The backlit Alma Dental reception desk in North Shields

Project story · North Shields

From tired townhouse to Alma Dental

Three floors, ten weeks, and a practice that never closed its doors.

Example layout. A proposed story format for future projects. The live Alma page is here.
10
weeks on site
3
floors transformed
5
new surgeries
0
days closed to patients

Chapter one

The brief

Alma Dental occupied a handsome Georgian townhouse in North Shields — and almost none of it was working. Patients arrived through a dark hallway into a low-ceilinged waiting room with grey carpet and office chairs. The building had good bones and generous proportions, but three floors of awkward layout were holding the practice back.

The owners wanted more surgeries, a reception that felt like an arrival rather than a queue, and an interior that matched the standard of dentistry they were providing. The one condition: the practice had to keep seeing patients throughout.

The Georgian townhouse before the refurbishment, with the practice's original blue signage
The building as we found it — good bones, dated presentation.
The original waiting room with dark carpet and office chairs before refurbishment
The old waiting room: dark carpet, low ceiling, borrowed light.
Old dental equipment stacked during the strip-out at Alma Dental
Strip-out. Every surgery was replaced.

Chapter two

The design

We began with the existing floor plans and a survey of what the building could actually take — structure, services, ventilation, drainage.

Reworking the ground floor gave us the space for a proper reception and a bigger, brighter waiting area. Upstairs, the layout was replanned around clinical workflow: five surgeries, a decontamination suite, a DDA-compliant WC and a staff room that people would actually use.

The palette came next — sage green, antique brass, pale oak — and we modelled every key space so the owners could see it before committing a penny to construction.

CourtyardClinic Room 3Clinic Room 2Clean RoomOfficeClinic Room 1HallwayWCWaiting RoomWaiting RoomOfficeStairsPorchENTRANCE →
As existing
What we started with: three clinic rooms, two separate waiting rooms, two offices and a lot of hallway.
Surgery 3Surgery 2Surgery 1OPGBack OfficeCirculationRampDDA ToiletStairsDeconStoreWaiting RoomLobbyENTRANCE →
As proposed
The replanned ground floor: three surgeries, one generous waiting room, a DDA-compliant toilet, an OPG room and a decontamination suite — with a ramp for level access.
  • Clinical
  • Patient space
  • Service & support
  • Circulation

Simplified diagrams drawn to compare the arrangement of rooms — not dimensioned drawings.

Design visual of the Alma Dental reception deskDesign visual
Design visual of the Alma Dental waiting roomDesign visual
Design visual of the accessible washroom at Alma DentalDesign visual

Chapter three

Drawn, then built

What we showed the client, beside what they got. This is the part we are proudest of.

Design visual of the Alma Dental reception desk with backlit signageDesign visual
The completed backlit Alma Dental reception deskAs built
The reception desk: backlit signage, sage-green base, antique brass detailing — specified at design stage and delivered without compromise.
Design visual of the Alma Dental waiting roomDesign visual
The completed waiting room at Alma Dental with green seating and panelled wallsAs built
The waiting room, with the panelling, lighting ring and seating exactly as modelled.
Design visual of the accessible washroomDesign visual
The completed accessible washroom with antique brass grab rails at Alma DentalAs built
Compliance without the clinical look: a DDA-compliant washroom finished to the same standard as the rest of the practice.

Chapter four

The finished practice

  • The principals of Alma Dental at their new reception desk, North Shields
  • Sage-green surgery with new dental chair and skylight at Alma Dental, North Shields
  • Bespoke sage-green cabinetry with brass handles at Alma Dental, North Shields
  • Refurbished staircase linking the three floors at Alma Dental, North Shields
  • New staff room and kitchen at Alma Dental, North Shields

In just 10 weeks, BH Projects completely transformed all three floors of Alma Dental. We changed the downstairs layout, enabling us to create a bigger, beautiful reception space, as well as new surgeries, a DDA toilet and a staff room.

Alma Dental, North Shields

Planning something similar?

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Get in touch

office@bhprojectsgroup.co.uk
07444 163326 / 07825 589384