Nearly a year to the day after breaking ground, staff and guests gathered this week to celebrate the ‘topping out’ - completion of the building shell - of St Andrew’s Healthcare’s new building, FitzRoy House in Northampton.
This is a key milestone in the construction of this unique new building, which will provide bespoke care for young people with mental health needs.
At a ceremony held on the roof of the new building, chairman of St Andrew’s Healthcare, Peter Winslow, thanked everyone involved in the project, before the first piece of stone coping was attached to the building by chief executive, Gil Baldwin.
Guests included Sean Bowles, managing director of contractor, Galliford Try; Cath Lake, of P+HS Architects, which designed the building; and MP for Northampton South, David Mackintosh.
Baldwin said, “We recognise that, while many young people with mental health issues are best treated closer to home or in the community, there are some with very complex needs who are best cared for by highly-specialised staff in a safe and secure environment such as FitzRoy House. This new building will enable us to provide world-class holistic care for young people with mental illness, autism and learning disability in an environment that is tailor-made for them.”
Staff and young patients will move into the new building when it opens in autumn 2016. It will be the largest secure service for young people with mental health needs in the world.
Key features of FitzRoy House that will support the delivery of world-class holistic care include new facilities to deliver ground-breaking treatments such as sensory integration techniques and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), specially adapted for young people. It will also include areas where patients benefit from activities to help their recovery, such as horticulture and animal care.
As well as purpose-built residential facilities, it will include sports and therapy areas, a cafe and courtyards with outdoor activity spaces and landscaped gardens, and a modern new facility for St Andrew’s College, the charity’s OFSTED-rated ‘outstanding’ school. This will include teaching rooms with better access to technology, a science demonstration room, a new library area, an outdoor education area, a bespoke music room, and a recording studio.
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Galliford Try
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P+HS Architects
P+HS Architects is an award winning practice, highly experienced in healthcare design. Our aim is simple: to create places that enhance people’s lives.
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