The Importance of Evaluating Mental Health Design – Woodland View 10 Years On

Synopsis

Woodland View, opened in Spring 2016, is a purpose-built facility on the Ayrshire Central Hospital site, consolidating NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s mental health services into one integrated location.

The 206-bedroom hospital spans 16,100 m2, offering adult inpatient services, dementia care, psychiatric rehabilitation, and forensic services and from 2024 a new mental health assessment unit delivers care for emergency admissions. The design prioritised sustainability, community integration, and non-institutional environments to foster recovery and rehabilitation.

Inspired by the surrounding coastal landscape, Woodland View was purposefully designed to support service users’ journeys toward recovery building confidence, offering choice and paving the way for their transition home and into the community. Features like direct access to green spaces from wards have been transformative, significantly reducing incidents of restraint and violence. Patients can step into landscaped areas, connect with nature, and de-escalate distressing situations – sometimes lying on the grass to view the sky.

As with every aspect of the built environment, changes in regulations, standards and social evolution mean architectural solutions need to be resilient. Specifically in mental healthcare, changes in the human condition versus models of care can quickly impact the way, we as architects need to continuously challenge our approach to these types of facilities and how staff need to adapt their care plans.

In November 2024 Arcadis revisited this award-winning building as part of a Post Occupancy Evaluation to gain valuable insights into what design approaches continue to work well, whilst highlighting lessons learned for future projects. In 2026 Woodland View will be 10 years old – this talk will cover the POE in 2024 highlighting how the building has adapted to change with an update on the use of the mental health assessment suite and how that has impacted the community and staff.