Royal College of Physicians at The Spine

Designed with the health and wellbeing of RCP users in mind, both the architecture and interiors take on biophilic trends to incorporate the essence of nature throughout the building. The Spine’s unique layout and design works as the perfect backdrop for leading healthcare professionals, enabling staff to foster innovation in a pioneering atmosphere of collaboration and partnership. A natural colour palette was the desired finish for the naturalistic environment. The design echos that of the development of a tree through the rise of the building, with earthier colours for the lower floors that merge into greener colours and patterns and the introduction of blues on the upper floors.

Inside The Spine

RCP at The Spine was designed to offer everyone the best possible health and healthcare through academic excellence and medical leadership through continued improvement of patient care and public health by driving quality improvement and implementation science all from one place in a world-class learning, assessment centre.

The result of the 5-year project makes The Spine the base for providing events, activities and services to the Royal College of Physicians members in the north of England, making this their first significant presence outside of London. The new northern site brings RCP into the heart of medical and scientific surroundings and is considered a major gateway building within the Paddington Village development, also known as the ‘Knowledge Quarter’ - which focuses on delivering a major positive economic impact to Liverpool City through education, knowledge and research.

Design

Creating collaborative, organic spaces was a top priority for Tarkett’s Project Consultant, Adam Dimmock. Architectural practice, AHR wanted to include organic tones that would contribute positively to human health and well-being, all the while protecting the planets health through the use of circular products. DESSO AirMaster Earth, Desert AirMaster & Arable were specified with ease when presented to AHR.

As part of Morgan Sindall's supply chain, Adam Dimmock was able to work closely with both the main contractor and the fit out contractor Overbury, to ensure that the design and sustainability aspirations of AHR were achieved and successfully executed on site in conjunction with Bramhall LTD.

Created to bring a breath of fresh air to facility users, each of the collections provided the desired natural tones and also feature Tarkett’s innovative fine-dust capturing technology, which is x4 times better at capturing and retaining fine dust than other standard carpet options. Flooring solutions that offer optimum hygiene, reduce cleaning costs and provide extreme durability should be the standard when it comes to designing healthy spaces. Opting for Tarkett’s iD Square, Safetred Plus (R11) and iQ Granit, the products offer the ultimate safety flooring solutions throughout The Spine. The iQ collection is one of the most sustainable homogenous vinyl's on the market and offers superior resistance, making it the perfect solution when aiming to achieve green building labels.

Sustainability

Designed to meet the principles established in the WELL Platinum Standard and BREEAM Excellent Certification, RCP at The Spine is on track to be one of the healthiest workspaces for mental health and wellbeing in the UK through the ground breaking biophilic architecture found throughout the building. During AHR’s sustainable material procurement, Tarkett’s flooring was specified to benefit The Spine’s users health and wellbeing through third party verified accreditations, such as: Material Health Statements (MHS), Cradle to Cradle certifications, Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System), Floorscore and CRi Green Label Plus certification for low VOC emissions - in addition to recycled content within the products, which all contribute towards Green Building achievements.

The people behind the project

“It was a pleasure to be involved with the RCP Spine project, to see the AHR designers work on their interior ideas was inspiring.

The vast portfolio of Tarkett materials more than fit the brief, from aesthetic design to being in line with the stringent WELL sustainability criteria. A development I will always remember with fond memories.”

 - Adam Dimmock - Health & Aged Care, Education & Sports Project Consultant