Waterford, Co. Waterford, Ireland

Designed by Wejchert Architects, the Dunmore Wing University Hospital Waterford consists of three floors of wards above a floor for Palliative Care Day services and a floor dedicated to a 20 Bed Palliative Care (Hospice) ward at University Hospital Waterford.

Dunmore Wing University Hospital Waterford won a recent 2021 Green Good Design® Award from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum.

The building sits to the front of the hospital and therefore provides a new face for the hospital. It is located to safeguard for future development on the campus. Accommodation onwards has been arranged around a figure of 8 circulations in order to minimize travel distance for nursing staff.

Single bed wards occupy greater floor area than traditional multi-bedded rooms and result in longer corridors. The building contains 2 central courtyards to bring day and sunlight into central corridors and for orientation and cross ventilation.

Landscape planting was sourced in the region and is indigenous or comes with a proven track record of thriving in Ireland’s temperate climate.

The importance of gardens as a therapeutic setting for Palliative Care was widely recognized within the project team, guidance and brief.

The outer skin is highly insulated, 40% above building regulations, a decision taken pre the current upgraded building regulations to future proof and allow flexibility when standards rise, as they will.

Walls are faced with brick on lower levels and precast concrete panels (manufactured within 225 km) on the upper levels, with a cavity and insulated inner leaf. The resulting high thermal mass has a good heat response for a 24/7 building.

The plan is compact and efficient. The external fabric is highly insulated, airtight, and low energy in space heating. The building plan layout allows it to be naturally ventilated, excepting the 8 air isolation rooms. Windows opened at low level and by actuator at high level provide high and low air movement.

Separate passive extract is provided in corridors to improve overall ventilation and reduce daily heat build-up.

The courtyard light wells bring light and sunshine into corridors and central areas, improve natural ventilation and give access or a view to planting and nature. A BER rating of A3 is achieved, and CO2 emissions of 43.83 kg Co2/m2/yr.

High-efficiency plant and PIR and LED fittings reduce energy demand. Night level lighting in circulation reduces energy use and ensures less disturbance to patients’ circadian sleep rhythms.

The hospital will relocate occupants of existing wards to the new building, affording the hospital the flexibility to remodel and upgrade within the existing building, extending its useful life, and ensuring modern medical standards and strategies are met.

The plant is located on the roof behind the parapet wall and in enclosures set back. The location was chosen to facilitate future “plug & play” when more efficient or better technology is cost-effective and available to reduce energy demand even further.

Surface water is attenuated in an underground holding area. The drainage design allows for exceptional rainfall using the lowest landscaped area and oversized outlets and sewer. The generous landscaped areas reduce the runoff from the site, as does the fire engine access is finished in grasscrete.

Within the building, WCs and hand rinse sinks are fitted with water-saving fittings.

Project: Dunmore Wing University Hospital Waterford
Architects: Wejchert Architects
Client: University Hospital Waterford
Photographer: Peter Moloney