In some buildings, the smallest details matter more than most. The Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds is one such place where accessible doors play a key role. It was created to provide specialist care and support for people living with MND and their families. But from the beginning, the ambition was to create something more than a clinical facility.
The original vision came from Rob Burrow, his Consultant Neurologist Dr Agam Jung and her clinical team: a place that could support patients through the realities of living with MND, while also providing somewhere for carers, families and the people delivering their care. Above all, it would bring the MND community together.
That thinking shaped the building from the beginning. It also meant that every element of its design had to be considered from the point of view of the people who would ultimately use it.
For Em-B, responsible for the architectural ironmongery specification, that included something most of us use dozens of times every day without giving it a second thought: the door.
Designing Accessible Doors around Real People
Designed by Corstorphine & Wright, the £7 million Centre brings MND services together in a purpose-built facility comprising two clinical wings connected by a central atrium.
The atrium is deliberately more than a circulation space. It provides reading and quiet areas alongside places for activities and dining, giving patients and families somewhere to spend time outside the clinical environment. Landscaped gardens, natural materials, and spaces for reflection are included, while staff have a dedicated wellbeing area away from clinical spaces.
The MND community played an important role in developing that design. Patients at different stages of the condition and their families were involved alongside clinical teams, therapists, estates, facilities management and infection control professionals.
Their input influenced decisions ranging from the building’s position on the site to materials, furniture, colours, textures and landscaping. This approach makes enormous sense for a building designed for people whose needs may be very different from our own and may change considerably as their condition progresses.
When opening a door isn’t simple
A door is perhaps the perfect example of this design principle. Most people don’t consciously think about the strength needed to open a door, the grip required to operate a handle, or the effort involved in manoeuvring through it. For someone living with MND, those details can make the difference between being able to move independently around a building and needing assistance.
But making a door easy to use is only one part of the specification. Accessible doors in a specialist healthcare building may also need to meet requirements for fire safety, security, hygiene, infection control, and durability. The hardware has to withstand intensive use and work correctly with every other component of the door set.
And, in a building deliberately designed to feel welcoming rather than institutional, it has to look right too. That combination made careful architectural ironmongery specification an important part of delivering the Centre’s wider design ambitions.
Accessible Door Specification that Supports the design
Em-B worked with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and main contractor I&G Group on the architectural ironmongery package for the Centre.
The specification included bespoke black fittings from Instinct Hardware, selected to complement the oak veneer accessible doors and the warm, natural character of the interiors.
But what the hardware did was every bit as important as how it looked. Automatic door systems and carefully calibrated door closers moved into the building more easily, while accessible, tactile, easy-to-clean hardware met the specific requirements of a specialist healthcare environment.
Rather than treating accessibility as something to add once the rest of the specification was decided, it shaped the thinking behind the doors from the outset. That matters because a door doesn’t work in isolation. The handle, closer, lock, access control, automation and the door itself all affect how somebody experiences and operates it. Getting one component right isn’t enough. The whole assembly has to work for the building and, more importantly, for the people using it.
A collaborative project
That same attention to collaboration runs through the story of the Rob Burrow Centre.
Creating a specialist building of this kind involves architects, clinicians, patients, consultants, contractors, manufacturers and many others, each bringing a different perspective to the project. The architectural ironmongery specification is one small part of that much bigger picture, but it also touches almost every journey through the finished building.
The project received support from manufacturers including ASSA ABLOY, dormakaba and Instinct Hardware, helping Em-B provide elements of the ironmongery package without charge and allowing more of the charity funding to be directed towards creating the Centre.
It was an appropriate contribution to a project that grew out of an extraordinary fundraising effort and the determination to create a lasting legacy for Rob Burrow.
An award-winning specification
In 2026, Em-B’s work at the Rob Burrow Centre was recognised with the GAI/RIBA Specification Award in the Public, Health and Education category. For us, the award was particularly meaningful because this project showed that good specification is about far more than selecting compliant products from a schedule.
It meant understanding the building, the architectural intent and the demands of a healthcare environment. Most importantly, it meant thinking carefully about the people who would ultimately be opening those doors.
That’s the strange thing about good architectural ironmongery specification. Most people will never notice it. They’ll simply notice that the building works. At the Rob Burrow Centre for MND, that’s exactly the point.
Any Questions?
If you’re working on a healthcare, accessible or specialist project, early conversations about doors and ironmongery can help make sure the specification works for the people who will ultimately use the building. Talk to the Em-B team about your project.https://em-b.co.uk/contact-us/
