"Possibly the purest IVF facility in Europe and one of the best in the world"
Antonia Gilligan, Alpha Environmental Inc., USA

The design of this private clinic evolved though an understanding of patients' emotional and psychological needs by recognising the potential of the environment to respond to emotional difficulties associated with infertility and its treatment.
 
The brief comprised three distinct areas; those for patients (reception and five consulting rooms), administrators (admin offices, nurses office, meeting/conference space and back-of-house facilities) and finally a world-class laboratory with an attendant operating theatre to undertake all procedures in-house – this last designed in collaboration with Jacques Cohen, generally acknowledged to the world's leading embryologist.

The visitors experience is embraced and folded by rich materials to soothe their worries and concerns.  A richly textured timber wall sinuously cocoons and defines the patient areas over the two levels of the clinic.  Sheer curtains and biologically-based graphics mimic the ebb and flow of the timber walls whilst allowing natural light to filter through whilst maintaining privacy.  A timber stair connects the two floors, the two main circulation routes and the two waiting areas.

The patient experience is key to the design of the consulting rooms.  Coloured ceilings, for example, and the use of uplighters which reflect light off the ceilings rather than into the eyes of patients looking upwards from a bed, address this.
 
A key requirement was the creation and maintenance of an environment free of particulates, aldehydes and volatile organics. To achieve this each construction material and component used was analysed to meet these strict criteria. The net result of this level of care and attention has resulted in rates of fertility well in excess of the average.
 
The project was completed over several phases between 2001 and 2008.

In 2009 we designed and built their exhibition stand at the 2009 Fertility Show at London's Olympia Exhibition Venue.
 
The project was published in the RIBA Journal (June 2002).