Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People (QEF) has marked the ‘topping out’ of its new Care and Rehabilitation Centre in Leatherhead, Surrey. The topping out ceremony – celebrating the point where the structure reached its maximum height – took place on 6 June 2019.
LOM designed the £15million centre, which will provide a specialist care service for people with complex disabilities and neuro-rehabilitation for those with an acquired brain injury. The centre is QEF’s largest ever investment in their facilities and the first new build in the charity’s 85-year history.
Set to open in Spring 2020, the 4,000 sq metre specialist centre will provide 48 ensuite bedrooms. It also includes a fully accessible physiotherapy gym, therapy rooms and recreation, dining and social spaces, all focused around a communal, landscaped quad.
Visualisation of QEF's new Care and Rehabilitation Centre in Leatherhead, Surrey.
It is designed to achieve a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ sustainability rating and features passive ventilation ‘chimneys’ alongside solar panels on the roof. We have also designed the interiors, which are influenced by biophilic principles and bring natural colours, textures and materials into the building.
Karen Deacon, QEF’s chief executive officer, said: “The development of the new Care and Rehabilitation centre is the most exciting and pioneering change we have ever embarked on at QEF. LOM architecture and design’s vision for the new centre will help us to deliver integrated and high quality services for people with disabilities so they can live life to the full.”
