RECENT FEATURE ARTICLES
Coastal protection from an air-handling perspective
David Livingstone, a Chartered Engineer, and the managing director of DRLC, Consulting Engineers, discusses some of the key considerations for healthcare engineers to ensure that the performance of air-handling units in hospitals located in coastal areas is not compromised by corrosion created by the increased concentration of salt in the local atmosphere.- Feature
Maintaining supply in the event of flood or drought
Speaking at a climate change-themed IHEEM Regional Conference in Cardiff, Oswyn Parry, a training consultant at Airewater Associates, and a former Yorkshire Water microbiologist, gave an interesting address on ‘The effect of drought and flooding on drinking water quality’.- Feature
Teamwork pays off on St James’s projects
Two separate construction schemes within the Lincoln Wing at Leeds’s St James’s University Hospital – one involving refurbishing and updating two ageing ground floor wards to enable them to meet current clinical practice standards, improve the patient environment, and deliver lean methodology in support services, and the second to create two new decant theatres on the floor above to accommodate surgery while existing theatres are upgraded, have been successfully completed.- Feature
MMC techniques adopted for Norfolk and Norwich IRU
MTX will shortly complete a new 1,500 m2 Interventional Radiology Unit at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Mounted on the roof of the existing Outpatients’ East building, close to the Emergency Department, the new ‘IRU’ will significantly increase the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH)’s capacity to diagnose and treat vascular and other conditions using interventional radiology.- Feature
Transforming the way that we visualise space
David Broderick, Operations director for ISG’s Engineering Services business, discusses why he believes construction technology ‘holds the key to decentralised healthcare provision’.- Feature
Flooring’s important role in sound reduction
Chris McElroy, Specification and Design consultant at Altro, discusses some of the fundamentals for achieving good acoustics in healthcare settings, to the benefit of all users, with a particular focus on the role that well-designed floorcoverings can play.- Feature
What does the future hold for water safety?
Daniel Pitcher, managing director and Authorising Engineer (Water) at the Water Hygiene Centre, a ‘centre of excellence’ dedicated to independent water safety consultancy, considers future developments and changes for water safety, and focuses on some of the rapid detection and analysis technologies for detecting potentially harmful waterborne bacteria.- Feature
An interesting history for isolated power systems
Al Rufaie, a medical electrical consultant with over 40 years’ experience in the electrical industry, takes a look at the history and international development of medical IT (isolated power) power systems.- Feature
Making optimal use of the community estate
The NHS Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP) is intended to deliver a rolling five-year programme of investment in health infrastructure, including capital to build new hospitals and resolve critical safety issues across the NHS estate.- Feature
Modern technology can cut carbon emissions
The NHS is increasingly under pressure to reduce expenditure and tackle its environmental impact. Tony Orton, head of Healthcare Business Development at Centrica Business Solutions, examines the role of modern distributed energy technology in meeting these challenges.- Feature
Radical washbasin and new ‘pipe within a pipe’ system
A sanitaryware and infection control specialist who gained much of his 30 years’ plumbing and water hygiene expertise and experience at Armitage Shanks before establishing his own consultancy, has set up two new UK businesses to market two ‘ground-breaking new plumbing products’ aimed squarely at healthcare facilities.- Feature
Achieving ‘total delivery’ of healthcare infrastructure
Speaking in the opening keynote address on the second morning of last October’s Healthcare Estates 2019, Professor Michail Kagioglou, who is a Dean and Professor at the University of Huddersfield, addressed the subject, ‘Total delivery of healthcare infrastructure for patients, users, and communities’, and the work that he and his team have been undertaking around this goal – including with external partners – over recent months. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.- Feature
Varied career experiences of today’s female engineers
In January’s HEJ, editor, Jonathan Baillie, reported on the first half of a ‘Diversity and Equality’ roundtable in early November in London, at which topics ranged from encouraging more people from diverse genders and ethnic minorities into the sector, to some of the more challenging experiences for women engineers, such as around sexism, being passed over for promotion/training, and misconceptions over their professional abilities.- Feature
Applying a climate change lens to its buildings
Rebecca Wareham, Sustainability coordinator assistant at Canadian healthcare provider, Island Health, and the company’s Energy manager, Joe Ciarniello, report on its recent work to address climate impact vulnerabilities associated with extreme weather, with a particular focus on the Nanaimo General Hospital on Vancouver Island.- Feature
Designing for more extreme climate events in the future
In an article that first appeared in Canadian Healthcare Facilities magazine, Mike Cavanaugh and Brett Farbstein of architectural, engineering, design, and construction firm, CannonDesign, consider some of the fundamentals in ensuring that hospitals and other healthcare facilities are designed to be as resilient as possible in the face of extreme climate events.- Feature
Creating an ‘in-house’ drug preparation facility
Gavin Statham, Southern Regional director at BES, a specialist in the design and construction of cleanrooms, aseptic facilities, and other sophisticated environments, discusses the demanding requirements for hospital aseptic facilities, and how the healthcare sector can benefit from the experience of the pharmaceutical industry.- Feature
Designing interiors with dementia in mind
While certain elements, such as safety flooring, are a ‘must’ for healthcare facilities, in most cases a more tailored interior design is required – especially when it comes to care units for those living with dementia.- Feature
Ensuring a competent and capable future workforce
The key role that the organisation plays as the regulatory body for the UK engineering sector, and some of the existing formal requirements for registration as an Engineering Technician, Incorporated, or Chartered Engineer, or Information and Communications Technology Technician, as well as the future of engineering education, and the need for the sector to ‘innovate to develop future engineers’, were the subject of a Healthcare Estates 2019 conference presentation by the Engineering Council’s CEO, Alasdair Coates, in October. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.- Feature
Protecting walls and brightening up spaces
It is now widely accepted that creating a positive environment in healthcare settings has a significant impact on patients’ wellbeing, potentially leading to fewer infections, therapeutic benefits, reduced pain, and shorter hospital stays.1- Feature
Carbon reduction initiatives recognised with award
A Northern Irish NHS Trust’s efforts to significantly reduce its carbon footprint and fossil fuel usage, and increase its use of renewables, via what its Estates engineering team dub ‘an innovative multidisciplinary approach across the mediums of software, hardware, plant, design, contract analysis, and training’, were rewarded when it won the Lord Carter Innovation Award 2019 at an IHEEM event held in Westminster in mid-November. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.- Feature
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