This project comprised a £9.2m Tier 4 Children & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) facility on land owned by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust at the Countess of Chester Health Park.
As a Tier 4 classification Children & Adolescent Mental Health facility, the services requirements of the Client were prescriptive. The design focus throughout was to ensure the safety and welfare of the occupants and End Users with services designed specifically so that they couldn’t be utilised to harm individuals. This included anti-ligature design throughout the scheme including lighting, controls, fire alarms etc. This element of the brief transcended across the building services design.
The key elements of the services strategy provided integration of central ASHP plant technology providing heating and cooling via underfloor pipework in order to provide a low energy, anti-ligature solution that meets the End Users requirements. ESD worked closely with the underfloor heating installer to size and select the underfloor heating/cooling system to ensure maximum floor temperatures permitted weren’t exceeded and limiting the risk of the condensation in cooling mode whilst providing a comfortable environment for residents.
The electrical services design provided low energy lighting throughout the building that also had colour change facilities in key areas such as bedrooms so as to assist in personal mood and body rhythm control and settings in line with the general principals of circadian lights.