A PROJECT five years in the making has won an award as the best mental health design of 2009. The St Albans-based Herts Partnership Foundation Trust has won a prestigious Building Better Healthcare award for the design of two new mental health units on th

A PROJECT five years in the making has won an award as the best mental health design of 2009.

The St Albans-based Herts Partnership Foundation Trust has won a prestigious Building Better Healthcare award for the design of two new mental health units on the Harperbury Hospital site in Radlett.

The judges particularly commended the way suggestions and comments from service users had influenced the layout and facilities of Oak Unit and Beech Unit.

Tom Cahill, chief executive of the trust, thanked staff and service users who had helped the design team come up with "this outstanding building" and the construction and project management teams who had turned it into reality.

He added: "Looking to the future, those who use these facilities will have the benefit of superb therapeutic surroundings. These two new units set a quality benchmark for future mental health care developments in Herts and more widely."

The �12 million Oak and Beech Units were officially opened in May. They provide 30 air-conditioned en-suite inpatient bedrooms in an attractive wooded corner on the Harperbury site.