HMP Fosse Way

As Lead Designer for this project, we have played a central role in the delivery of a modernised custodial estate designed to enable prisoner reform. The PETP will simplify the organisation of the custodial estate to improve safety and to enable offenders to access appropriate services within modern buildings designed to achieve better educational, training and rehabilitation outcomes.

The project needed to use existing standard baseline designs for new prisons, satisfying strict levels of compliance to maximise standardisation across the Ministry of Justice’s PETP. However, improvement and innovation were encouraged where these could provide benefits to the operation of new prisons.

As a very large and complex new prison project, pre-construction design activities needed to be carefully managed and tracked to enable design production within programme.

In total, seven houseblocks and six ancillary buildings come together under a vision from the MoJ to transform prisoner rehabilitation in the UK. Prisoners have access to a central services hub, which includes a gym, library, educational classrooms, faith halls, as well as workshops and external horticultural areas, with the potential for Serco to work closely with local employers to deliver on-the-job training opportunities.

Its design has included several sustainable considerations, with offsite construction maintaining product quality, whilst helping reduce capital and operational costs. In addition, air sourced heating powers elements within the northern compound, while solar panels have been installed on ancillary buildings.

By implementing advanced task management tools, we improved efficiency and focus of pre-construction design activities through clearly defined responsibilities and interrelationships. We were able to inform and provide tracking of each design task, including raising early warnings with descriptions of any issues causing delays. We ensured all information and decisions were delivered in timely fashion.

Through a robust review of the baseline design, we were able to concentrate on delivering greater compliance, standardisation and tailored solutions to the resettlement model. In collaboration with operational leads, we were able to adjust site specific designs to provide greater operational security, flexibility and control.

Tim Irons, operations director at Pick Everard, said: “This is a multi-purpose, free-flow prison, that has been closely modelled on our baseline design of HMP Five Wells and will continue to be the blueprint for a further four new build prisons under the MoJ estate.

“It has been planned to promote supervised interaction between prisoners, as well as several initiatives that allow them to gain new skills that will boost employment opportunities upon their release.

"The interior design has been closely considered, applying biophilic and salutogenic principles to support wellbeing and strengthen the identity of each space. It is a modern, sustainable custodial estate, working to BREEAM excellent standards, which, following its planned extension, will become one of the biggest prisons operating in the UK.

“We’re incredibly proud to deliver this exciting vision, which continues our long-standing relationship with the MoJ and the wider justice sector."