. The structure and services of the building are designed so that layout of the accommodation and the boundaries between departments can easily be altered in future as services evolve and change.
The welcoming public areas of the building are full of space and light. Waiting areas are located either in or directly off the atrium with views over a park and the hills to the rear of the building. The atrium itself contains an information point, seating, and vending machines for hot and cold drinks. The space has also been designed to accommodate small exhibitions and events.
The second floor of the building, which will not be accessible to patients or the public, accommodates offices for a range of local authority social services and outreach staff including speech therapists, community care staff, occupational therapists, an adult mental health team, district nurses and health visitors. The second floor also contains a staff room with and external staff roof terrace and meeting rooms.
The building has been designed to be energy efficient. In addition to generous standards of insulation the heating of the space in the building in winter and the cooling in summer is assisted by a ground source heat pump connected to a geothermal energy array underneath the car park. Windows provide good natural daylight and low energy artificial lighting has been specified throughout. Most of the clinical spaces and offices are naturally ventilated.
