Outram Fields, Sheffield
Winner of the Best Interior Design Award at the 2025 Healthcare Design Awards, Outram Fields, on the outskirts of Sheffield, brings first-class luxury care and superior amenities to the local community. This delightful care home provides 69 spacious ensuite bedrooms and 6 luxury care suites.
The development and design of Outram Fields was carefully considered in terms of its proposed purpose within the community but also to complement the surrounding landscape and existing buildings. The scale and floor area of the build together with the proximity and relationship to the site boundaries was planned to sit comfortably and respectfully within the existing context. By varying the roof scape and using a section of carefully chosen materials, the care home achieves the desired intention of harmonising with the surrounding area and thus provides the community with a much-needed care facility which will also generate a long-term employment opportunity for local people.
| Type: | Care Home |
| Client: | Cinnamon Care Collection |
| Location: | Sheffield |
| Scale: | 75 beds |
| Status: | Completed |
The home offers residential care tailored to each individual person and expert dementia care within a dedicated community. It also provides short respite stays to give carers a well-earned break and the resident a chance to sample the first-class care before opting to move in on a more permanent basis.
A well-designed building, skilful landscaping and luxury interiors combined with outstanding care and stimulating activity can transform older peoples’ lives with the ultimate goal of helping them to be happier and more fulfilled. The residents are at the heart of the design from the initial concept for the build and exterior space through to room layouts, furniture, furnishings and colour schemes plus final finishing touches such as artwork and accessories.
Materials were chosen to reduce the visual impact of the scheme and in keeping with the contemporary design. A mixture of zinc and timber was selected at higher levels with a darker palette to sit more comfortably within the existing tree belt.
The sustainability strategy for the project aimed to simultaneously address local priorities as well as responding to global challenges such as climate change and resource depletion. The starting point was to ensure that the development uses as little energy as possible through the energy-efficient design of the building form, fabric and building services systems which are borne from a collaborative approach from the entire design team.
The building design takes a ‘fabric first’ approach, focusing on high thermal performance (u-values), high levels of airtightness (to limit heat loss) the control of solar gain (to prevent overheating) and good levels of natural daylight to reduce the need for artificial lighting. All these measures reduce the demands on energy use. The use of energy in an efficient manner will always yield the greatest dividends in the design of a low carbon/low energy intensive development and have the largest impact on carbon savings.
Whilst low and zero carbon technologies are useful in reducing the emissions caused by energy use in a development, it is essential to ensure that energy is not wasted through poor design and construction. It is for this reason that energy-efficient design is always considered first.
Taking experience from previous developments of a similar size and nature, the heating provision is a mix of CHP boilers (with traditional boiler back-up), photo-voltaic panels mounted out of site on flat roof areas and low energy equipment and lighting
The selection of construction materials for the scheme was undertaken from a whole lifecycle perspective that considers the environmental impacts of the supply chain, durability, longevity and economic viability. Where appropriate, preference was given to locally sourced materials and to materials that incorporate recycled and renewable elements.
