SUSTAINABILITY ARTICLES

Martin Bissell, Emily Scoones, and James Thomson of Buildings (Digital) at global architecture, engineering, and consultancy company, Ramboll, argue that to stand a realistic chance of meeting its tough Net Zero targets within the timelines currently specified, the healthcare sector must adopt a multi-faceted approach. By embracing digital building tools and data, they say the sector has the chance to take meaningful steps to decarbonise existing building stock and achieve Net Zero targets, while simultaneously reducing its energy spend.

Anil Madan, Non-Residential Marketing manager at Ideal Standard UK and Armitage Shanks, discusses one of the key modern-day challenges for the NHS – the imperative to reach Net Zero, but to do so without harming patient safety, and some of the key ways this might be achieved

Sarah Butler, Business Case lead at Drees & Sommer UK, explores what the NHS Net Zero Building Standard means for NHS Trusts, the challenges they may face, and why the role of the Net Zero Carbon Coordinator is vital. Scott Rushton, Associate at Drees & Sommer UK, adds his expertise as a Net Zero Carbon and Sustainability specialist to explain the purpose of the role, and why engaging with sufficiently qualified experts is key.

With climate change being combated on many fronts, Professor Stefano Capolongo, director of the Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering Department, and Scientific coordinator of the Design & Health Lab and JRP Healthcare Infrastructures, at Politecnico di Milano, discusses the re-thinking and implementation of practices in the construction industry – which is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. He also considers how medical facilities can be designed and built to be more sustainable through the ‘Next Generation Hospital’.

Speaking at a Westminster Health Forum policy conference held online on 21 February, Lord Markham, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health & Social Care, discussed the ‘critical role of infrastructure’ in achieving the NHS’s Net Zero targets. While acknowledging that the NHS had already ‘done an incredible job of rising to this challenge’, he noted three key areas where there was an imperative to do more.

At a Westminster Health Forum policy conference held online on 21 February, Dr Hayley Pinto, Education and Training lead at The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, discussed some of the biggest challenges facing the NHS from her standpoint as the service and its staff strive to meet demanding Net Zero targets. Worryingly, she said, recent surveys showed that less than half the UK population understand the term ‘Net Zero’, and just a quarter the terms ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’. She warned that ‘we could consider our collective failure to tackle climate change as a safeguarding issue for an entire generation’.

Sarah Melia, General manager at Bupa Health Services, discusses the steps that the Bupa-owned Cromwell Hospital in London has taken to become more sustainable over the last couple of years.

Neil Campbell, Chief Sales officer at eEnergy, discusses some of the ways that healthcare estates teams can lower the amount of energy wasted in their buildings, and some of the other – in many cases relatively straightforward and inexpensive – steps they can take to reduce the carbon footprint of their estate and play their part in the NHS achieving its Net Zero goals.

In this article, Walt Vernon, CEO of global engineering design and consulting firm, Mazzetti, and 2nd Vice-President of the IFHE, reports on work being undertaken at Valley Children’s Hospital in Central California which should see it become the US’s first Net Zero paediatric hospital campus, with contributions from the hospital’s Vice-President of Innovation, Ratan Milevoj.

Chris Brown, Public Sector lead at IES, discusses the need for NHS Trusts to be able to provide comprehensive data on current performance, and good evidence of the need for funding, to secure monies for heat decarbonisation schemes.

Schneider Electric’s David Williams argues that achieving Net Zero is ‘a whole company / organisation initiative’, and warns against procrastination, saying ‘the time to act is now’.

Many healthcare estates are ageing, and in some cases lagging behind those in other sectors on sustainability. Does support go far enough for these estates to upgrade and adopt low carbon energy solutions considering the UK’s ambitious 2050 carbon targets?