Architects LOM collaborated with Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People (QEF) on the design of a new 48-bed Care and Rehabilitation Centre in Leatherhead, Surrey. QEF is a national charity providing practical and life-changing services that enable disabled people to maximise their independence. The Care and Rehabilitation Centre will enable them to provide expert, multidisciplinary neuro rehabilitation in a modern, comfortable environment.
QEF’s Leatherhead campus had evolved over many years and made use of existing buildings that were spread across the site. LOM developed a site masterplan to consolidate the charity’s real estate requirements into a more sustainable, connected and purpose-built centre, and bring together QEF’s teams under one roof.
LOM worked closely with QEF to carefully balance the clinical and technical requirements to enable them to maintain the highest standards of care, with the need to create a place that feels welcoming and comfortable for QEF’s clients.
The design evokes a sense of ‘home’ and makes the most of the picturesque woodland setting. The two-storey, ‘Y’ shaped building has a pitched roof and is configured around a green quad and a more private client’s garden at the rear. It features a palette of traditional domestic building materials – brick, clay tile and timber – to reference local vernacular architecture and give a non-institutional appearance. Large expanses of glazing frame views of the landscape and foster a connection with the natural environment.
Its bedrooms wrap around the private garden and connect to shared recreation, dining and social spaces. Each ensuite bedroom contains assistive technology to give clients greater control over their personal environments. The interiors are influenced by biophilic principles, bringing natural colours and materials into the spaces.
The centre provides a fully accessible physiotherapy gym and therapy rooms. These facilities will benefit clients and give QEF the option to develop an outpatient programme in the future.
Designed to achieve a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ sustainability rating, the building has 230 photovoltaic panels on the roof and features passive ventilation ‘chimneys’ that allow the spaces to breathe; when CO2 levels rise, the chimney’s louvres automatically open to purge the space.
