Collaboration and Co-Production – Impact on Design at RIS:ES Bexhill

Synopsis

Trust: Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Architects & Interior Designers: Gilling Dod
PSCP: Kier

The design journey for RIS:ES has been one of co-production and collaboration which has been embraced by all stakeholders. The building brings together a variety of healthcare specialisms, including working age adult and older adult inpatient wards, with medical education and neuromodulation departments.

RIS:ES is to replace the existing Department of Psychiatry facilities in Eastbourne which has dormitory accommodation, restricted access to garden spaces, and is set in the clinical setting of Eastbourne District General Hospital.

Experts by experience have been at the core of the RIS:ES story, sharing their expertise and insights every step of the way with positivity and care. Their input has informed all aspects of the building design from the little details such as having tables with rounded corner in meeting rooms, to the big picture principles around room adjacencies and garden spaces.

The co-production approach has developed an innovated X-shaped ward typology which provides two gardens spaces per ward, en-suite bedrooms clustered into 3 groups of 6, single sided bedroom corridors, and connectivity to adjacent wards.

Trauma-informed, dementia-friendly, and neurodiversity-friendly design principles have been implemented and tested with trust specialists in those fields.

Co-production with staff has helped implement a diverse provision for staff welfare with localised staff rest room, lockers, changing rooms, and showers to each department.

Applying lessons learned also informed design, not least in the bedrooms. The P22 repeatable room bed position most preferred by service users was adopted. Half bay windows were added to provide a view out to landscaped grounds directly from the bed position.

This co-production approach has extended into the construction phase, with the PSCP Kier turning the collaborative working into the reality of a physical building.

RIS:ES is due to open in 2025.