The Gallery Dental, Reading

The brief:

After the successful dental refurbishment of Marylebone Implant Centre, MPL Interiors was commissioned to complete another refit of a practice within the Dentex Health group. We were asked to completely transform the two-storey premises without ripping everything out and starting again. One aspect of the brief was to retain the two reception desks but to give them a dramatic makeover.

Our approach:

With the brief in mind, MPL concentrated on the aesthetics and a creative reimaging of this practice, with a number of dental design ideas discussed with the client. The space comprised a ground floor reception/waiting room, an entrance lobby and stairwell, two surgeries, a decontamination room, a store room and a cloakroom lobby. The first floor was home to a secondary reception/waiting room, three surgeries, a second decontamination room, a staff kitchen and an office.

A small degree of stripping out was required in the two reception/waiting rooms, with old storage, seating, mirrors, flooring, wall displays, internal glass and a low-level wall carefully removed with minimum disruption.

Blue is the new colour

With such a radical change of direction requested, it was decided to redecorate every room and communal area. MPL prepared all of the surfaces and repainted for a new look. In a huge departure from its tired prior existence, an inky midnight blue was chosen as the accent colour.

It’s a shade that imparts an air of richness and sophistication, working well with the fresh paintwork. The colour can be seen in the reception areas and surgeries – appearing as feature walls, applied to the new acoustic wall slat panels and used as a transformative vinyl wrap applied to both retained reception desks. The walls in The Gallery also sport new MDF logos , and there is a new logo affixed to the ground floor reception desk.

Freshness under foot

Another change to add instant impact was to replace all of the floorcoverings for something lighter and fresher. High-traffic areas were fitted with wood-effect vinyl floor planks, while surgeries, decontamination rooms and the staff kitchen were fitted with new plain sheet vinyl with coved skirtings for increased hygiene. New carpet tiles were laid in the office for a less sterile feel.

Additional details

MPL replaced all of the practice’s lighting, with a combination of new LED gimbal spotlights, compacts, light pans and two statement pendants suspended over each reception desk.  The project was finished by redecorating the front entrance, installing an extra wall cupboard to surgery two, fitting a window blind to surgery three and adding new mirrors to the cloakroom.