Scarborough Hospital
Opening the way to efficient patient care
Kestrel aluminium profiles help Axis Flo-Motion sliding doors provide effortless access throughout Scarborough Hospital’s new £47m Urgent and Emergency Care Centre.
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Systems
Smooth operation
Axis Flo-Motion aluminium framed manual sliding doors are helping ensure the smooth operation of a new, purpose-built Urgent and Emergency Care Centre (UECC) at Scarborough Hospital for York & Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The specialist easy-open, sliding glass healthcare doors incorporate profiles from Kestrel Aluminium Systems and were selected to provide simple, accessible operation by staff and patients, while allowing beds and bulky medical equipment to be moved easily between clinical spaces.
Designed by architect Arcadis and opened in May 2025, the new £47m two-storey UECC facility has been designed to enable patients to be treated more efficiently. It brings the emergency department together with critical and enhanced care, as well as vital diagnostics including CT scanning, in the one building. This arrangement enables patients who are frail, seriously ill or in need of urgent attention to be treated in one place, without the need to transfer between buildings.
The new facility features Axis manual sliding glass doors to provide access to bays and treatment rooms. The sliding configuration saves on floor space while the doors’ low opening force makes them easy to open. Wide, clear openings also give staff the space they need to work quickly and safely, helping the department run smoothly.
In total, 31 Axis Flo-Motion doors were supplied and installed at the UECC. These comprise seven Flo-Motion B320 bi-parting door sets sliding over a wall; eighteen Flo-Motion B01 bi-parting doors sliding over glazed screens and walls; five Flo-Motion B011 bi-parting doors with one sliding over a glazed screen, the other a wall; and one Flo-Motion T100 telescopic door.
Designed for ease of operation
Axis originally developed the innovative Flo-Motion door system in 2015 for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital to enable sliding doors, with no power assistance, to be easily opened and closed by a child. At the same time, the doors had to be wide enough to allow beds and equipment to pass through.
The glazed doors maximise light in clinical areas and enable staff to monitor patients where appropriate. Integral privacy blinds can be used during examinations or whenever patients require privacy.
Rob Brunero, Managing Director at Axis Entrance Systems, said the Flo-Motion system was designed and prototyped in-house, but needed an aluminium systems specialist to bring the product to market.
“We have a good working relationship with Kestrel, and we were confident in the quality of their products, so we decided to manufacture the door using Kestrel aluminium profiles,” he said.
The Flo-Motion doors installed at Scarborough UECC are fabricated using non-thermally broken silver anodised aluminium extruded box section profiles.
Standard door sets are designed to have an opening force of just 10 Newtons (+/-5N). Following installation, every doorset is digitally force tested to ensure the opening forces are within specified limits and meet the accessibility benchmarks in BS8300: Design of accessible and inclusive built environment.
Award-winning innovation and sustainability credentials
Since the inception of Flo-Motion manual sliding doors, Axis has continued to innovate and develop the range, which has been recognised with multiple awards, including: the Laing O’Rourke Award for Innovation; IHEEM Product Innovation Award; BBH Best Internal Building Product Award; and a European Healthcare Design Award
Further enhancing the credentials of the range, the top 10 most specified Flo-Motion doors now have Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).
Rob Brunero says the use of Flo-Motion doors are key to the UECC’s efficient operation: “Using large, easy opening, glazed sliding doors has transformed the way rooms work to deliver healthcare at the UECC, with a choice of privacy or social interaction when required”.