CAMH Section 136 suite. Herts, Single storey extension

In early 2017 we were very pleased to submit and support on the Design and develop of a Section 136 Place of Safety (PoS) for children and young people (CYP) bid for Hertfordshire.

Our brief was to redevelop an existing Adolescent Unit to provide a dedicated purpose built Section 136 Place of Safety (PoS) for children and young people (CYP). The current facility does not have a CYP PoS and is lacking the space required to ensure the state of the art CAMHS service all would aspire to. The Trust would like to provide a service that fully meets the needs of the young people and also meets the requirements of our regulatory bodies.

The proposed Section 136 Place of Safety (PoS) suite would be designed to comply with the latest HBN`s and HTM`s and will include best practice from across the country. The facility would provide a bedroom, an en suite shower room, a receiving/sitting room, alongside staff areas including an office and a kitchenette. Externally the building would sit within its own gardens with a secure area provided. The selected location also allows vehicles to park immediately adjacent. A secure compound to support staff in transferring distressed service users into the unit will also be provided.

Despite the new building projects location within the Green Belt, a successful planning permission was secured in December 2018 This was considered to provide “Very Special Circumstances” to outweigh the “in principle” harm arising from inappropriate development in the Metropolitan Green Belt.