Designing for mental healthcare

The Altro Possibilities Studio is a purpose-built space, showcasing best practice design for acute or high-risk mental healthcare facilities, that can be found at our Letchworth Garden City head offices and floors manufacturing site.

We recognised the need for this facility after members of our Technical Services team were involved in remedial work for a calm down room in a prominent London hospital.

Mental health facilities have very specific needs: it’s vital that these spaces are safe for those using them, both staff and service users. This means finishes that can’t be broken and used to cause injury. It means ligature-resistant. It means surfaces that can easily be cleaned and maintained. In the calm down room our team visited, the wrong type of joint trim had been used with Altro Whiterock walls system, providing the potential for a weapon or self-harming implement.

Following the introduction and replacement to the correct trim, we realised the opportunity to highlight safe and secure detailing that could be written into future specifications, supporting service providers who often ask for guidance. And from there, the Altro Possibilities Studio, featuring nine bays to include multiple room requirements was opened.

Although showcasing appropriate finishes for mental healthcare facilities was our initial aim, customer feedback showed these robust solutions are more widely beneficial - for example in social housing, among other spaces. In this video you can tour the studio, with Customer Engagement Specialist, Ron Austin, talking through each bay. If you are interested in visiting the Altro Possibilities Studio, please speak with your Altro Consultant.