Horatio’s Garden Sheffield & East Triple Win at Civic Trust Awards
Horatio’s Garden Sheffield and East has recently been celebrated at the Civic Trust Awards, scooping up a number of awards. Desco are proud to have supported the project, providing the mechanical and electrical services design.
Horatio’s Garden is a charity which creates landscaped gardens for NHS spinal injury centres. The charity provides restorative spaces for patients and their families to enjoy, following the research of Horatio Chapple which recognised the need for respite away from the hospital environment.
Horatio’s Garden Sheffield & East, located within the hospital grounds of Princess Royal Spinal Cord Injuries Centre at the Northern General Hospital, offers a carefully crafted environment that supports wellbeing at moments of profound vulnerability. The garden provides a restorative outdoor space for more than 360 in patients, their families and friends, thousands of outpatients, and over 250 clinical staff, demonstrating the powerful role that landscape, atmosphere and design can play within healthcare environments. It supports an extensive geographical area from the West Midlands to East Anglia, South Yorkshire to Lincolnshire. The project is founded on the understanding that access to nature is not just an optional amenity, but an essential component of care, recovery and dignity.
The first award obtained was a Civic Trust Award. The Civic Trust Award is given to projects that make an outstanding contribution to the quality and appearance of the built environment. Award winning projects demonstrate excellence in architecture or design, whilst being sustainable, accessible and provide a positive civic contribution.
Another award secured was a Civic Trust Special Award for Neuro-Inclusive Places. Judges found the project stood out as an exceptional example of how spaces can holistically support neurodivergent users without compromising on design excellence and demonstrating beautifully how neuro-inclusion can integrate seamlessly with broader inclusivity principles. They were particularly impressed by the way the garden offers a serene and calming refuge within an urban environment, creating a truly restorative experience for its users.
The final award acquired for Horatio’s Garden was the Selwyn Goldsmith Awards for Universal Design. The award was established in 2011, in recognition of architect and founding figure of universal design, Selwyn Goldsmith.
The Awards celebrate places that are responsive, flexible, welcoming, easy to use and occupy, allowing all to use with dignity and equality. Winners have gone beyond building regulations, using best practice guidance, putting people at the heart of the project, and showing exemplar design.
Presented in recognition of architect and founding figure of universal design, Selwyn Goldsmith to exemplar projects that demonstrate excellent universal design principles.
Photos courtesy of Gleeds Photography.