News
23 September 2009
Pick Everard gives hope to young offenders with a £15million haven for reflection and self-improvement
The design of young offender institutions has entered a new era, thanks to a fresh approach from award-winning architectural practice Pick Everard.
Pick Everard was architect and lead designer for the new Keppel Unit, at Her Majesty’s Young Offender Institute, in Wetherby, Yorkshire, which opened its doors in autumn 2008 and was officially opened on 12 June.
This is the first of its kind in secure accommodation in the UK, catering specifically for 48 highly-dependent and vulnerable boys up to eighteen years old with learning and behavioural needs. Far from recreating the forbidding and repressive environments of past institutions, Pick Everard worked closely with the Youth Justice Board (YJB) to design accommodation that would inspire, comfort and educate, while keeping bullying to a minimum. Great care and attention was paid to colour, texture, finishes and soft furnishings, which have helped to achieve a more homely, calm and supportive environment. All bedrooms have secure timber-faced doors and modern en-suite shower facilities. Naturally-lit communal areas conducive to interaction and group participation were a key element of Pick Everard’s design focus, and corridors and recesses – where harassment and bullying can often occur – were avoided. Vocational workshops feature in Pick Everard’s design too, encouraging residents to learn practical skills such as plastering, plumbing, bricklaying and joinery. YJB’s strategy for young people focuses on ways of improving rehabilitation work in custody to help reduce re-offending.
The building’s exterior is a radical departure from the typical prison institution, with a maximum height of two storeys, pitched roofs and unobtrusive grilles and window bars. Group sport participation has been actively encouraged through the inclusion of green, open spaces, a fishing lake and a court area for ball games. With flexibility for the future in mind, Pick Everard has designed the building and site layout in such a way that it will easily translate to any other prison facility. Construction was also approached differently; with extensive use of off-site prefabricated brickwork and insulation panels reducing on-site construction time, compared with traditional building methods.
David Nisbet, partner at Pick Everard, said: “Our aim was to design a different style of institution where exterior and interior environments would provide both backdrop and facilities that will encourage reflection and self-improvement. Although only opened recently, the Keppel Unit has been well received by residents and staff, and we hope it represents the shape of things to come in other correction facilities across the UK.”
Pick Everard architects and structural engineers and civil engineers are currently working a major contract with Kier Build to design and construct a new-build, environmentally high-performing prison for the Ministry of Justice at Featherstone, West Midlands with a construction value in excess of £150million.
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