Imaginative thinking to ‘futureproof’ buildings

The hospitals and healthcare facilities currently being constructed are not just the buildings of today, but will need to meet clinical needs well into the future. With healthcare funding under constant scrutiny, budgets have to work harder than ever to provide solutions not only to the problems that we are encountering now, but equally those we could face in the next 20 to 30 years. With a particular focus on washroom technology – ‘from handwashing to basin design’, Ideal Standard’s Senior Sector marketing manager, Tony Rheinberg, explores the theme, ‘How can we anticipate the issues of the future, and design for them?’

Healthcare professionals across the UK are facing a significant number of long and short-term challenges in 2019. From the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, to continuing tight budget constraints, coupled with the need to deliver Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs), healthcare teams in both the public and private sectors are under enormous pressure to become more efficient, and to plan ahead. 

Alongside addressing the challenge of maintaining care settings that are both therapeutic and fit-for-purpose for patients, and providing a comfortable, conducive, staff working environment with limited capital funds, those responsible for the design and upkeep of hospitals are continually looking for new ways to improve patient safety, but also, where possible, to reduce costs. At Armitage Shanks we recognise that manufacturers can play a key role in these efforts – by bringing together duty-holders involved at all stages of the lifecycle of a healthcare building. By sharing our knowledge in good product design, and listening to the changing demands and needs of the sector, we can help create spaces which both boost wellbeing, and help to allay financial pressures.