Mount Vernon Hospital

Altro wall cladding used in groundbreaking clinical design

Altro Whiterock Chameleon has been used along with Altro Reliance 25 safety flooring to create a groundbreaking solution within the new Endoscopy Unit at Mount Vernon Hospital, in Northwood, Middlesex, where infection control and patient wellbeing are paramount considerations.

The new £800,000 Endoscopy Unit has been created to offer the very latest technology within an attractive, relaxing environment. Importantly, the four-bedded ward has been designed to ensure a streamlined journey for patients from admission on to the unit, through to the procedure itself and discharge home. In the existing facility, patients were required to retire to a separate sitting room before being discharged.

Bernard Stilwell Architects designed and managed the project. Bernard Stilwell explains the thinking behind the creation of the new unit. “Our brief was to design a self-contained endoscopy unit where patients could relax, receive treatment and recover in a well-structured journey, all within one ward.

“In a clinical environment the first thought when choosing surface finishes is infection control, yet aesthetics and the patient experience are for us equally important.

“We have specified Altro safety flooring several times before. Altro Whiterock was a first (for us) and an excellent choice: a good range of colours and the potential for a seamless appearance across a variety of surfaces. It helped us unify the appearance of the interiors, to produce a calm, harmonious, well ordered end result.”

Design challenges included the electric sliding doors to the endoscopy recovery bay. These are glazed with the mechanism built into a steel structure in the walls. The door set also contains a fire shutter, which will drop down in an emergency to protect the unit.

“Keeping infection out of the recovery bay was obviously a key consideration, so the doors had to be easy to clean with as few joints as possible to reduce bacterial invasion, as well as being tough and impact resistant,” explains Bernard Stilwell.

“We wanted to ensure that it complemented the rest of the design and colour scheme of the unit to create an overall cohesive feel. With all these considerations in mind, we decided to completely clad the structure in Altro Whiterock Chameleon.

“Altro recommended one of their specialist installers, Wallclad Floors and Doors Ltd to fabricate and clad the door assembly. This company took our sophisticated 3D model we had produced to detail the design, adapted it to suit their workshop requirements and did a fantastic job throughout, from fabrication to installation.”

Altro Whiterock is a cost-effective sheet extruded from a high quality PVCu polymer. It is easy to clean, impact resistant and grout-free. It meets all current EU Directives on health and hygiene.

Altro Whiterock Chameleon offers vibrant solid colours, or more natural tones, in a high gloss finish, allowing for bold designs or more muted interiors in a variety of customer-facing environments.

Altro Reliance 25 safety flooring was also used in the new ward. Like all Altro safety flooring, it offers sustained slip resistance for the lifetime of the product, keeping your risk of a slip to just 1 in a million. Available in 18 plain and chipped modern colours, this heavy duty safety flooring is ideal for locations that need to look good and work hard.

Altro Reliance 25 is ideal for healthcare environments where visitor and patient numbers in their thousands, staff in their hundreds, patient trolleys, wheelchairs and wheeled equipment all take their toll on the floor. Altro Unity is 2.5mm thick. That 25% extra thickness makes it more resilient to torque, which passes through the wheels and is partially absorbed by and dissipated through the flooring. Thicker flooring dissipates the energy more effectively, making the flooring less likely to de-bond and providing a smoother journey for patients on trolleys and the staff pushing them.

Altro Reliance 25 offers enhanced chemical resistance and copes well with moisture and temperature extremes, making it perfect for public walkways that need to work hard under a variety of conditions.

Danny Robinson, director of Wallclad Floors and Doors, explains how his company tackled the challenge of using Altro Whiterock in such an innovative way. “We are known for our specialist joinery, but this project was something we had never done before, so it was a very exciting prospect.

“We were able to thermoform the material in our workshop offsite. This process heats the Altro Whiterock to a specific temperature, whereby components can then be moulded into the desired shape. So the entire over-cladding for columns, surrounds, lintel, and the working mechanism for the doors and fire shutter was prepared offsite ready for installation. It was essential to keep joins to a minimum to reduce infection on the ward, so we created a sealed finish wherever possible.

“This was a very complex process, made possible by our 3D modelling system. It is the most difficult job we have ever done, but shows how incredibly versatile Altro Whiterock can be in creating visually stunning designs in healthcare environments where patient safety and hygiene are top priorities.”

Andrew Clark, Deputy Estates Director at Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation, commented on the installation. “The project went very well from start to finish and the Altro floors and walls look great. It was vital for us that patients coming to the new unit would have a positive experience, and that psychologically the environment would reassure them of a positive outcome to their visit.

“In a recent national hospital survey, participants cited ‘light’, ‘air’, ‘space’ and ‘cleanliness’ as the assurances they needed to feel confident in their clinical surroundings. The finish of the Altro floors and walls meets all these criteria because they help to create a light, uncluttered atmosphere and a feeling of space. The overall effect is one of a practical, yet visually appealing clinical environment, where patients can feel comfortable, safe and relaxed.

Andrew Clark continues: “The door set entrance to the unit, which is clad in Altro Whiterock Chameleon, is not only a practical solution to clinical hygiene needs, it’s also a striking feature that works visually to complement the design of the unit and ensure an integrated look. A very innovative solution.

“The staff are very pleased as well and are really proud to work there. They identify with the space and have a real sense of purpose. Cleaning staff find the floors and walls easy to clean.”

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