As reported in last month’s HEJ, the new Sustainable Development Strategy for the Health, Public Health and Social Care System for 2014-20 rightly emphasises the importance of the built environment to health and well-being.
Chris Hall, the BRE’s health sector lead, says this message ‘stretches far beyond hospitals and healthcare buildings into the communities and homes that people live in’. Here he highlights some of the key elements relating to the current carbon efficiency of healthcare buildings, considers the impact of ‘good’ housing on health and preventing illness, and looks forward to a series of joint IHEEM and BRE ‘Building Sustainable Development’ mini-conference events planned in the run-up to October’s Healthcare Estates 2014 event in response to the new Strategy, designed to share ideas and good practice on sustainable estates issues. The first takes place in London later this month.
The title of the Sustainable Development Unit’s new Sustainable Development Strategy for the Health, Public Health and Social Care System for 2014-20, Sustainable, Resilient, Healthy People and Places, summarises perfectly the NHS’s broadening understanding of what a sustainable healthcare system really means.
Buildings and the wider built environment are integral to people’s health and well-being at every stage of their lives. Comfortable, safe, and secure homes and communities have a positive effect on the lives of the people who live in them. Conversely, poor buildings have a negative impact on people’s health and safety, adding hundreds of millions of pounds to the NHS burden each year, as research by BRE has demonstrated.
Log in or register FREE to read the rest
This story is Premium Content and is only available to registered users. Please log in at the top of the page to view the full text.
If you don't already have an account, please register with us completely free of charge.
