Cockermouth Community Hospital and Health Centre

Cockermouth Community Hospital and Health Centre provides primary community health and social care for the Cockermouth Community. As lead architects, IBI Group designed the layout of the new building to promote collaborative working between the different departments through the use of flexible, multi-functional spaces. This design reflects the client’s aspiration to promote a holistic healthcare model.

The building is set on the edge of town, with views over the Cumbria landscape, meaning the building design had to mediate between the natural landscape and the neighbouring houses. This theme is picked up in the generous external landscaping, which mixes native broadleaf trees and drifts of wildflower, with formal box hedges and ornamental trees. Whilst the building has been designed in a contemporary style, the form and materials reflect the local vernacular.

The facility has been designed around the patient experience and the processes needed to deliver modern health care. This approach can be seen when first entering the building, where visitors and patients are greeted by banks of self-check-in terminals, together with hosting staff. The need for hosts, dedicated to supporting the patient experience, was identified from the ‘Lean’ analysis, and replaces the traditional enclosed reception with its focus on administrative activities.

Services across health organisations have been co-located to the new building in order to improve access for the local community and enable multiple organisations to work closely together.