Basement conversion to busy GP surgery

A busy doctors surgery in a popular area of Sheffield needed extra space for staff. As the only space available on site was an old basement it was agreed to convert the basement into usable clinical accommodation. We helped design a fresh layout below ground to provide three new Clinical Consulting Rooms + new Patient Waiting Area + 2 new staircases. Despite relatively simple requirements, meeting the regulatory consents while ensuring there was enough room to physically use the new rooms was far from simple.

The existing building is an unusual shape as one of the walls is at an acute angle + as the existing head room in the basement was not high enough + the basement was set into a hillside with different floor levels. This all made the project quite complicated.

As there is no natural day light it was proposed to use custom designed LED window lightboxes, that looked exactly like an outside window but had LED lights behind frosted glass. This mimicked the effect of natural light and helped set users at ease. Large screen prints of the natural world were also proposed on certain feature walls to make the spaces feel larger while also providing a connection with the natural world. Mechanical ventilation was also needed to provide the necessary fresh air to occupants.

To make the new rooms big enough + provide sufficient headroom it was proposed to remove most internal loadbearing walls and underpin the entire building. This required significant structural steel framing and concrete underpinning. As a diving wall was also a shared party wall with a neighbouring property a special underpinning technique called ‘benching’ was proposed that did not disrupt the neighbours wall, all building works were contained within the existing basement. Specialist structural waterproof tanking was also needed to all walls and floors to control ground water and to keep all new rooms nice and dry.

There were also complicated logistics to deal with, such as keeping the existing live doctors surgery above the basement operational and able to be used by patients and staff.

Unfortunately, this project was not built due to budget restrictions and the uncertainty generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.  This was a big shame as we felt our scheme helped to provide much needed additional healthcare resources in a practical way.