Hospital architecture was transformed during the Victorian period. The rapid changes in science, technology and government meant new expectations in health care. Certain architects specialised in hospital design, providing functional buildings that conformed to the latest medical advances, and with greater budgets than ever before. Hospitals specially catering for the mentally ill emerged, set apart in large grounds, places for therapy, treatment and convalescence, rather than incarceration.
For their time, these hospitals were enlightened. Patients were given space, remarkable facilities, and hospitals were carefully ordered. Gradually, however, the buildings became out of date, in need of repair and refurbishing, and their reputation sank. The crisis in mental health care in the later twentieth century was in part blamed on the hospital buildings of the Victorian era. Most have now been closed, the land sold and buildings demolished, an architectural loss, certainly
How We Built Britain BBC
What is it about hospital corridors? Is it the impending treatment or trepidation when visiting a patient ? Either way, High Royds is no exception and instils such unease in bucketloads.
23 February 2011
Homes plan for ex-psychiatric hospital site in Talgarth
Homes could be built on the site of a former psychiatric hospital in the Brecon Beacons under plans by a housing developer.
A CONTROVERSIAL hospital site in Talgarth has been bought by a Herefordshire developer, residents discovered last night.
Pontrilas businessman Phil Collins told more than 100 gathered in the town hall that the sale of the former Mid Wales Hospital was due to be completed on February 21.
The Collins Design & Build Ltd proprietor reluctantly told locals around 100 houses could be created but stressed the 11-acre site was an “unimaginable mess” and as such it was still too early to make definite plans about anything.
“Tonight is a reminder of what this means to so many people so it’s obviously a daunting responsibility to take this thing through,” he said.
The former psychiatric unit provided employment for a huge proportion of townsfolk before it closed in the late 1990s.
Major controversy then came when it went to a former chief medical officer at a price many considered to be vastly undervalued.
Various attempts to turn the site into a business park also failed before it was put up for sale in 2009, and more recently its most valuable materials have been stripped by thieves.
For a full report on the meeting and more pictures see next week’s Hereford Times.
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BRECON AND RADNOR EXPRESS : 24/02/2011
“Contracts exchanged for hospital site”
CONTROVERSIAL proposals to redevelop Talgarth’s former Mid Wales Hospital site moved a step further on Monday, February 21 when the developer Collins Design & Build Ltd completed the purchase of the site.
At a public meeting held in Talgarth earlier this month, the managing director of Collins Design & Build Ltd, Phil Collins, was taken to task by local residents over his tentative plans of 100 houses and adjacent office accommodation for development on the 11 acres site.
Town councilor and member of the Mid Wales Hospital Adjacent Adjoining Neighbours Group (MWHAANG), Niel Bally said after the evening’s meeting in the town hall: “Alarm bells went off when Mr Collins referred to the scheme as a satellite village. The site has great potential and we are keen to see it developed but it must be the right development not any development.”
“The scale of the housing idea proposed by Mr. Collins is of concern as it seems to disregard requirements of the Brecon Beacon National Park Authority (BBNPA). Recently the authority has said it would be “prepared to accept an element of housing and is keen to enable a range of uses on the site, particularly employment generating uses “.
“Now Mr. Collins is proposing about ten per cent of the mixed-use area for offices and the remaining 90 per cent for housing. Ninety per cent can hardly be called an ‘element’ and provisions have to be made for community facilities and affordable housing.”
Looking out across the site on Monday, John Dunne, chairman of the Mid Wales Hospital Adjacent Adjoining Neighbours Group (MWHAANG) told The Brecon & Radnor Express: “The hospital closed in 1999 and was very important to Talgarth. It supported the local economy, services and provided jobs. Since then there have been a number attempts of redevelopment all of which have ended in failure.” Mr Dunne went on to explain that “apart from present security concerns there are several other issues that have come to light which include colonies of bats and the presence of asbestos within the buildings “.
Mr Collins has now been tasked by the BBNPA to produce a Development Brief, which will go to a full public consultation. If the brief is adopted by the BBNPA a planning application can be submitted, these are processes that could take several months at the very least.
WHO ARE MWHAANG ?
MWHAANG was originally set up in 2004 and in January 2011 it emerged with a new constitution.
Its members are all local residents who share a common interest in supporting developments with complementary links to Talgarth commensurate with the location and the site’s recently acquired conservation status.
Anybody interested joining MWHAANG and/or receiving updates should email: MWHAANG@gmail.com, telephone 07756 042 259 or visit the group’s Facebook page Mid Wales Hospital Adjacent Adjoining Neighbours Group.
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23 February 2011
Homes plan for ex-psychiatric hospital site in Talgarth
Homes could be built on the site of a former psychiatric hospital in the Brecon Beacons under plans by a housing developer.
Collins Developments (Pontrilas) Limited of Herefordshire has bought the former NHS site in Talgarth, near Brecon, Powys.
A local action group claims 100 houses could be built and it is concerned about the scale of the proposals.
The firm said plans were at an early stage and it was aware of the concerns.
Continue reading the main story
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Start Quote
These plans are at a very early stage and we are aware of local concerns particularly following the meeting we contributed to at the town hall a few weeks ago”
Phill Collins
Collins Design and Build Ltd
Talgarth hospital closed in 1999 and there have been a number of attempts to redevelop the 11-acre site since.
The building and land have been bought by Collins Developments Pontrilas Limited, a subsidiary of Collins Design and Build Limited, which is based near Hereford.
Managing director Phil Collins attended a public meeting in Talgarth recently and questions were put to him about his plans.
The local action group, Mid Wales Hospital Adjacent Adjoining Neighbours Group, claimed there were “tentative plans” for 100 houses and some offices, but Mr Collins said proposals were at such an early stage that he could not provide a figure for the homes.
Talgarth town councillor and group member, Niel Bally, said: “Alarm bells went off when Mr Collins referred to the scheme as a satellite village.
‘Great potential’
“The site has great potential and we are keen to see it developed but it must be the right development not any development.
“The scale of the housing idea proposed by Mr Collins is of concern as it seems to disregard requirements of the Brecon Beacon National Park Authority.
“Recently the authority has said it would be ‘prepared to accept an element of housing and is keen to enable a range of uses on the site, particularly employment generating uses’.
“Now Mr Collins is proposing about 10% of the mixed-use area for offices and the remaining 90% for housing. 90% can hardly be called an ‘element’ and provisions have to be made for community facilities and affordable housing.”
Mr Collins said he was in negotiations with planning consultants and architects to come up with a scheme to redevelop the site.
He added: “These plans are at a very early stage and we are aware of local concerns, particularly following the meeting we contributed to at the town hall a few weeks ago.
“There is not much point in expanding on this because the plans are still extremely fluid and there are so many issues to be dealt with together with further consultation with the community before any formal application is made.”
Action group chairman John Dunne said the hospital closed in 1999. Since then there had been a number of attempts to redevelop the site, which he said had all ended in failure.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-12550622
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