Help for Heroes Personnel Recovery Centre
‘Endeavour’ Rehabilitation Building
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Location: Plymouth
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Sector: Defence, Health
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Division: Regional Building
Help for Heroes (H4H), a charity formed to support military personnel wounded in action since 11 September 2001, has committed funding to establish a dedicated recovery capability for severely injured service personnel that forms part of HMS Drake’s Naval Service Recovery Centre (NSRC), Plymouth.
The new rehabilitation building supplements the existing facility on the Naval Base through the provision of pools, hydro pools, recovery and consulting rooms for military personnel and veterans undergoing recovery, providing those who have suffered life-changing injuries and illnesses with the very best support they need.
The building comprises three independent structures: a gymnasium, split into a suspended floor, lined multiuse area and solid floor cardio vascular equipment area; a two-storey structure with assisted change and hydrotherapy pool on the ground floor with treatment rooms and social space above; and a 25m six lane competition pool, featuring a floor that can be raised or lowered according to need, made of low-density material to enable it to float, if required.
The gymnasium and competition pool structures are clad with a standing seam gutterless cladding, whilst the centre hydrotherapy building is a cavity wall construction comprising masonry outer-leaf with SFS innerleaf. Counter terrorism measures are included within the affected elevations.
The recovery complex also houses a ‘Café Hero’ social area, and a ‘Support Hub’ operated by Help for Heroes staff. Outside, a terraced area has been created with seating and a bronze statue focal point depicting the stretcher-bearers’ imagery associated with the charity.
The construction consists of a structural steel frame and ground floor slabs founded on displacement piles.
The external walls to the enclosure to the escape stairs are one brick thick, constructed in facing bricks.
Within these walls, openings have been formed to match the narrow windows to the main rehabilitation block; these openings are provided with a bird deterrent. The internal skin to all external walls are constructed off the concrete plinths in a SFS walling system.
At a glance...
£10.2m
Project value
December 2013
Completion date
Help for Heroes
Client
Challenges and solutions
The building’s footprint is efficient and maximises both natural day lighting and ventilation. Where heating is necessary during the colder months, a medium temperature hot water heating system linked to the existing base infrastructure provides the necessary heat source. A summary of the sustainable principles are: natural ventilation, natural day lighting, simple service runs for maintenance/replacement, automated controls to ensure efficient operation of the mechanical systems, high efficiency lighting, lighting zone control, and absence detection for light fittings.
Added value
Tilbury Douglas’s groundworks included remediation of land contaminated with hydrocarbons and metals.
The ground was then piled by Tilbury Douglas using bored displacement piles before excavation began for the swimming pools. Of steel frame construction, the finished buildings comprise metal and brick cladding with powder coated aluminium glazed curtain walling. Two of the buildings feature roofs in Euroclad Elite.
System 4 Cladding and the third has built-up insulated felt. The 69-week construction period saw Tilbury Douglas hand over the project on time and within budget.
Our partners
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Architect: Capita
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Structural Engineer: Capita
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Project Manager: Capita