The Percy Hedley Foundation provides support for people with complex learning difficulties, disabilities and additional communication needs. To enhance their offering, a respite facility was commissioned with a hydrotherapy pool to supplement the integrated therapy facilities.
The residential building was designed in load bearing masonry for robustness reasons. Floors were formed in beam and block while the roof was formed in engineered timber joists. Open communal areas were formed in steel subframes and torsionally resistant steel was installed to fix the high glass screens to that surrounded the external terrace areas.
The hydrotherapy pool and plenum areas were formed in formed in reinforced concrete with permanent blockwork formwork. The superstructure was formed in steelwork with enhanced corrosion protection and detailing considerate to the potentially moist and corrosive internal environment.
Drainage was problematic with the foul system unable to receive the additional discharges in conjunction with the pool backwash. Therefore, a controlled release was devised with underground balancing tanks to assist with the control. The surface water was directed to the nearby Killingworth Lake via an attenuated flow.
Download a PDF of this project:
News