Melbury Lodge

A.T.B. was approached to carry out the replacement of windows at Melbury lodge in Winchester, an acute mental health hospital comprising of three wards: an acute adult ward, older persons (65+) ward and a mother and baby ward. The unit sits on the Royal Hampshire County Hospital site and is part of the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

The new windows were to be installed on the acute adult ward. Following initial discussion between A.T.B. and the team at Melbury Lodge regarding design and health and safety requirements it was decided to replace the existing windows with A.T.B’s mental health horizontal sliding window.

A.T.B.’s Healthcare windows are the latest addition to the TAURUS MAX range of security performance windows and doors, designed specifically to meet the requirements specified by the health sector.

The security sliding window features a fixed and a sliding panel offering improved ventilation compared to traditional casement security windows. One area is fitted with an unobtrusive mesh, successfully delivering security in a sensitive and subtle manner while allowing for maximum air flow and light transmission. The window has other high security features such as an anti-ligature pull handle. The opening pane has a full lock-off facility with keyed alike euro profile cylinder.

Following an initial meeting a window was installed for a six week test period. The window was reviewed by the Health and Safety team at Melbury Lodge as well as staff and patients who could look at and test the window. As a result of the test period some aspects were changed following feedback, for example, the exterior colour and also the option to have keys, which are not used at the moment but are there should the need arise.

There was also an initial concern from staff that the mesh was not robust enough. Aesthetically this might appear the case, as the mesh has been designed to be as unobtrusive as possible and to allow maximum levels of natural light and ventilation. In fact the anti-vandal mesh can withstand the harshest of treatment, and is even resistant to rifle attack. The mesh is available in two density options for either mental health security or non mental health applications.

Alex Stock, Site Manager at Melbury Lodge says, “The old windows didn’t meet the ligature regulations on the ward in terms of self harm. The anti-ligature assessment was the most important consideration for us but second to that was appearance, as the rooms were drastically in need of an update.”

An additional request was for the new windows to blend with the existing windows in the other areas of the building. Fortunately polyamide thermal break allows dual colour options, with different colours to the interior and exterior faces. As a result the new windows were painted on the outside to match the old ones, with white interiors to make the rooms lighter and brighter with new curtains to enhance this effect.

Following a full site survey A.T.B. designed and manufactured the windows according to Melbury Lodge’s requirements. They also provided the installation team to carry out the removal of the existing windows and replace them with the new Taurus Max mental health sliding windows.

Alex adds, “We were very concerned about how we would cope with the installation of the windows and the impact it might have on the ward as it needed to remain operational during this period. None of our worries transpired though.

A.T.B.’s installation team provided excellent communication and management of situations before they became problems, working with our service users and staff. In fact the smooth running of the installation was due to the excellent communication on both sides. It was a combination of the installation team’s cooperative approach and the team at Melbury Lodge knowing their patients and realising, for example, if it was inadvisable to move a patient as they were having a bad day. “

The schedule was sometimes altered according to the needs of the patients and windows were installed in a different sequence to what had been originally planned, which was an important consideration.

It is testament to how well the new windows on the exterior match to the existing and the smooth installation that Alex was asked two weeks into the installation when it was due to start .

Alex sums up, “From the exterior, the new windows blend very well with the old and the interior of the rooms all look so much better. They are lighter, more airy, have much better air circulation and there are no bugs coming into the rooms. More importantly there is no ligature risk and also patients can’t throw objects out of the windows. We know that as far as the windows are concerned they are safe in their rooms.”

← Back to News