Colour consultancy from Dulux Trade is creating a better environment for patients of the Bedfordshire and Luton Mental Health and Social Care Partnership NHS Trust. Not only are tailored colour schemes making life more pleasant for people with a range of mental health problems, but the Partnership is also benefiting from the use of more durable and appropriate finishes.
The story started when the Partnership’s Head of Projects, James Lea, attended a Dulux Trade seminar in London and heard about the colour consultancy service. He immediately saw its potential and decided to try it out on a new extension that was being built at Oakley Court, a 25 bed acute in-patient unit in Luton.
As Dulux Trade Colour Consultant Lisa Pilley explains, “We created a calming and homely environment using a combination of pale blues and lilacs. At the same time we had to make sure that the scheme met the duties of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). “
Under DDA, “reasonable” steps must be taken in the way the physical environment is designed and managed to ensure that disabled people can enjoy the same level of opportunity or service as available to non-disabled people. For this project this meant that as well as creating a therapeutic environment, the need to enhance spatial awareness to ensure visually impaired people were not disadvantaged had to be taken into account. This was achieved using contrasting colours to identify key features. Guidance in Building Regulations Approved Document Part M guides specifiers to contrast visually adjacent critical surfaces (walls, doors, floors & doors) by selecting colours with a difference in light reflectance value (LRV) of 30 points.
“To achieve these objectives we kept everything soft, using warmer neutral colours and then creating strong contrast between critical surfaces using accent colours in calming shades,” says Lisa.
The results were a great success – so much so that since January this year the Partnership has worked with Dulux Trade on nine more projects.
Melvyn Darrington is one of the Project Officers at the Partnership and has worked on all of these projects.
“The service from Dulux Trade was excellent,” he says. “Lisa was very aware of the client groups and the types of colours and combinations that may be useful for people with different challenges. The projects have been well received by patients and staff. Providing the right colour schemes for the right people has had a very positive effect.”
Having got to know the Dulux Trade product range, the Partnership has also now started to use Diamond Matt paints, well known for their durability and low sheen attributes.
“We use Diamond Matt on every job now,” says Melvyn. “Previously we would have used a silk finish emulsion on the walls because you could wipe it clean – which you can’t do with normal matt paint. But the silk finish is bad for partially sighted people as the slight shine means it is hard for them to discern different surfaces. With Diamond Matt though, not only does the finish make it easier for people with poor sight to identify features such as doorways, but if it gets dirty, or if people write on it, we can scrub it clean.” |
