Creating a bright healthcare environment with a key emphasis on natural light

This new facility brings two distinct services: the Children & Young People’s Hospital (including mental health services for children and adolescents) and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences for adults.

The new facility delivers 1,800 rooms over 50,000 sq m in a modern and high-quality setting at Little France, Edinburgh. The five storey building, including basement level, will have a large atrium with a shop and cafe, a stunning skylight linking both hospital entrances, a helipad on the roof and a link building adjoining adult and paediatric emergency departments.

The hospital includes a mix of single rooms with en-suite facilities as well as multi-bed wards and a range of new technology incorporated within the design.

The design solution provides strong links with the external environment including landscaped courtyard spaces ensuring the important relationship between inside and outside is enhanced. We maximised natural light and views to and from the hospital to help with orientation and the therapeutic recovery of patients. This open design also helps to boost staff moral and provide ease of wayfinding for visitors.

The design also reduces the distances staff and patients travel within the building as they transit between different departments.

It is the first acute hospital facility to be procured under the Scottish Government’s Non Profit Distributing Model (NPD).