FEATURE ARTICLES

A look at annual ventilation plant checks, comparing and contrasting how the roles of professional ventilation verifier and Authorising Engineer (Ventilation) are positioned to ensure that indoor air in healthcare premises is of the highest quality.

Dr. Iyad Al-Attar, a mechanical engineer and independent air filtration consultant, and a Visiting Academic Fellow at the School of Aerospace, Transport, and Manufacturing at Cranfield University, explores the evolution of indoor air quality (IAQ) governance, tracing advancements in building technology – ‘from basic mechanical systems to sophisticated smart building technologies’. Highlighting ‘the historical neglect of IAQ as a public health concern’, he contrasts it with the increased focus spurred by recent pandemics, and explains how air quality governance ‘leads the way to the promise of better IAQ – from theory into practice’.

Hygenius says it has been ‘a trusted name’ in the healthcare sector for over 50 years, ‘renowned’ for its innovative and high-quality infection control healthcare furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E). In this ‘Q&A’ article, the company’s managing director, Richard Thomas, shares his thoughts on the importance of carbon performance transparency, and the steps the company is taking to reduce its carbon emissions.

Laura Carrara-Cagni and Edward Williams, the founding directors of architectural practice, Cagni Williams, discuss the thinking and architectural / design expertise that have combined to create what is said to be one of Europe’s most advanced hospitals, in Smethwick near Birmingham, explaining how the ‘vision’ for the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital was turned into reality.

NHS Trusts across the UK are focusing on their challenging programme of capital investment in new hospitals, modernising existing facilities, and driving down emissions, as part of the 2040 NHS Net Zero Carbon deadline. James Large, Senior Acoustics consultant at international mechanical and electrical (M&E) and sustainability consultancy, CPW, argues that against this backdrop, more focus should be placed on good acoustic design during estates upgrades.

‘Sustainability isn’t a destination – it’s a journey’, argues Steve Bishop, Business Development manager at Spirax Sarco. In this article he focuses on optimising the running and maintenance of the boiler house as part of that ongoing commitment, and the benefits this can bring. His message is that even small steps can bring considerable increases in plant efficiency, while reducing both costs and carbon emissions.

The potential issues with RAAC – a lightweight precast concrete frequently used in UK public sector buildings from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s, are well documented. The challenges of remediation in a live hospital, with a focus on Airedale General Hospital near Keighley, were discussed in a presentation at October’s Healthcare Estates conference

Two ‘state-of-the-art’ new hospital wards have opened at the Western Community Hospital in Southampton, providing specialist rehabilitation care to people living in and around the area. Their opening has seen patients and staff re-located to the new facilities from two ageing rehabilitation wards at the nearby Royal South Hants Hospital.

Jan Kroman, a Principal at Canada’s Rockliff Pierzchajlo Kroman Architects, based in Edmonton, Alberta, discusses a project to create a new Emergency Department at the city’s Misericordia Community Hospital.

Simon Witts, a director at VA Sciences – a scientific consultancy based in Vermont, Victoria, in Australia, which offers a fully developed suite of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) services, discusses the integration of heat pumps into existing hospital systems. He examines the challenges and necessary adaptations for replacing traditional gas-fired systems with heat pump technology during the electrification process.

Jeff Penner, a Senior Associate at Verne Reimer Architecture in Winnipeg, Canada, discusses the design of new long-term care facility in the Arctic in Canada’s largest, easternmost, and northernmost territory, built on the foundation of Inuit cultural awareness, dignity, and respect.

Simon Everett, a Senior lecturer in the Built Environment and Programme Leader at Wrexham University, and Dr Scott Brown, managing director and lead consultant for Health Tech Solutions, discuss the importance of healthcare estate management teams maintaining up-to-date and sufficiently comprehensive Operations Manuals for each key engineering and EFM discipline, and some of the main elements to include.

Lisa Ward, Product Line manager (UK & France) at Jeld-Wen –a designer, manufacturer, and distributor of high-performance interior and exterior doors, windows, and related building products, explores ‘the evolution of hospital design’, with the incorporation of colour and cues from nature contributing to more effective treatment, increased staff wellbeing, and a better bottom line.

As more and more NHS Trusts refresh ageing entertainment technology, they are also exploring ways to inform, educate, and stimulate patients. So says Dean Moody, Healthcare Services director at Airwave Healthcare, who here explains why momentum is building to enhance patient experience and reduce pressures on busy healthcare professionals.

David Llewellyn, CEO of the Vending & Automated Retail Association, discusses the features and benefits of the latest food and drink vending machines in healthcare facilities.

Schneider Electric has recently published a ‘white paper’, The Rise of the All-Electric Hospital, based on piece of research conducted by its global solutions team, which analyses the impact of electrifying a large acute hospital, and some of the key considerations. While the analysis itself is theoretical, it was applied to an actual hospital in Australia, as the company’s Global Segment director for Healthcare, David Evans, explains.

Anil Madan, Non-Residential Marketing manager at Ideal Standard UK and Armitage Shanks, reports on an Armitage Shanks 2024 Water Safety Forum hosted at the London Design and Specification Centre in Clerkenwell, which brought together experts from across the healthcare sector to explore the question, ‘How can the drive to Net Zero in the NHS be compatible with safe water delivery?’

Simon Lovegrove, CEO of MHealth, who has considerable experience as the lead on, or as a contributor to, the development of over 150 hospitals globally, and has managed major hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and China, explains why – based on his own experience – he believes integrated hospitals achieve greater efficiency, and create more opportunity to draw the healthcare facility into the community, while simultaneously providing better continuity of care.

In the first two of three infection prevention and control (‘IPC’)-themed articles published late last year in HEJ (October and November 2024) from senior architects at HLM, associate director for healthcare, Neil Orpwood, and head of Healthcare, Melanie Jacobsen Cox, focused on the need for early collaboration between designers, architects, and IPC teams, in creating safe healthcare environments, and an apparent lack of knowledge on the subject among some healthcare design teams. In the third, Neil Orpwood explains how HLM developed an improved internal design tool to help its architects implement, manage, and track, IPC design, derogation, and risk.

The opening Day One keynote session at last year’s Healthcare Estates conference saw three complementary presentations on the importance of engineering, the challenges of recruiting more engineers to help address current and anticipated skills shortages, and some of the work by the Engineering Council, EngineeringUK, and the NHS England NHS Estates and Facilities team – working in tandem – to strengthen and grow the engineering workforce, enhance training and career development, and ensure high professional standards.