Highgate East mental health facility in North London was the Healthcare Development winner at the Secured by Design 2025 Awards
The complex project involved innovative designs and bespoke solutions to create a secure and safe mental health facility, with its success partly due to the experience and expertise of Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs), Steve Downing and Ellen Ramasawmy from the Metropolitan Police.
The new £82m hospital facility is part of the North London Mental Health Partnership’s vision of “Better Mental Health. Better Communities. Better Lives”, aimed at transforming and destigmatising mental health care.
Constructed to replace the ageing in-patient facilities of St Pancras Hospital, Highgate East is a purpose-built, cutting-edge facility that paves the way for a new approach to mental health – one that values both therapeutic care and the sense of wellbeing that comes from being in a calming and safe physical environment, where architecture and design play a key role.
The challenge for everyone involved in the project was to create a welcoming, modern and inclusive environment that was also secure and kept patients and staff safe from harm, and to protect them from intrusions on to the site or break-ins.
This vision was brought to life through collaboration and partnerships between the North London NHS Foundation Trust, the Kingsway Group, Ryder Architecture, BAM Construction and the Met DOCOs Steve Downing and Ellen Ramasawmy. Service users also played an important role in shaping the design, feel and look.
Balancing safety and design in every aspect of the building
For example, the reception area is light and welcoming, but it also has full-height laminated glass screens, access control and includes extra layers of security. Within the facility, there are compartmentalised spaces throughout that create safe spaces for staff and service users which can be isolated off and accessed with remote audio and visual controlled doorsets.
To further protect service users and staff, CCTV monitoring is in place throughout alongside practical anti-harm measures such as specialist doors and hinges, security windows and handrails with smooth, rounded edges.
Secured by Design (SBD) member company Kawneer UK supplied the curtain walling and profiles, but many of the requirements needed unique bespoke designs that weren’t readily available off the shelf and the DOCOs Downing and Ramasawmy worked closely with the design team and site manager to advise at all stages of the build.
The result is a modern, dynamic facility that is bright and welcoming, contributing to healing and recovery. The building is protected by a secure boundary to help prevent unauthorised exit and entry. Each of the 78 single en suite rooms is designed to be safe and comfortable, featuring individual room temperature controls, soft furnishings, reinforced TV panels and modern secure or heavy base furniture to prevent injury. There are calming sensory rooms and airy commons areas with TVs and pool tables to help create a sense of community. There is even an on-site state-of-the-art gym.
Each ward in the building has access to an outdoor space through a series of terraced sky gardens to allow service users to connect with nature and spend valuable time outside. They are all fully enclosed with considered anti-suicide measures, such as sloped windowsills, tall boundaries and CCTV. However, they are also open and airy with soft low-level planting to create a warm, safe space.
On the ground floor, there’s a public café open to all, helping to build connections with the local communities of Highgate and Camden. This fosters a sense of inclusivity, which in turn aims to break down barriers and challenge perceptions of mental health.
Highgate East is testament to the fact that thoughtfully designed spaces can create an aesthetically pleasing environment that not only enhances wellbeing for staff and service users but also incorporates strategic safety measures to help prevent crime both inside and out of the facility.
Improved security
Developers around the UK can achieve SBD awards for incorporating crime prevention measures into their developments in all kinds of building sectors, such as residential, education, health, transport, commercial, retail, sport and leisure.
Academic and other research shows that improving standards of security in brand new and refurbished properties helps reduce both crime and the fear of crime and has direct links to better physical and mental wellbeing. Find out more about SBD Developers Awards here.
SBD Design Guides
SBD has produced a series of authoritative Design Guides to assist the building, design and construction industry to incorporate security into developments to comply with the Building Regulations in England, Scotland and Wales and meet the requirements of Secured by Design.
These Design Guides are available to download for free at the SBD website.
*Please note that this is a commercial profile.
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