Call for design-led healthcare buildings

At a seminar held at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London on 19 October 2006, CABE’s chair, John Sorrell said: “We are coming across new buildings that can only be described as ‘better than what was there before’. Most work perfectly well but that is far from good enough.” The seminar, which concluded a national series run by CABE during 2006, included a tour of the Breast Care Centre that was designed by Greenhill Jenner Architects with the aim of creating a calm and reassuring environment for patients and their families.

Delegates at the seminar included health professionals, NHS Trusts, local authority planners, LIFT project managers and companies, architects and designers. Previous seminars in the series – held in Birmingham, Leeds, Luton and Glasgow – identified some of the obstacles to creating an environment that encourages health: working in “silos”; a failure to appreciate that good design makes long-term economic sense; and low aspirations.

In the report that launched the seminars: Designed with care: Design and neighbourhood healthcare buildings, CABE identified 10 key principles which together can result in an outstanding healthcare building. These ranged from the bigger picture of integrating the planning and development of neighbourhoods with the design of the building, to getting the details right. CABE is organising a three-day conference titled Building for Health in London from 27 February to 1 March 2007.