1962 – Ulster Hospital, Dundonald, Belfast

Design unveiled in 1957 – the 500-bed hospital opened in 1962. Described at the time of the images release: “The buildings which form the main hospital block are grouped in a cellular pattern around three garden courts. Although the blocks form quadrangles, the end of each building is unobstructed so that it can expand if the need arises. The maternity building has a quite independent entrance and outpatients’ department. A central spine provides circulation on two levels, lower ground and ground floor; it connects with the dispensary, the children’s or paediatric block, pathology, radiology and main ward block on the north. Staff use the lower level and the public use the upper, where there is a spacious waiting gallery.

The administrative department is above the main entrance hall and has direct communication by its own lift and staircase ; all ambulances enter a casualty wing adjacent to the outpatients’ department. A standard ward unit has been designed for all three ward blocks, based on a grid of 10 ft. 6 in. centres, with a depth of 24 ft. Two of these bays form six-bed wards for the general and paediatric blocks and will take four beds and four cots in the maternity block.

In the general block the six-bed wards are on the south side, and the ancillaries are on the north. Each floor provides 40 beds, sub-divided by their services and equipped with two nurses’ stations to form 20-bed units. The paediatric block is on a similar plan, except that each ward of six cots has its own fully glazed balcony, staggered in plan to avoid overshadowing.

An operating wing is on the north side of the general ward block; the paediatric block has its own operating suite on the fourth floor; and the maternity block has a wing designed as the delivery suite. The greater part of the outpatients’ accommodation is placed in a large single-storey rectangular block, top lighted.

The ‘staff home’ consists of eight two-storey blocks for senior nursing staff, junior nursing staff and domestics. Each block contains a sitting-room with aterrace. There is a separate house for the resident engineer and a bungalow for the matron. A communal building with lecture rooms and assembly hall forms the centre of this group, near the west boundary of the site.

The buildings are of steel frame construction with a floor to floor height of 12 ft. 5 in. Suspended ceilings create a general ceiling height of 10 ft. External finishes are precast exposed aggregate cladding slabs offset by an amount of brickwork acting as visual stops to the elevations.”