BDP to draw up 10-year masterplan for NHS’s Whalley
Consultation dates are due to be announced in January to discuss the future of the 106-acre Clitheroe site, one of the largest in the National Health Service’s estate.
Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust acquired the Whalley premises in April from Mersey Care. Since then it has opened 32-bed mental health unit on the site, which sits off Mitton Road. Now, the trust has ambitions for future development – of both the building and landscape variety.
Enter BDP, which has been appointed to work alongside consultants Deco Publique and Loxie to craft a 10-year masterplan for the area – one that lives up to the NHS’s high ambitions for the site.
“The Whalley site is considered a unique opportunity to reimagine and redefine the use of public sector land and spaces, leading the transition towards a prevention-focused, community-oriented and health-creating NHS,” said Ursula Martin, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust’s chief strategy and improvement officer.
Martin teased a bit more of what the future could hold for Whalley.
“We anticipate that the site will be made up of four zones, including NHS services. It has lots of beautiful green, outdoor space which is ideal for mental health recovery but also offers so many opportunities for communities, businesses and wider partnerships,” she said.
“It presents a fantastic opportunity to reimagine an NHS site and truly transform health through fostering connections and forging partnerships.”
Ged Couser is an architect principal at BDP’s Manchester office. For his part, Couser described the scheme as “a fantastic opportunity”.
“The brief called for a response to the trust’s core themes including research and innovation; therapeutic environments and nature; living well; community well-being and sustainability; as well as considering the site’s past, present and future in all our thinking,” he said.
“As the core of our methodology, we will be working closely with the trust, their colleagues, stakeholders, and partners as well as both the local business community and residents to ensure that our masterplan vision for the project represents their own.”
