© Murphy Philipps 2025
Essex Lodge is a teaching and training Personal Medical Services (PMS) practice in Newham. Having merged with a neighbouring GP practice, the combined list size of 16000 plus and a 130-bed nursing home to support meant the premises required expansion.
Murphy Philipps was appointed to design a new extension on vacant land to the rear of the site. The expansion provides an additional ten consulting rooms, three treatment rooms, plus admin and support spaces, more than doubling its size. The project also included the refurbishment and upgrade of the existing building to meet current standards. The existing Essex Lodge building is Grade II listed. Built on the site in 1836, it includes salvaged items from the demolition of an earlier original mansion named Essex House. Its historic importance required careful design treatment with the scale and massing of the new extension reduced, to respect the setting of the listed asset.
The Surgery needed to remain operational throughout the work. The main construction was on the rear site, but breakthroughs and existing area refurbishment had to be managed with careful phasing. Noise was also a potential disruption factor, however, activities were risk assessed with the contractor on a rolling six-week look ahead programme. This enabled either out of hours or set times agreed for work, with mitigation measures put in place to minimise impact.
A thoughtful evaluation of the new extension and its integration with the surrounding environment enabled the expansion of the existing building’s area.
The rear of the building sets back at the first level to minimise any overlooking of the adjacent residential block. This also ensures there is no infringement on the 25-degree daylight angle from the ground floor habitable rooms, thereby avoiding any loss of daylight to these spaces.
The User/Stakeholder engagement included a wide range of interest groups, from GPs and patient reference groups to staff and local community associations.
In leading discussions and managing the process, we developed the vision and consolidated a design that provides:
