Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda
becomes fully operational
8 March 2010
Nightingale Associates’ new hospital in the Rhondda Valley provides a clinical facility for the local community.
Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda, Llwynypia is Nightingale Associates’ new 108-bed community hospital situated in the heart of the Rhondda Valley. Commissioned in 2004 by Cwm Taf Health Board (then Pontypridd and Rhondda NHS Trust) and funded by the Welsh Assembly, the 13,500sq.m new-build scheme became fully operational last month.
Providing new clinical accommodation to replace the out-moded and inappropriate existing facilities, the £23m building celebrates the reconciliation of a contemporary aesthetic with a contextual response while providing an exemplary healthcare facility for the community.
The iconic valleys terrace, with its robust use of materials and arrangement as a linear form in the landscape has been a major influence on the design. The scheme is conceived as a series of linear, sliding planes, arranged on a north-south orientation. The use of render, masonry and tiled pitch roof is embraced and exploited to ensure an appropriate contextual link while maintaining a contemporary aesthetic.
“Having secured such a promising site, the client was instrumental in encouraging the whole team to unlock its potential. We hope the results demonstrate that our response to the context has resulted in a facility of which the Rhondda Valley can be proud.”
Jamie Brewster, Architect and Studio Director, Nightingale Associates
The clinical brief required the following facilities to be provided: inpatient wards (4 x 27 bed wards) therapies (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech & language therapy, dietetics), outpatients (podiatry, ENT suite, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, general clinics), x-ray, ante-natal, minor accident centre, primary care centre, support facilities (pharmacy, chapel, mortuary, administration, estates, medical records, energy centre).
The scheme, which scored a NEAT ‘Excellent’ rating, incorporates the use of a biomass boiler as the hospital’s primary heat source, despite budget restraints. At the time of its design in 2004, the use of biomass boilers was especially innovative in its application in a healthcare setting.
Other low-energy design initiatives include a sophisticated Building Management System (BMS), automatic lighting controls in appropriate locations and maximisation of natural daylight and ventilation.
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