RECENT NEWS

Mitie, which claims to be the UKs ‘leading technology-led facilities transformation company’, has welcomed three new apprenticeship cohorts to its business in one recent week, in a move that it says further reinforces its commitment to nurturing a diverse and skilled workforce.

The UK’s 9.4 million STEM workers are wasting on average six hours every week thanks to a lack of access to advanced AI tools, according to a new ‘in-depth’ study, How the STEM world works, by STEM specialist, SThree.

Prague-based investment firm, Reinsberg Group, the ‘medtech’ arm of BHM Group, a Prague-based private equity company, has acquired a majority stake in Brandon Medical, the UK-based specialist in the development and manufacture of medical equipment.

Artelia says it has ‘strengthened its position as one of Europe's top 10 engineering companies’ with the acquisition of Pick Everard, a long-standing player in the UK consultancy sector.

When the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board decided on a complete refurbishment of the flooring and wallcoverings at The Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, staff turned to Gerflor to ‘transform’ several key areas – including the main reception, corridors, and the sexual health clinic.

As part of the Group's GreenUp strategic plan, Veolia Water Technologies has opened a new Life Science Centre of Excellence near Dublin to ‘drive water treatment innovation, growth, and training in Europe and beyond for the pharmaceutical, science and healthcare markets’.

North East and North Cumbria Provider Collaborative (NENC) has appointed Northumberland-headquartered Merit to design and fit out a new multi-million pound NHS Medicines Manufacturing Centre (MMC), hosted by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust at its Manufacturing & Innovation Hub in Seaton Delaval.

The investigative journalist who raised concerns about combustible cladding and high-rise buildings before the Grenfell Tower fire has warned the building services sector not to ignore new building safety regulations ‘despite growing frustration over project delays and rising costs’.

Fusion21 has announced the renewal of its national Workplace and Facilities Management Framework, worth up to £800 million over four years, and is inviting bids from interested suppliers providing regional or national coverage.

GEZE UK, a leading manufacturer of door and window control systems, has welcomed two new members to its management team – Allan Randall (pictured right) as National Specification manager, and Lewis Tandy (left) as Marketing manager.

The Department of Health and Social Care has launched what its dubs ‘a major crackdown on waste in the NHS to save millions of pounds a year’, with the publication of a new strategy – the Design for Life roadmap – designed to ‘radically cut the number of single-use medical devices in the health service and reduce our reliance on foreign imports’.

Morrison Construction Building Central has hosted a topping out event for the Health Innovation Hub project in Glasgow.

A ceremony has been held to mark the start of construction for a new medical and dental centre for the British Army at Leuchars Station in Fife.

A new centre set to improve diagnostic care for local people has received its official opening with a ministerial stamp of approval.

The Institute for Neurological Sciences in Glasgow has performed what is reportedly the first operation in the UK – and only the third centre worldwide – to use Mixed Reality (MR) technology to allow the surgeon to ‘see inside’ a patient’s body during surgery.

Construction has commenced on an ‘energy-efficient’ Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC) in Hereford, which will provide a calming and reassuring environment for diagnostic imaging and testing.

At Healthcare Estates 2024 in Manchester, Kemper was particularly keen to talk to visitors about its Hygiene System KHS, which uses ‘innovative valve technology and intelligent pipe routing’ to maintain continuous water flow and prevent stagnation, and the resulting impairment of drinking water quality, and its Multi-Therm product – ‘a solution for wireless, digital hot water circulation systems’. HEJ’s editor, Jonathan Baillie, met with General Manager, Matt Camm, to find out more about these products, and other recent technology developments at a business first established in Germany in 1864.

Today’s healthcare facilities have increasingly complex, and equally diverse, electrical power requirements, and indeed a reliable and continuous electrical supply is critical both to ensuring uninterrupted clinical activity, and to keeping plant and equipment running optimally. On Day Two of Healthcare Estates 2024 in Manchester, HEJ’s Editor, Jonathan Baillie, discussed the role that modern UPS systems play in such a scenario, the importance of properly installing and maintaining them, and how – when selecting such a system for maximum resilience and efficiency, there is no such thing as ‘one-size-fits all’ solution.

Extremely well-known for its expertise in medical gas systems, Beacon Medaes is increasingly keen to be recognised for its contribution to, and impact on, sustainability in healthcare. It is thus focusing on a range of initiatives to reduce its environmental footprint, ‘foster social responsibility, and ensure economic resilience’. HEJ Editor, Jonathan Baillie, met up at this year’s Healthcare Estates event in Manchester with Paul Owen, the company’s Sustainable Solution Sales Manager, to discover more, and to hear about an exciting new addition to the company’s clinical product range.

Recent months have seen all aspects of fire safety in healthcare buildings – with their especially vulnerable population, in the spotlight, while the Building Safety Act’s provisions have further strengthened the associated regulatory regime. At Healthcare Estates 2024, HEJ’s editor, Jonathan Baillie, met up with Maz Daoud, Head of Fire Safety at NHS England, to talk through some of the key current fire safety-related issues for he and his team, and for the personnel charged with minimising fire risk, and ensuring compliance with regulations and guidance, at healthcare facilities across the NHS. A key priority, he stressed, is ensuring that all relevant staff are adequately trained, both in the correct preventative procedures and practices, and in what to do should a fire occur.