The recently completed Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton, designed by leading architects Building Design Partnership (BDP), has installed SAS International’s System 330 metal ceilings throughout the hospital. The hospital, known as the new ‘Alex’, has been hailed for its high calibre design while working within the procurement constraints of the Private Finance Initiative.

SAS System 330 offers a cost-effective design solution over the whole life cycle, providing a ceiling with high practicality and strong visual impact. Metal is an ideal material for hospital ceilings as it is hygienic and easy to clean, combined with exceptional life span and minimal maintenance costs. SAS metal ceilings were specified by BDP in the open corridors, nurses’ station and reception areas on all clinical treatment floors.

The upper floors house the hospital’s ambulatory care unit, day care centre, intensive care and surgical in-patients, surgical theatres and medical in-patients, while the top floor is dedicated to staff facilities and parents’ accommodation. These floors have the highest level of patient and visitor footfall, hence why the ease of maintenance, strong aesthetic design and maintaining hygiene considerations were important considerations when choosing the ceilings. SAS metal ceilings also offer good light diffusion and the easy incorporation of uplighting with concealed fixings for a high quality finish.

Designed by BDP Architects, in collaboration with builders Kajima Europe for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, the hospital’s design has been compared favourably with the recently finished and acclaimed Evelina Hopsital and the Octav Botnar Wing at Great Ormond Street. The hospital won the top award – the Healthcare Design Project of the Year Academy Award – at the International Academy for Design and Health awards held in July in Glasgow.

Sarah Turnbull, head of BDP’s Healthcare Interior Design, commented: “This project has been a success because of the determination of both the trust and Kajima to ensure that the design of the building was not sacrificed for the bottom line. As part of our design remit, the ability to specify a high quality ceiling product with both strong aesthetics and durability, as well as having the acoustic and maintenance benefits of the SAS ceiling panels, was vital.”

The Project Director, BDP’s Benedict Zucchi, attempted to create “an open building full of sunlight with no claustrophobic corridors, where it is easy to find your way around.” Originally the brainchild of Lee Soden, the trust’s director of facilities, the design brief was to create a child-friendly setting along Brighton’s coast. The project has received acclaim from the trust, contractor and, most importantly, the end-users.

Email: jasond@thinktank.org.uk