Southmead Hospital’s Brunel Building has been shortlisted for a design award at this year’s RIBA Awards.
The pioneering Brunel building is one of 13 “new and exciting” buildings on the shortlist for the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects South-West Building of the Year Award.
The South West awards saw 35 entries from across the region considered before being whittled down to the finalists which also include a cats and dogs home in Bath and a gallery in St Ives, Cornwall.
This is not the first time the Brunel building has been recognised for its innovative design, having won the national accolade for the best Acute Hospital Development in 2017, as well as receiving international recognition with the European Healthcare Design Award for Best Healthcare Design over 25,000sqm. It has also won the Bristol Civic Society Award and the Building Better Healthcare People Class Award.
The Brunel Building, which was designed by BDP, opened in 2014 and is one of the most sustainable major acute hospital in the UK.
Healthcare staff had input into the design of the building, which was designed with the flow of patients through the hospital in mind.
There is a central atrium running through the building, which is bright and airy with natural light from the glazed roof. Inpatient wards are on one side of the atrium while the theatres, intensive therapy rooms (ICU) and diagnostic facilities such as MRIs and CT scanners are on the other side of the building, with outpatients clinics on the ground floor. This has increased the privacy and dignity of patients as they are taken through non-public areas when being transported from wards to theatres.
There are more than 800 rooms in the building, with most patients cared for in single, en-suite bedrooms.
Indoor and outdoor courtyard gardens and artwork were incorporated into the design to create an uplifting and healing environment for patients, visitors and staff.
The second phase of the Brunel building was completed in 2016 with the opening of the multi-storey car park which enables patients and visitors to walk directly into the main atrium area. This section, which was built using stone from the demolished old Southmead Hospital buildings, also houses offices, patient seminar rooms and a community art space.
Head of Sustainable Health and Capital Planning, Tricia Down, said: "We are delighted to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award. The creation of our fantastic Brunel building was the result of teams of dedicated passionate clinical and non-clinical individuals working together to make the hospital the best that it could be, with incredible attention to detail applied to every part of the design and the building as it emerged from the ground.
"Patient and staff wellbeing was at the heart of everything we did and this drove our vision to create a wonderful environment for everyone.
"Winning this award would be a real boost for the staff in the hospital, particularly at a time of such high demand for our services.
The winners of the RIBA awards will be announced on the 16th May at an event in Bath.