2024 showed off a new venue for the Design In Mental Health event.
Moving from Coventry to Manchester, the mental health-focused two-day gathering established its new home in the former Victorian train station of Manchester Central, which is now a striking event venue.
Design In Mental Health is an annual exhibition, conference, and awards focused on the built environments around mental health patients.
The event itself is a mix of a conference, exhibition, and awards, making for a lively atmosphere of collaboration between the professionals in attendance.
The exhibitors and speakers that I spoke to were all highly relevant to the event’s mission and were focused on designing facilities and providing products for those requiring mental health care.
This can take the form of contractors (such as Darwin Group), architects (such as P+HS), and many furniture manufacturers (such as Knightsbridge and South Africa-based Cranium).
What to expect
For those that have never been, the new venue is in a fantastic location. The exhibition hall is right in the centre of town with lots of accommodation choices only a hop, skip, and a jump away.
The location is also only a short walk from the main train station. So even outside of the beauty of the venue, the convenience is there.
The floor is also light and airy, and the hustle and bustle is kept under good control.
In terms of innovation, the floor was littered with new tech and innovation.
For delegates, some of the biggest draws to events like this are the talks. The talks that were given over the two days covered every facet of design for mental health buildings.
They covered a look at design of facilities from the patients’ perspective, from the architects, from the staff, from the children’s, and even from the global population’s point of view with regard to climate change.
If you were looking to get an idea of what the end-user of these build and interior projects would need, then this was a great way to get a deep insight.
In between the back-to-back talks was a great food offering for delegates that kept many going throughout the day. The event also had a “delegate lounge”, sponsored by the water-saving washroom equipment expert KWC DVS. This was a great place with sofas to take a break in the middle of the high-energy atmosphere of the show floor.
Things to do
In terms of innovation, the floor was littered with new tech and innovation. It is a great place to go see for yourself the demos being carried out.
Darwin Group’s collaborative modular mental health bedroom, called “Bedroom Evolved” was there again in 2024. This time showing the updates they had made to the prototype since the feedback from the 2023 event.
The event also had a “delegate lounge”
Sitting inside the new and improved room, the calm and soothing ambience can’t be overlooked. The team took all of the feedback and collaborated with a lot more companies to create the new and improved modular offering that will be making its way onto the market very soon.
Another innovative product on display that is going to make such a difference for the patients in mental health facilities is Safehinge’s Project X.
This new technology introduces a room sensor system that prioritises patient privacy while ensuring comprehensive safety coverage. Unlike traditional camera-based systems, this new Non Visual Patient Safety Aid (NVPSA) does not capture identifiable information or personal images, providing a meaningful alternative for safeguarding individuals.
Who to see
In terms of the attendees, there were a lot of great people to meet and conversations to have with major companies in the sector.
Personally, I spoke with decision makers from Medical Architecture, T-Safe, Arcadis, Oxford Architects, and IHG.
I spoke with decision makers from Medical Architecture, T-Safe, Arcadis, Oxford Architects, and IHG
I was even one of the first to receive a copy of Alessandro Caruso’s new book. The Managing Director of Alessandro Caruso Architects has written a book called “Design & Meditation: Improving health, healthcare and quality of life”. The book covers a deeply personal look at Caruso’s decades in design and how he “discovered a space to savour the joys of life and nurture the essence of wellbeing”.
The conversations I had were also illuminating. I learned from a particular conversation with Vistamatic Blinds that the company had been fed back that healthcare professionals often forgot to close blinds for patients, so the team created an auto-closing feature for their new product.
A starry night
The awards evening at DIMH held a drinks reception, which definitely captivated the attention of the room. The event team had even got a live guitarist to play music in the waiting time before the awards. A great addition to the lineup for the evening.
A quick talk from the event charity, Maytree, proceeded the events, with a plea to help with fundraising efforts. The Maytree Respite Centre offers a brief stay, respite, nurture, safety, befriending, time to talk and reflect.
This year, Building Better Healthcare was even lucky enough to sponsor an award during the Design in Mental Health Awards. The category was “Project of the Year - New Build UK”. Some great projects were submitted that were read out by the host. An inspiring list of projects.
The awards event had a live guitarist play music in the waiting time before the awards
The category even had two Highly Commended; HMP & YOI Stirling from Holmes Miller and the Kimmeridge Court Eating Disorders Unit from Medical Architecture.
But in the end there can only be one winner, and when I went up to read the paper from the little golden envelope, the winner turned out to be The Catkin Centre and Sunflower House, Alder Hey Children's Hospital from Cullinan Studio / 10 Architect.
Other categories included ones around art installations, product innovations, as well as a “Low Cost - High Impact”, won by Creative Activity Group for its sensory room installation at South West Acute Hospital Emergency Department.
Image: A talk at the Design In Mental Health conference