Greenock Health and Care Centre

Greenock Health and Care Centre is a four-storey healthcare facility located on a brownfield site within the Broomhill community of Greenock. Developed through a partnership between Inverclyde Council Health and Social Care Partnership, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Hub West Scotland and the local community, the centre brings a wide range of health and care services together under one roof. Designed by Hoskins Architects, the 5,800 sqm building is the fifth facility to be delivered using the established ‘reference design’ first developed for Eastwood Health and Care Centre in 2016.

The building is arranged around a central open-air courtyard and a multi-storey atrium that provides access to accommodation on the ground, first, and second floors. The third floor is separated from the atrium by full-height fire-resisting construction and is dedicated to staff use. The design responds to a significant 15-metre level change across the site, resulting in a compact ground floor accommodating a central reception, pharmacy, community café, and physiotherapy and podiatry departments, with clinical spaces located on the first floor and GP practices on the second floor. Open-plan agile workspaces and shared staff facilities occupy the third floor.

Jensen Hughes provided fire engineering consultancy for the project, developing the overall fire strategy to support the building’s open layout while ensuring a robust life safety approach appropriate for a complex, multi-storey healthcare environment. Our scope included the design of the atrium smoke control system, supported by detailed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling to verify the effectiveness of smoke ventilation and evacuation arrangements. We also provided fire strategy advice on compartmentation, fire resistance, means of escape, firefighting provisions, and the fire detection and alarm strategy.

A key challenge was achieving regulatory compliance within the building’s open atrium configuration and central courtyard arrangement while maintaining flexibility for evolving healthcare operations. Through performance-based analysis and close collaboration with the wider design team, our team enabled regulatory approval and the successful integration of fire safety measures without compromising architectural intent or functionality.

The quality and impact of the Greenock Health and Care Centre have been recognised through multiple industry accolades, including Winner of the Scottish Design Award 2022 for Best New Health Building and the Glasgow Institute of Architects Healthcare Award 2021, reflecting the project’s success in delivering a safe, inclusive and thoughtfully designed healthcare environment for the local community.