Hellesdon Rivers Centre

New multi-million pound Rivers Centre at Hellesdon Hospital: Progress update

A multi-million pound project to create state-of-the-art facilities to support mental health patients in Norfolk and Suffolk is nearing completion.

Service users, carers and staff have all been involved with the development of the new building to improve facilities for inpatient care at Hellesdon Hospital.

The Rivers Centre will provide modern, purpose-built environments for people who need specialist inpatient mental healthcare, improving patient and carer experience.

Construction of the new Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) mental health facility near Norwich is progressing at pace and is expected to welcome service users and staff later in the financial year.

The £55m investment is the single largest capital investment ever to improve facilities at the Trust which will modernise inpatient mental health care and benefit service users, their families and carers, and staff.

The new Rivers Centre wards will allow the Trust to provide modern, purpose-built environments and therapeutic space as well as additional capacity, providing an extra 15 beds for the Trust.

This will help to reduce the use of out of area and independent sector placements for people living locally who need inpatient mental health care, treatment, and support.

This investment will play a significant role in enhancing care for local people recognising wherever possible people needing inpatient care should receive care in a facility as close to home as possible.

The project consists of three new ward buildings, a purpose-built gym and a hub and the redesign of two existing wards. The hub has been carefully designed to promote a feeling of community. This central area will house a main reception and café and will be the ‘heart’ of the development.

All five wards (the three new and two redesigned) will be single gender accommodation to improve safety, dignity and privacy of those being cared for by the Trust who are most unwell, in line with government guidance.

The aim is for the site to be as sustainable as possible with electricity supplied from solar panels and heating via air source heat pumps.

The new facility will make full use of the natural environment with the aim of providing a haven where both patients and staff can relax away from clinical areas. It is hoped that this will have a positive impact on everyone’s wellbeing, while also playing an important role in service users’ recovery.

An innovative project to create original artwork for the centre is also progressing at pace, with service users, local people and renowned artists all working together on the installations.

Turner prize-nominated Mark Titchner’s work is one of many pieces featured in the new facility. His mural has been installed on the external gym wall near the new entrance to the Hellesdon wards.

The initiative is taking place in partnership with Hospital Rooms, whose mission is to bring world-class art and creative programming to mental health hospitals. The project is Hospital Rooms’ largest to date.

For more information, printed versions of this information or details of how to get involved in this project, please email: hellesdonnewwards@nsft.nhs.uk.

Watch a video of our work so far

Hospital Rooms

From 2023 until summer 2024, the arts and mental health charity, Hospital Rooms, will collaborate with us to bring museum quality artworks and creative activities for people using our services.

Service users, staff, carers and families will have the opportunity to take part in art workshops that will inform artworks being created for the communal areas for both new buildings and existing wards. Hospital Rooms has programmed 70 artist-led sessions across the inpatient wards at Hellesdon Hospital as well as partners venues at Norwich University of the Arts, Sainsbury Centre and Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery for community members who have used inpatient mental health services. The conversations and work made in these workshops is an integral part of the co-production process for the fifteen ambitious artworks made specifically for the people at Hellesdon Hospital.

Workshops led by artists at the Sainsbury Centre will be inspired by an item selected from the museum’s extensive collection. Other workshops hosted at Norwich University of the Arts and Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery will also use their resources and facilities and the sessions will go on to inform the artwork the artists create for the hospital. These workshops are free and open to anyone who has used inpatient mental health services.

The project is also informed by a research collaboration with a Lived Experience Team that works with the NSFT Recovery College, NSFT People Participation Team, Norwich University of the Arts and Hospital Rooms to consult on best practice and develop an evaluation framework for the project.

The diverse and internationally acclaimed artists commissioned for the fifteen artworks on the project include: Alan Kane, Dolly Sen, Errol Francis, Fabian Peake, Ghislaine Leung, Heather Phillipson, Holly Sandiford, Jade Montserrat, Ken Nwadiogbu, Mark Titchner, Michael Landy, Nengi Omuku, Sarah Dwyer and Sola Olulode.

The project is supported by partners without whom it would not be possible. We are very grateful to: Arts Council England, COAT Paints, Hauser & Wirth, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Norwich University of the Arts and Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Queen’s and Sainsbury Centre.