The NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde district board recently faced challenges in seeking a modern, sustainable landscape for the new £842 million Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. Tobermore came up with the successful solution.
The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, described as a “high quality design environment,” has replaced the previous Southern General Hospital, and amalgamates it with the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill, the Western and Victoria Infirmaries and the Mansionhouse Unit.
The facility, which extends to 28.6 hectares, forms one of the largest acute hospitals in the UK. The large-scale project was constructed by Brookfield Multiplex.
Gillespies, the UK’s award-winning landscape design and urban design practice, then led the master-planning and landscape design of the healthcare facility.
Eager to help achieve the client’s ambitions, Tobermore introduced the Hydropave permeable paving range to Gillespies – a hard landscaping solution that promises durability, long-term structural performance and superior aesthetic appeal.
The inclusion of a SUD’s solution is an effective method of creating a sustainable hard landscape, and Tobermore’s innovative Hydropave permeable paving serves this function extremely well. Tobermore’s Hydropave products also offered the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde district board cost savings of 10-15% over traditional drainage methods, such as pipes, manholes, etc.
Following the provision of expert guidance and support from Tobermore’s Scottish team, Gillespies specified a combination of Tobermore’s Hydropave Sienna Duo and Hydropave Fusion permeable paving in the sparkling shade of Silver for the landscape at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Susan Irwine, Associate at Gillespies Glasgow base, was pleased to specify the permeable paving solutions supplied by Tobermore. “The paving materials selected respond to the client requirement for high quality finishes. They complement the new state-of-the-art building and are sufficiently robust to withstand not only high pedestrian footfalls but also overrun by service and emergency vehicle access.”
The striking natural granite aggregate surface of Tobermore’s Hydropave Sienna Duo and Hydropave Fusion has created a chic, modern appearance at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Commenting on the paved setting for the children’s play area, Susan Irwine said: “The natural aggregate finish perfectly complements the grey granite paving and sandstone facade treatment to the base of the new Children’s Hospital.”
The contemporary aesthetic design of these products are symbolic of the hopes for the all-encompassing new hospital as a healthcare facility of the future.
The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital comprises not only the new buildings, which facilitate 1,109 beds, incorporate two accident and emergency departments, a maternity hospital, and laboratory services – but also a setting for the buildings in a high quality green campus.
Susan Irwine explained: “The landscape consists of a series of hard and soft, formal and informal landscaped areas (such as woodland planting, ornamental shrub and herbaceous planting, wildflower meadows) and significant hardscape areas of civic and amenity open space.
This includes the creation of a Children’s Park and Arrival Square as part of a range of designed places within the campus.”
The landscape design also offers parks as the setting for the two hospitals, pedestrian streets, an entrance boulevard, courtyards, roof gardens and a distinguishable transport hub that provides the focus for the primary building entrances.
The record-breaking new facility was opened in summer 2015 and was named after Her Majesty the Queen, who officially opened the hospital at a high profile ceremony.
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