Health on the High Street: Feasibility Study

The first step was to understand what the Trust needed the decanted outpatients department to achieve, both clinically and strategically.

Health Spaces worked to define the clinical requirements and assess how outpatient services could operate outside the main hospital environment. This meant considering patient access, staff needs, clinical adjacencies, support spaces and which services could be safely and effectively delivered in a community setting.

Alongside the clinical brief, the team reviewed the potential of two empty office buildings in a dense urban area. The feasibility study looked beyond floor area alone, considering accessibility, patient flow, building constraints, listed status and how the existing estate could be adapted for healthcare use.

This early work helped bring clarity to the opportunity. The study was not simply about finding space for outpatient activity, but about testing whether a different estate model could improve access for patients, reduce pressure on the acute site and support the Trust’s longer-term redevelopment plans.

With the clinical requirements and building constraints understood, Health Spaces developed a series of concept designs to test how the buildings could be reconfigured in practice. The proposed approach organised services around patient need, clinical function and operational flow. The ground floor was recommended for extension to create a new entrance foyer, improving accessibility and establishing a clearer arrival point for patients. This level would also accommodate higher-footfall and higher-tech services, including pharmacy, imaging and minor surgery.

Other services were arranged across the building according to their clinical requirements and relationship to the wider outpatient model. The mezzanine level was allocated to paediatrics, with therapies occupying the remaining space. The first floor would provide generic outpatient consulting, examination and treatment rooms, supported by associated clinical areas.

A full sexual health department was proposed for level two, including a testing laboratory and associated services. Clinical offices and virtual consulting facilities would continue across the upper floors, with staff facilities, including break areas, changing and storage, located on the fifth floor. The concept designs helped the Trust understand how the existing buildings could be adapted to support a different model of outpatient care. They showed how services could be distributed, where interventions would be needed, and how access, patient flow, staff experience and clinical functionality could be improved within an existing urban building.