Contour Casings was chosen for the design, manufacture and installation of an anti-climb bullnose fascia of Dorothy Pattison Hospital, part of the Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.

The outside rest area in the main building complex offered the opportunity for patients to climb onto the roof and then abscond from the hospital premises, which put patient safety at great risk. To ensure that the hospital complied fully with its duty of care, an anti-climb solution was required to ensure that the roofline remained secure.

Contour responded designed and developed a bespoke anti-climb bullnose fascia. The design needed to meet the obvious functional requirements and to ensure the visual appearance was not harsh nor institutionalised, and complemented the building’s primary role as a place of care and recuperation.

Contour also needed to incorporate a protected roofline guttering system into the fascia. This needed to integrate with the existing rain water downpipes and allow for a considerable number of angles to be incorporated into the fascia, providing an unbroken run of over 45m from one end of the building to the other. Critically many cut outs needed to be programmed in at the manufacturing stage, to allow for items such as downpipes, to reduce the onsite fitting time. This would minimize disruption of patient access to the area whilst the fascia was installed.

The main bullnose panels were manufactured from 3mm thick pressed and rolled aluminium sheet to BS EN 485/515/573, whilst a heavy duty integrated internal framework ensures a highly robust anti-climb structure. The panels were PPC coated in a colour of the customer’s choice, so as to blend into the overall building aesthetic. The PPC finish is covered by a 25 year powder coating warranty, supplied by Contour as standard.

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