The John Sturrock Home

John Sturrock is a purpose-built residential facility for people with long term mental health issues, combining 40 bedrooms with communal facilities including a gym, restaurant, and small cinema. Deliberately designed ‘to feel like up-market apartments, not a care home’, large VELFAC composite windows are an important feature of every room, fulfilling a key client requirement of excellent daylight levels within the bedrooms. On the top floors, VELUX® roof windows wrap over the eaves to sustain the distinctive vertical glazed screening into the roof plane.

Photo: Simon Miles Photography

John Sturrock comprises three linked residential blocks, two and three storeys high, surrounding an attractively landscaped central garden. Connection with the outside environment was a critical factor in the quality of care provided by the facility and the VELFAC windows achieve this beautifully.

Nick Cooper, Partner at architects Farrell & Clark LLP, was already familiar with VELFAC glazing, having installed the system in previous projects – as was his client, Thomas Owen Care Ltd: ‘They had specified VELFAC for a retirement home and had been impressed with the quality of the product and the composite frame design. They liked the timber inner frame and the low maintenance aluminium exterior, which also made the system very cost-effective over the longer term. We were happy to use the VELFAC system again, and to deal with the VELFAC team who helped deliver a relatively smooth installation.’

Standard double-glazed VELFAC units met all performance targets, with the slim frame design also maximising natural light. Frame finishes were chosen with care: ‘We specified a clear lacquer for the internal timber frame, to bring the warmth of natural wood into every bedroom,’ says Nick. ‘Externally, we chose a dark grey finish for the aluminium framing as it sits well with the surrounding blue panels, and the red brick facades. The fact that VELFAC and VELUX frames are identical was, architecturally, another important advantage,’ he adds: ‘It allowed us to sustain the glazing screens over the eaves and into the roof without requiring a curtain wall solution, with the uniform external frame delivering seamless sightlines, and with no visible difference between glazed units from inside the top floor rooms.’

The John Sturrock Home opened in July 2018.