Sector Residential Care

Leaders in therapeutic healthcare environments

Designing for mental health and residential care requires more than technical compliance. It demands deep understanding of behaviour, vulnerability, security, dignity and recovery - and the ability to translate clinical models into environments that genuinely support wellbeing.

We are recognised leaders in this sector, with experience spanning high-security forensic hospitals, specialist residential facilities, dementia care and community-based mental health environments. Our work demonstrates how architecture can positively influence safety, recovery and quality of life at every level of care.

From high-secure hospitals to community living

Our portfolio includes some of the UK’s most complex mental healthcare environments, ranging from nationally significant secure facilities to smaller residential and step-down settings.

Our work at Broadmoor Hospital, including secure treatment and specialist facilities, demonstrates our ability to operate at scale within highly regulated, security-critical environments. Alongside this, we deliver a wide range of residential, community and step-down care settings where the same design principles are applied in calmer, more domestic and recovery-focused ways.

This breadth of experience allows us to support complete care pathways - from secure treatment through to supported living in the community.

Evidence-based therapeutic design

Our approach to mental health design is grounded in established research, clinical guidance and post-occupancy learning. We regularly apply tools such as the University of Stirling Dementia Design Audit Tool, alongside NHS best practice, to shape environments that improve orientation, reduce distress and promote independence.

Across our projects, this translates into careful zoning, clear sightlines, access to daylight and nature, robust but non-institutional materials, and spaces that support both social interaction and withdrawal when needed.

Balancing safety, dignity and autonomy

Mental health environments must carefully balance competing demands: safety and security for staff and patients, alongside dignity, privacy and personal control.

Our work at Broadmoor Hospital and William Wake House demonstrates how secure and forensic environments can move away from institutional models towards calmer, more humane settings - without compromising operational requirements. In residential and dementia care projects, this balance is achieved through domestic scale, familiar cues and carefully managed transitions between private and shared spaces.

Designed around staff, not just patients

Effective mental healthcare environments must support the people delivering care as much as those receiving it. We work closely with clinicians, carers and estates teams to understand day-to-day operational realities, ensuring layouts facilitate clear observation, teamwork, de-escalation and safe intervention when required.

This staff-informed approach results in environments where circulation, visibility and spatial relationships actively support care delivery - reducing pressure on staff, improving safety and contributing to better outcomes for both patients and care teams.

Delivering in sensitive, operational settings

Many of our mental health and residential care projects are delivered within live, occupied environments - often on constrained sites with complex stakeholder requirements.

Using BIM-led coordination, phased delivery strategies and close collaboration with clinical teams, we ensure projects are delivered safely, discreetly and with minimal disruption to ongoing care. This capability is fundamental to our long-term relationships with healthcare providers and trusts.