A new facility aimed at supporting innovation in healthcare design has opened in London.
The Future HealthSpaces Innovation Hub provides a dedicated environment for testing and developing ideas that could shape the next generation of NHS facilities.
The Hub centres on a full-scale prototype of a single patient bedroom with ensuite, allowing designers, engineers, contractors, and suppliers to trial layouts, fixtures, and finishes in a real-world setting. It has been established to explore how design decisions affect both patient experience and operational efficiency, and to encourage collaboration across the healthcare construction sector.
The initiative forms part of the wider work of Future HealthSpaces, an organisation that brings together NHS Trusts, clinicians, designers, and industry partners to examine current challenges in healthcare environments. Its focus includes infection prevention, digital integration, carbon reduction, and standardisation within the built environment.
While independent in scope, the Innovation Hub has been developed in dialogue with the New Hospital Programme and aims to complement national design frameworks by providing practical evidence from in-use testing.
The project has been realised through collaboration with a range of industry contributors, including Hygenius, KWC DVS, Ocura, Ascom, Rockfon, Mansfield Pollard, Tarkett, Onvo Modular, Yewdale, Altro, Airwave Healthcare, Thorlux Lighting, Specialist Door Solutions, and Innova Care Concepts.
Future HealthSpaces said the Hub is intended to act as a shared platform for research, demonstration, and discussion – helping inform the evolution of safe, sustainable, and effective healthcare spaces.
