Atherleigh Park
March 2018

Windows specifically designed by KAWNEER for the healthcare sector are bringing benefits to a new £40 million mental health hospital in Lancashire.

Kawneer’s AA3110HW feature anti-ligature elements such as a wraparound gasket that break into harmless pieces when there is an attempt to remove it, together with a drive mechanism for opening the window that cannot be used as a ligature point.

At Atherleigh Park hospital in Leigh, the windows were installed alongside Kawneer’s AA100 zone-drained curtain walling and AA543 tilturn and AA541 top-hung casement windows by Polar (NE) Ltd.

The AA3110HW window used at Atherleigh Park was enhanced by Polar for use in this project, a medium-secure mental health facility. The fabricator designed special extrusions (which Kawneer have now developed from Polar’s designs), a reduced ligature drive mechanism for opening the window and a unique removable security mesh.

Key drivers for regular Kawneer specifier AFL Architects were to design a building that acted as a catalyst to help implement a new clinical care pathway for North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, improved the patient experience and staff effectiveness, and de-stigmatised mental health.

AFL associate Neil Milling said that as the site was in a residential area the plans required early presentations and regular updates with local residents: “The Kawneer systems provide security and aesthetics and maximise daylight and ventilation for the service users. Aluminium’s sustainability played a small part. Robustness and costings played a larger part.”

www.kawneer.co.uk