Location
Kent
Client
Carilion PLC
Project
Pembury Hospital
Pembury Hospital
Pegasus Landscape Design was commissioned by Carillion PLC in December 2005 to join them in their bid to build a new acute hospital and mental health facility on the site of Pembury Hospital in Kent, through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
Our role was specifically to look at all aspects of landscape design, on a site that is in the Metropolitan Green Belt, surrounded by an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and an RSPB nature reserve.
Working closely with RTKL Architects (London), a masterplan was developed that dealt with complex level changes across the site and the key interface of the building and landscape. Designed on a phased approach, the masterplan allowed for the main hospital building and a smaller mental health facility to be developed, with vacant land identified for future expansion but in the interim laid out as wild flower meadows and other soft landscape initiatives, to provide biodiversity across the site. Car parking was designed to be close to the main entrance, with clear directional routes and view corridors towards the three main entrances of the buildings, in the context of the utmost importance of patient confidence and travel security
Within both the acute hospital and the mental health facility, a variety of courtyards were designed for a variety of different users including hospital staff, visitors, and the patients themselves. The therapeutic approach to the design of these courtyards included focal points, semi-private areas, wander loops, and planting design with a variety of textures, foliages and scents. Also integrated into the wider Masterplan was a public art scheme that focused on the qualities of the environment. In combination, the landscape design, architectural design and public art initiative will seek to provide a very high quality environment, ensuring that nature is retained as a positive distraction in the overall healing process.
