A new respite facility providing integrated care for children with disabilities.
The Moor Lane Centre provides an integrated service for children with disabilities, offering respite accommodation for families in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The new facility comprises a single-storey accommodation block with eight bedrooms for SEND visitors, associated bathrooms, a staff suite and communal living and dining areas.
The building required a comprehensive package of building services designed around the specific needs of its young occupants and their carers - from medical equipment power supplies and assisted alarm systems to comfort cooling and carefully controlled environmental conditions throughout.
Complete building services design consultancy across mechanical, electrical and public health.
Osborn Associates were instructed to provide a complete building services design consultancy service for the new respite accommodation. The mechanical scope covered ventilation, comfort cooling and heating, domestic hot and cold water services, soil and waste drainage and a rainwater recovery management system.
The electrical design included switchgear and sub-main distribution to medical equipment, low voltage power supply, lighting and emergency lighting, and a full security package comprising access control, CCTV, assisted toilet alarm systems, audio entry, TV provision with antenna installation and structured cabling for telephone services across both copper and fibre optic lines.
Testing, commissioning and training for all installed services were included in the scope, ensuring the facility's staff were fully prepared to operate the building from day one.
L1 fire alarm design for a facility classified as having difficult evacuation conditions.
The facility was classified as BD2 - a location with low density of occupation but difficult conditions of evacuation. Children with disabilities cannot be expected to self-evacuate in the way that occupants of a standard building would, making the fire detection and alarm design critical to the safety of the building.
The fire alarm system was designed to L1 standard in accordance with BS 5839 and BS 5588, incorporating smoke detectors, multi-sensors, heat detectors and manual call points throughout. Every installation across the building was made in strict accordance with the regulatory criteria associated with each service, with close collaboration with the Royal Borough's local authority and building control personnel to ensure a safe and effective solution.
Designing building services around the needs of the most vulnerable occupants.
The central challenge was ensuring every building services installation supported the care and safety of children with disabilities. Standard commercial or residential specifications were not appropriate - the design had to account for medical equipment power requirements, assisted alarm systems, environmental controls suitable for occupants with sensory sensitivities and fire safety provisions for people who cannot evacuate independently.
A noise survey conducted to BS 4142:2014 informed the mechanical services design, ensuring that ventilation and cooling systems did not create disturbance for the occupants or the surrounding residential area. The rainwater recovery system reflected the borough's sustainability commitments without adding operational complexity for the care staff managing the facility.
