Getting window specification right

All too often, she cautions. a lack of sufficient technical guidance for estates teams faced with a myriad of responsibilities can see the ‘wrong’ type of window selected, with potentially fatal consequencies.

The economic downturn is affecting NHS estates managers just as acutely as any professionals working in an equivalent commercial sector role. Against a backdrop where around 50% of NHS buildings are over 30 years’ old, but with capital funding scarce, and pressure to cut carbon emissions constant, estates managers face an especially difficult challenge – reducing the environmental impact of their estate while ensuring that facilities in which patients are looked after offer privacy and dignity, incorporate family and amenity space, are clean and well-maintained, and are generally fit-forpurpose for 21st-century healthcare. All this in an environment where every pound earmarked for maintenance has to be carefully justified. In the mental healthcare sphere, meanwhile, a key additional requirement is that buildings provide a safe, yet sufficiently secure environment, for treating those suffering from mental illness. As refurbishment becomes the norm, and large PFI projects are withdrawn, or put on hold due to funding constraints, the role of the estates manager becomes increasingly pressurised. With little official ‘technical guidance’ to support the decision-making process, estates managers with responsibility for mental health estate have the onerous responsibility of determining everything from the exterior envelope to the interior finish. No detail can be overlooked, be it the adhesive used to stick down floor coverings, or the handle design on a window.

Risks of specifying the ‘wrong’ glazing