Programme agenda
- Day 1Monday 9 June
- Day 2Tuesday 10 June
- Day 3Wednesday 11 June
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08.00 - Registration opens
Opening keynote plenary
Wolfson Theatre
Supported by
08.45 - 10.15Session 1- Opening plenary:
Sunand Prasad OBE
Programme director, European Healthcare Design; Principal, Perkins&Will, UKSunand Prasad is a principal at Perkins&Will. While designing across several sectors, he has been consistently engaged in healthcare and sustainability for four decades. At the core of his architectural practice, alongside interdisciplinary collaboration, Sunand holds a passionate belief that expertise and aesthetic judgement are most effective in creating truly successful environments when they are catalysed by the everyday experience of people. Sunand has been active in the wider built environment industry, particularly championing low-carbon, regenerative design, and until recently, as chair of the UK Green Building Council. He was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 2007 to 2009, campaigning for action on climate change. He was founding member of the UK Government’s Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment; a London Mayor’s design advocate; a trustee of the Centre for Cities; and chair of the Trustees of Article 25, the humanitarian architecture charity. He currently chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architecture and the External Advisory Board of TRUUD, a major research project on the fundamental links between health and urban development. He has written widely on architecture, sustainability and healthcare design, such as the book 'Changing Hospital Architecture'.08.45Opening remarks09.00Health equity in the health ecosystem: Marmot places
Sir Michael Marmot
Director, UCL Institute of Health Equity, UKProfessor Sir Michael Marmot is Professor of Epidemiology at University College London, Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, and Past President of the World Medical Association. Professor Marmot has been Professor of Epidemiology at UCL since 1985. He first joined as Head of Department, a role he stayed in for 26 years overseeing the growth of the Department from 7 to 170 people. Fundamental to this growth was a vision of needed research on social determinants of health and health inequalities. He set up and led a number of longitudinal cohort studies on the social gradient in health in the UCL Department of Epidemiology & Public Health: the Whitehall II Studies of British Civil Servants, investigating explanations for the striking inverse social gradient in morbidity and mortality; the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), and several international research efforts on the social determinants of health. Professor Marmot chaired the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), which was set up by the World Health Organization in 2005, and produced the report entitled: ‘Closing the Gap in a Generation’ in August 2008. At the request of the British Government, he conducted the Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England, which published its report 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives' (also known as the Marmot Review) in February 2010. Based on the evidence, the Marmot Review had six domains of recommendations: give every child the best start in life; education and life-long learning; employment and working conditions; minimum income necessary for a healthy life; healthy and sustainable environments and communities in which to live and work; taking a social determinants approach to prevention and healthy life-style. He is the author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (Bloomsbury: 2015) and Status Syndrome: how your place on the social gradient directly affects your health (Bloomsbury: 2004).09.30Impact Investing to promote health equity and improvement
Kieron Boyle OBE
Chair, Impact Investing Institute; CEO and director, 100x Impact Accelerator, UKKieron joined the Institute following seven years as chief executive of Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, one of the world’s oldest foundations, and itself a pioneer in incorporating impact investment into the investment strategy of its £1 billion endowment. At Guy’s & St Thomas’, Kieron led some of the UK’s most innovative and impactful alliances to reduce health inequalities.10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networkingSelect a Stream
- Stream 1Population health
- Stream 2System and infrastructure transformation
- Stream 3Health planning and investment
- Stream 4Intersection of clinical medicine and design
- Stream 5Art, design and inclusivity
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Population health
Wolfson Theatre
Supported by
10.45 - 12.30Session 2- Reimagining healthcare in the community
John Cooper
Director, JCA, UKJohn is a leading figure in healthcare design and has been a principal in practice for 35 years. He is actively engaged in reshaping the healthcare environment and improving and re-forming its architecture, combining an expert understanding of health planning with genuine design skills at both a strategic and a detailed level. He set up JCA in 2009 with Hrafnhildur Olafsdottir. The practice has worked in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Iceland and Australia and is currently working in Switzerland and Palestine. This provides John with an international perspective and a wide ranging knowledge of best practice. He has led government report panels and provided peer review on major projects in the UK and Australia. John co-founded Avanti Architects in 1981, pioneering social architecture and designing a wide range of residential, community and regeneration projects. In 1995 he led the design team for the ACaD Centre and on the strength of this project Avanti developed rapidly as a major healthcare practice under his leadership. After twenty years at Avanti, John joined Anshen Dyer (reformed as Anshen + Allen in 2006) as healthcare director and in his seven years at the practice A+A won and designed 12 major projects from complex tertiary hospitals for oncology, paediatrics and maternity to innovative community facilities and competition winning mental health units. He is a regular speaker at conferences in the UK and overseas and has written for the major architectural journals in the UK. He was chair of Architects for Health (2009-2014) and is still actively engaged in this organisation.10.45St. Mary’s and Grand River Hospitals: A unified vision for community wellbeing, collaboration and innovation
Diego Morettin
Partner, DIALOG, CanadaDiego Morettin is a Partner and Architect leading major healthcare projects at DIALOG. His healthcare design practice spans more than 25 years and is guided by his belief that design has the potential to contribute to the health and wellbeing of communities. He finds inspiration in the unique history and landscapes where each project resides, and his projects carefully consider the organization and relationships of program to the surrounding context. Diego places an emphasis on engagement and the inclusion of diverse stakeholder groups in the design process. He designs healthcare spaces with a focus on dignity, improving people’s physical and emotional experiences in health facilities through design.
Dorsa Jalalian
Associate, senior urban planner, DIALOG, CanadaDorsa is an Associate and Senior Urban Designer with DIALOG, with over ten years of expertise in shaping vibrant and equitable urban spaces. With a background in architecture and urban design, her career spans across North America, focusing on visioning studies, community plans, planning studies, urban design guidelines, and public realm improvements. Passionate about placemaking, Dorsa believes that community participation strengthens the vision, ensuring designs are inclusive, resilient, and reflective of the people they serve. Dorsa applies an evidence-based methodology rooted in the Community Wellbeing to guide her design process. This approach allows her to prioritize wellbeing by addressing all aspects of wellbeing, ensuring that every project is grounded in what matters most to those impacted. Her passion for community engagement is reflected in her commitment to working with a diverse range of voices, particularly those who are underrepresented, such as youth and racialized communities. She is certified in Public Participation by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Canada and currently serves as Co-Chair of the IAP2 Canada Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Community of Practice, where she promotes equitable engagement strategies at a national scale.
Clifford Harvey
Joint vice president redevelopment, Grand River Hospital/St. Mary’s General Hospital, CanadaCliff Harvey is the Joint Vice President, Redevelopment, leading the Building the Future of Care Together initiative. This new role is an important investment and milestone for our community towards our shared vision for a new hospital in Waterloo Region, and revitalization of existing infrastructure. Cliff Harvey, MSc(HQ), EDAC, OAA, FRAIC collaboratively leads organizations through the planning, design and implementation of capital infrastructure projects, allowing healthcare organizations to stay current and position themselves for the future. Using Design Management methods, he builds holistically upon governance, strategy, project management, planning, design, and procurement to deliver the right project. Design Management supports a culture of innovation, creativity and transformation, and builds a structure for an organization to successfully deliver on their strategic vision – from discovery to execution to operations – while still supporting strict governance, comprehensive reporting, and effective business decisions. Cliff’s professional career includes being Senior Architect in the Ontario Government, a Senior Hospital Executive, and a practising Architect. Cliff searches for excellence through continual learning and professional curiosity, always challenging himself to be better and to stay ahead of the curve. Cliff is an international speaker on health and design, and volunteers his time to boards, committees, professional task groups, and advises on educational programs.St. Mary’s and Grand River Hospitals: A unified vision for community wellbeing, collaboration and innovation
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The St. Mary’s and Grand River hospitals are located in the Kitchener-Waterloo region in Ontario, Canada. The region has a rich history that begins with its Indigenous roots. In the early 1800s, agrarian communities were created by farmers seeking religious freedom. The mid-19th century brought industrial growth with the arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway, transforming the area into a manufacturing hub. Today, Kitchener-Waterloo is a modern tech capital, renowned for its educational institutions and vibrant tech industry – a part of the ‘Silicon Valley of the North’.
The combined history of St. Mary's General Hospital and Grand River Hospital reflects a rich legacy of healthcare service and community commitment in the region. However, the healthcare system faces several key stresses:
• mental health and addictions;
• wait times;
• resilience;
• funding and resources;
• infrastructure and capacity.
The last stressor brought the two organisations together to plan a new hospital for the region. This collaboration led to discussions on merging, and they have now embarked on a voluntary merger. It is rare to plan a new hospital for a newly created organisation, but it is happening in Kitchener-Waterloo. This represents an opportunity to create a unified vision for health and wellness that will benefit the community for generations, making it more integrated, efficient and patient-centred.
This presentation will examine how the hospitals utilised the Community Wellbeing Framework (CWF) to guide their planning work. Equipped with CWF and a comprehensive engagement strategy, the hospitals developed a design vision and forged partnerships that focused on:
• wellness: the CWF is an evidence-based tool that includes five domains of Wellbeing. Each domain is supported by specific indicators and metrics that guide design professionals, project stakeholders and community members in making informed design decisions that positively contribute to community wellbeing;
• collaboration and partnerships: partnering with the University of Waterloo's engineering and architecture programmes, the hospitals are infusing innovation into the project, reflecting the region's tech prowess. The engagement process includes workshops, pop-up activities, digital surveys, case studies and consultations with diverse community members, health providers and external partners like the University of Waterloo and private sector tech groups. Guided by principles of inclusivity, equity, accessibility and compassion, these engagements aim to deeply and broadly involve the hospitals’ internal and external communities. Additionally, partnerships with public and private sector entities leverage AI and digital tools to shape future outcomes.
Learning Objectives
- Wellbeing
- Collaboration
- Innovation
11.05Imagining Aerotropolis
Mungo Smith
Director, MAAP Architects, AustraliaWith over 40 years’ experience in architecture and health facility planning; a former Head of Design at the Medical Architecture Research Unit in London and consultant to NHS Estates, Department of Health, UK. A founding director of Medical Architecture, London in 1991 and director of MAAP Architects, Sydney since 2014. Assessor for European Health Design Congress Awards. Memberships include Australian Health Design Council since 2012, UK Architects for Health since 1992. GA NSW State Design Review Panel for health projects since 2018. In a team short-listed in 2021 for the International Wolfson Economics Prize which focused on the future of hospital and healthcare facilities.Imagining Aerotropolis
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Adopting the “small is beautiful” mantra, this is an illustrated case study that provides a counterpoint to the conventional calls for the metropolitan ‘super’ hospital, or those which focus disproportionately on inpatient treatment and care.
Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Dutch architectural competition 'Healthcare 2025', curated by the TNO in 2005, to design a hospital for a fictitious city in the Markermeer. MAAP submitted an entry which focused instead on the design of the city itself. The proposal for ‘Hygiopolis’ arranged the distribution of its supporting infrastructure to optimise the health of its inhabitants through its spatial organisation and social welfare services. A walking city with neighbourhood and district centres, each containing adaptable housing with smart tech that could support care at home and complementary services, all connected to the city centre by a localised public transport system. By adopting the ‘health ecosystem approach’ the size of the theoretical hospital was reduced by 50 per cent. The entry was highly commended and published in the competition report.
During 2023, a book 'Dear Susan – a blueprint for the NHS' (DS1-LB) was published. It targeted senior personnel in the UK's Department of Health and St George's Hospital in south London where its author, Len Bartholomew, had recently received treatment and rehabilitation. His experience as a patient and as a former lead in the Nucleus hospital programme during the late 20th century provided the motivation to articulate another vision. Not only a critique of the NHS's programme to develop 'new' hospitals (NHP), but also a concept for appropriately scaled and locally distributed health facilities the book promotes an affordable alternative to the general hospital model conceived over 60 years ago.
Using lessons learned from Hygiopolis and design thinking from the second edition of 'Dear Susan', published in 2024 (DS2-LB), the vision is applied to a new city called Aerotropolis*.
DS2-LB is the starting point, reverse-engineered as a functional brief and pattern book, for a range of facilities including, but not limited to, centres for acute care and rehabilitation, elective treatment, ambulatory care and day therapy, childcare, aged care and keyworker housing, together with logistics, waste and water recycling, and supporting commercial enterprises, housing and education, configured as an integrated whole. A strategy to promote innovation, restore trust and address the need for continuous improvement.
*Aerotropolis – proposed Bradfield City, NSW (2030)
Learning Objectives
- Master planning for a lean health ecosystem (right size, right location)
- Testing spatially flexible and adaptable facility typologies (including polyvalency)
- Sustainable (carbon zero as a goal)
11.25Community Health House: A proposition
Ab Rogers
Creative director, Ab Rogers Design, United KingdomAb Rogers is a designer and founder of Ab Rogers Design (ARD), a design and architecture studio he established in 2004 and now runs with co-director Ernesto Bartolini. Known for a wide-ranging practice informed by his unique imagination, Ab’s studio specializes in the design of caring and experiential spaces, sustainability and inside-out design. Working internationally across health, culture, hospitality and residential sectors, it champions a broad skill base in its creation of active, supportive, engaging environments that inject narrative and purpose into the everyday. In 2021 the studio won the Wolfson Economics Prize with its design for the hospital of the future. Following this, Ab co-founded the DRU+, a design research unit that explores the interrelationship between design, culture and neuroscience, using scientific rigour to deliver the art of care, alongside Francesca Bertolotti-Bailey and Ash Ranpura. He has taught all over the world, creating and leading the Interior Design MA Programme at the RCA from 2012 – 2015. Recent projects include sustainable structures for Thai music festival ‘Wonderfruit’, Maggie’s Centre at the Royal Marsden Hospital and a series of immersive exhibitions at cultural centre 180 The Strand, including shows for Wes Anderson’s films Asteroid City and French Dispatch, and Universal Everything’s digital extravaganza ‘Lifeforms’.
Francesca Bertolotti-Bailey
Co-founder, DRU+, ItalyFrancesca Bertolotti-Bailey is a cultural organizer and artistic researcher with a background in economics and cultural policy. In 20 years of international experience, she has held leadership positions in a wide-range of arts institutions, including residencies, private foundations, biennials, publishing platforms, galleries, and fairs. Her work is enquiry-led, spanning across the arts, humanities, science and civic responsibility, to interrogate some of the most intractable issues of our times. Until 2022, she was the CEO of Cove Park, an international artists’ residency in rural Scotland. Previously, she worked at Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, UK; Artissima Contemporary Art Fair, Turin, Italy; Fondazione Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy; and Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art, UK, where she co-curated the 2016 and 2018 editions. Between 2016–18 she was Associate at Large of Council, a Paris-based organization focused on the integration of artistic, scientific and civic ways of knowing. Since 2016, she has been co-director of publishing and learning platform The Serving Library. She is based in Turin, Italy and her current obsessions include alternative forms of cohabitation, healing environments, and the ecologies of time.
Ash Ranpura
Co-founder, DRU+, United KingdomDr. Ash Ranpura is a neurologist and cognitive neuroscientist who has been active in brain research for over 25 years. He received his bachelor's degree from Yale University, completed an M.D. at the Medical College of Ohio and carried out his Ph.D. research at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in Queen Square, London. He completed an internship in internal medicine and a residency in adult general neurology at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, where he spearheaded new initiatives for improving patient transport and reducing the use of sedation for MRI. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Ranpura has made significant contributions in science communication, having been a co-founder of Café Scientifique at the Photographers’ Gallery in London, a founding editor at BrainConnection magazine in San Francisco and a host of radio programmes for BBC Radio 4, National Public Radio, and Audible.com. He is co-author, together with presenter Ruby Wax and Buddhist monk Gelong Thubten of How to be Human: The Manual, a practical guidebook exploring the effects of meditation on the brain.Community Health House: A proposition
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Our proposition is the development of a health hub designed to respond to the needs of its community – capitalising on its assets by helping people take more control of their own health, bringing people together to improve social value, providing support networks and addressing targeted areas of strain within the existing health and social services in a specific geographic area.
This is a new type of human-focused community health centre founded on the fundamental principles of community engagement, health creation, prevention and healing. It is a versatile hub offering a wide programme of services that can be tailored to serve specific communities, including primary care, non-acute inpatient care, a community diagnostic centre, mental health support services, daycare, alternative therapies, a public park and/or community gardens and/or allotments, a local market, a café, a tech support and internet café, an arts programme, a community kitchen and social prescription services.
The Community Health House will tackle societal issues, act as an anchor institution, boost the local economy, improve our relationship with our health and our relationship with the hospital, reduce bed-blocking, supplement existing health and social care services, and foster health creation.
How will its design deliver for its users? The design will place the user at the heart of the experience by:
- facilitating nurturing interactions through domestic-scale and biophilic, sensorial design;
- being flexible and responsive, prioritising objects over architecture to create an environment that can adapt to the changing needs of its users;
- delivering medicine beyond the pharmacy, utilising the positive benefits of sleep, food, art, sound, music, light and acoustics to improve user experience; create internal communities within its walls, using sensitive, tactile interiors to nudge social interaction and dissolve boundaries, building comradeship and connecting both clinical and non-clinical users, staff and visitors;
- including generous, unprogrammed areas that allow for user agency and interpretation, applying visual prompts to draw people to explore;
- offering a healthy, biodiverse environment for staff, patients and visitors; and
- being carbon neutral, adopting the principles of Passivhaus construction.
The Community Health House is facilitated by a collective intelligence of invested parties including: the NHS, primary care providers, local practitioners, an enlightened developer, social enterprises, the local administration, and design, architecture, sustainability and culture R&D and programming.
This presentation is both a thought-experiment and a fully-fledged design proposal, illustrating the need for such Community Health House, as well as its aims, characteristics and deliverables, and some concrete case studies.Learning Objectives
- Community health prevention, creation and care
- Ecosystemic integrated approach
- Design as third carer
11.45The future healthcare experience: Lessons from retail
Ibrahim Ibrahim
Managing director, Portland Design , United KingdomIbrahim is the Managing Director of Portland Design, a leading Place Strategy, branding, and strategic retail design business based in London and established in 1987 as part of the global Perkins&Will architecture and design group. Portland works on a broad range of projects, including retail, F&B, consumer brands, shopping centres, airports, train stations, co-working spaces, mixed-use developments, and urban regeneration, with a focus on audiences’ relationships with places, brands, and their engagement with physical and digital environments. Their approach, driven by research, data, and insights into future audience expectations, emphasizes evidence-based design and ‘future readiness.’ Originally trained as an aeronautical engineer, Ibrahim is a postgraduate of the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. A regular speaker at conferences and contributor to journals and trade press, he has written for The Economist Insights and authored the book Future Ready Retail, which explores the future of retail and its impact on brands, customer experiences, high streets, and town centres.The future healthcare experience: Lessons from retail
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The digital world has revolutionised how consumers shop. Asset owners, retailers and brands have rethought the customer experience across channels and devices, and have empowered the customer. With retail much further down the digital transformation road, what lessons can healthcare providers learn? How can healthcare leaders reimagine the hospital experience? And how might this be shaped through a ‘hospital as brand’ approach?
As healthcare treatments and services become increasingly ‘consumerised’, how will this impact the healthcare ecosystem? What impact can a hospital have in its wider community, and what role might it play in the day to day lives of its citizens?
Physical retail is shifting from transaction to experience, while brands are developing deeper emotional connections with their customers. What lessons might healthcare providers learn from this? How can we make sure that we love our hospitals and what role might healthcare play in the revitalisation of the high street?
How can we seek to improve healthcare experiences with the emergence of telemedicine, virtual reality, AI and ‘smart home’? As we lead increasingly busy, complex lives, how might healthcare respond to the need for hyper-convenience?
Learning Objectives
- Adding revenue streams and disrupting business models
- Cross-pollination
- Community engagement
12.05Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networkingLunchtime workshop14.00 - 15.30Session 3- Designing healthy ecosystems
Stephanie Costelloe
Principal, BVN, AustraliaStephanie, Principal at BVN Architecture, is a recognised leader in healthcare design, known for her innovative and engaging approach to creating transformative environments. Stephanie brings a wealth of experience spanning major healthcare projects across Australia and Asia, showcasing a deep understanding of the strategies and processes underpinning successful outcomes in diverse cultural contexts. A seasoned expert in briefing, designing, and delivering complex projects, Stephanie's work reflects her passion for crafting innovative spaces that resonate with their occupants. Her ability to translate complex requirements into simple, intuitive solutions stems from a personalised approach to design and a curious mindset that seeks to challenge the status quo. Stephanie’s extensive portfolio includes state-of-the-art hospitals and cutting-edge research facilities, where she integrates advanced medical technologies with sustainable design principles.14.00Planting seeds for a healthy ecosystem: A case study
Stuart Elgie
Partner, DIALOG, CanadaStuart Elgie is an architect and partner at DIALOG. Stuart’s experience as a client-side design advocate and design-build team leader enables him to identify opportunities and mitigate short- and long-term risks. Ultimately, what drives him is the pursuit of great design and the iterative actions leading up to its realization. Stuart believes design begins by listening to the client before identifying the possibilities and working within a team to find the best answer. For him, this is the fun part of being an architect. Stuart has been project architect responsible for design, design development and contract documentation on many large, complex projects throughout his career, primarily in the institutional and healthcare sectors. Stuart is the Partner-in-Charge for DIALOG’s design team for the $1.1B Toronto Western Hospital - New Surgical and Patient Tower site for University Health Network, scheduled to open in 2028. Stuart also serves as a member of the DIALOG Governing Council, an elected body within the Partnership, responsible for the stewardship in the long-term interests and wellbeing of the organization.
Chuck Wertheimer
Senior principal, Resource Planning Group, CanadaChuck Wertheimer, Health Sector Lead with RPG Inc., is a seasoned expert in health facility planning, programming, and business case analysis, with over 38 years of experience. His expertise spans from advising large teaching and tertiary care hospitals to assisting smaller facilities across Canada. Chuck specializes in navigating spatial, financial, and operational challenges, ensuring facilities meet today’s complex demands. His diverse portfolio includes acute care, paediatric facilities, oncology, long-term care, and advanced medical research spaces. Chuck has completed more than 200 Master and Functional Programs for facilities nationwide, addressing a wide range of areas. These include inpatient units, diagnostic and therapeutic spaces such as laboratories, imaging suites, endoscopy, cardiology, neuroscience services, and rehabilitation areas. He has also worked extensively on education, research, and key support services like central processing, pharmacy, and materiel management. In recent years, Chuck has honed a specialized focus on advanced imaging and laboratory planning. He frequently evaluates these spaces to optimize functionality in light of advancements in automated technologies, ensuring efficient workflows and improved space utilization. Chuck’s extensive experience and strategic approach make him a trusted advisor in creating innovative, effective health care environments.
Gavin Wardle
Partner, Preyra Solutions Group, CanadaGavin is a partner at Preyra Solutions Group, a leading Canadian consulting and contract research organization that helps healthcare leaders use data to enable change, working across community and institutional settings for agencies, providers and government. He is also a professor at Humber College in the Faculty of Business and an active adjunct lecturer at the University of Toronto's Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Committed to population health and healthcare system improvement, Gavin is passionate about using research and analysis to not only inform policy, but also build a better system of care.Planting seeds for a healthy ecosystem: A case study
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Like many jurisdictions, Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, faces major challenges to its healthcare infrastructure. Ontario currently has one of the lowest rates of hospital beds per capita among OECD countries, experiences emergency department overcrowding and has very long wait times for scheduled care. Furthermore, Ontario faces unprecedented growth in demand, with projections indicating the need for 22,000 new inpatient beds and over 24 million square feet of construction in the next 20 years – an unsustainable trajectory. This presentation examines a fast-growing, suburban multi-site health organisation west of Toronto as a case study to explore innovative strategies for addressing this demand while attenuating growth in high-cost inpatient hospital infrastructure.
Over the past 15 years, this organisation has expanded by 1.5 million square feet through a greenfield hospital and significant upgrades to another facility. However, a landlocked third hospital requiring modernisation and the opportunity to develop a gifted 100-acre site present both challenges and possibilities. This study asks: how can we reshape the demand for inpatient beds, optimise existing infrastructure and design future healthcare facilities that are environmentally sustainable and resilient to climate change?
Our discussion focuses on three interconnected strategies.
Population health
Using detailed analysis, we explore how understanding population demographic, geographic, morbidity and social determinants of health characteristics can reduce health system dependence on traditional hospital settings. By prioritising community-based preventative, maintenance and therapeutic services, we outline a blueprint for future health systems that optimise population wellness and cost-effectiveness.
Health planning and investment
The case study illustrates how population health data can drive the transition from hospital-centric care towards integrated, community-based systems. Through partnerships among hospitals, community organisations, policymakers and allied health providers, we propose a model that strengthens equity, improves access and lowers costs by focusing on prevention and wellness ecosystems.
Climate-smart healthcare
Recognising the environmental impact of traditional hospital construction, we explore opportunities to minimise carbon-intensive development. Using the greenfield site, we discuss applying a community wellbeing framework to integrate healthcare with housing, recreation, climate adaptation measures and opportunities for district energy solutions. This approach not only reduces the carbon footprint but also demonstrates how a hospital can be more than a well-designed, technical, high-performing building and become a hub to lead community wellbeing.
This case study will demonstrate how forward-thinking, integrated approaches can achieve improved access to equitable healthcare while promoting environmental stewardship and community wellbeing.Learning Objectives
- Integration
- Wellbeing
- Resilience
14.20Pioneering care beyond Queensland: A new wave of decentralised, rapid and resilient health infrastructure
Rebecca Moore
Principal, sector leader health and science, Architectus Conrad Gargett, AustraliaRebecca Moore is an award-winning architect with over 25 years of industry experience, renowned for her innovative approach to design and expertise in delivering complex projects across diverse sectors. Rebecca graduated from Architecture in 1998, and is a registered architect in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, and New Zealand. She also serves as a Referee for the Queensland State Development Tribunal and is a member of Urban Development and Places Panel for the State of Queensland. As Principal and Sector Leader of Health + Science at Architectus Conrad Gargett, Rebecca leads transformative projects with a strong focus on health and research facilities. Her work is defined by a deep understanding of client and community needs, blending innovation, research, and inspiration to create purposeful architecture. With a strategic mindset and organic approach to problem-solving, she delivers creative and holistic solutions tailored to each project brief. Rebecca values flexibility in design and stays attuned to emerging trends, ensuring her projects are not only functional and beautiful but also sustainable and forward-thinking. Her design philosophy emphasises creating meaningful places that resonate culturally, evoke emotions, and adapt to evolving needs. She prioritises sustainability through principles such as designing for disassembly and adaptability, ensuring her buildings grow with their communities while minimising environmental impact. Her commitment to creating spaces that enhance well-being is particularly evident in her healthcare projects, which are designed to inspire, comfort, and foster human connection. Rebecca is an active member of the architectural community, serving as a member of the Health Design Council of Australia. Her previous roles include Councillor for the Australian Institute of Architects (QLD) and Retirement Living Member with the Property Council of Australia (QLD). A seasoned juror, she has evaluated awards for the Australian Institute of Architects, the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), and the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE), including prestigious international accolades such as the MacConnell Award. Her ultimate goal is to design spaces that not only serve but inspire—places that enhance the human experience while harmonising with their cultural and environmental contexts.
Alyssa Muche
Principal, TSA Riley, AustraliaAlyssa started her career as a structural engineer in Australia and the UK before moving into client-side project management. She has led the business case, procurement and delivery of public hospital projects and programs across Australia. Since 2021, Alyssa has been at the forefront of the planning and delivery of accelerated infrastructure responses to meet Queensland’s urgent health needs. Alyssa is passionate about setting up projects for success and has a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology with a focus on developing high performing multidisciplinary project teams.Pioneering care beyond Queensland: A new wave of decentralised, rapid and resilient health infrastructure
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Evolving healthcare demands have driven a transformative shift from traditional, hospital-centric models to innovative infrastructure solutions. This session will examine three phased, strategic response case studies in Queensland: the Satellite Hospital Program, the Accelerated Infrastructure Delivery Program, and the Capital Expansion Program.
Decentralising healthcare: Satellite Hospital Program (SHP)
This is an ambitious initiative designed to alleviate pressure on acute hospitals by decentralising care to community-based health hubs. Increasing the level of standardisation in Australian healthcare design ensures hospital affordability and offers the same quality of care. The challenge is striking a balance between standardisation and contextual overlays. These satellite facilities, strategically positioned in suburban and regional areas, deliver outpatient and preventive services that previously required hospital visits. The SHP enhances accessibility, reduces emergency room congestion, and allows major hospitals to focus on complex, acute cases.
Rapid expansion: Accelerated Infrastructure Delivery Programme (AIDP)
Increasing population demands and the need to shorten wait times, Queensland Health launched AIDP as an urgent response to escalating capacity pressures. Focused on the rapid roll-out of additional beds and expanded facilities in acute demand, the programme emphasised agility and speed, harnessing modular construction techniques and streamlined project management practices, including accelerated governance approvals, tailored procurement strategies and streamlined project management practices, to deliver assets quickly and effectively. Rapidly increasing bed capacity in an accelerated timeline provided essential infrastructure to manage patient loads and reduce wait times. The programme set new benchmarks for rapid infrastructure deployment, balancing quality and resilience with an unprecedented speed to market.
Standardising excellence: Capital Expansion Program (CEP)
Following the success of decentralised and rapidly deployed facilities, the CEP introduced a standardised approach to healthcare that optimised design and operational efficiency across projects. Collaborating with the Hospital and Health Services (HHSs), the CEP focused on developing pre-approved templates for critical room types. The standardised designs were pre-endorsed, ensuring that new facilities could launch with minimal redesign or reconfiguration. Standardised models fostered consistency in quality and functionality across the network, while reducing costs and streamlining the approval process for future projects. Standardisation will allow Queensland Health to adopt a scalable approach to new-builds, ensuring that all facilities adhere to best practices and the latest clinical requirements.
By integrating decentralisation, rapid deployment and standardisation, Queensland’s health department has crafted a resilient model for addressing immediate and long-term healthcare needs. This phased approach not only relieves current system pressures but also provides a sustainable, patient-centred framework for future growth. Queensland’s experience serves as a blueprint for rethinking healthcare infrastructure in regions facing similar challenges.
14.40The healthy neighbourhood at North Manchester General Hospital: An innovative approach to improve health outcomes
Emma Tanti
Senior associate, Pozzoni Architecture, United KingdomA senior associate at Pozzoni Architecture, Emma specialises in the later living sector. Responsible for delivering care sector projects she has a holistic understanding of all the key design ingredients for a fulfilling experience in later life. A specialist in her field, Emma has undertaken research into care hotels, dementia-friendly design and intergenerational housing and is currently leading the design stages for the health innovation neighbourhood at North Manchester General Hospital. Emma also co-ordinates the Pozzoni Academy, mentoring the next generation of architects.The healthy neighbourhood at North Manchester General Hospital: An innovative approach to improve health outcomes
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Born from an intergenerational living concept led by Pozzoni Architecture, a new mixed-use, vibrant and diverse neighbourhood with a strong sense of place and community is being realised in north Manchester. This presentation will focus on the transformation of North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH), which is one of the hospitals being built through the New Hospital Programme and is being led by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust with Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership.
Currently home to a district general hospital, an intermediate care facility and a mental health hospital, the 27-hectare NMGH site presents an enormous opportunity to enable generational change in the local community by creating a modern and integrated health and social care environment, a new residential neighbourhood that encourages social inclusion and healthy ageing, alongside green space and science innovation.
Residents of north Manchester experience some of the highest rates of deprivation and the poorest health outcomes in England. Many have significant ill health, which is a major factor in reducing economic activity and suppressing household incomes. A radical new approach is proposed which will provide a focal point for the community, with integrated health and social care facilities, high-quality new homes, access to better education and training for local people alongside more inviting public open spaces. The strategic aims of the project will be detailed in the presentation, from transforming health outcomes and investing in skills and employment, to local economic factors and contributing to a new zero-carbon city.
The five-hectare parcel of land to the south-west of the site has been allocated primarily for residential use for a wide range of ages and needs, celebrating all the benefits of an intergenerational, age-friendly community. The integrated approach includes family housing, later living, extra care, step-down/intermediate care/respite, dementia care, key worker and supported housing.
This approach has been based on Pozzoni’s concept for intergenerational living, plus the research and development of healthy ageing initiatives, working in collaboration with the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub, part of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which resulted in co-authoring two key publications: ‘A Design for Life’ and ‘Creating Age-Friendly Developments’. The research findings and application of the intergenerational living concept underpins the very essence of the integrated healthy neighbourhood for NMGH.
The presentation will conclude with an update on current progress on this ‘once in a generation’ transformational project.
Learning Objectives
- Integration of healthcare, social care and housing
- Innovative housing typologies to improve health outcomes
- Regeneration of brownfield land and placemaking
15.00Panel discussion15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 4- Integrating the city health campus
Chris Liddle
Director, HLM Group, UKChris is lead of HLM's Custodial, Justice and Defence sector. He is hands-on in many of HLM's flagship projects and a champion of social architecture.16.00Developing an integrated, vibrant and SMART health campus – a Singapore case study
Yan Yan
Director, Woodlands Health , SingaporeMs Yan Yan currently heads Campus Planning and Development, Sustainability Office, and AI Office at Woodlands Health (Singapore). As one of the pioneering members of the organization, she saw through the planning, design, and development of the health campus, with key focus to enable care integration, placemaking, innovation, and improved resiliency. She has gained diverse experience in healthcare system, including population health and regional health system development, sector development, policy implementation, health IT and informatics, and operations planning. She holds double MBA from Nanyang Business School (Singapore) and Waseda University (Japan) and attended the General Management Program in Cambridge Judge Business School (UK). Her interest in research includes health facility design and its impact on health and social outcome, technology innovation in healthcare, adoption of artificial intelligence to improve health outcome.
Kirk Chuan Wong
Chief operating officer, Woodlands Health, SingaporeDr Wong Kirk Chuan received his medical education at the University of Sydney; and his Masters of Public Health at Harvard University. His interests are in health services development, and the improvement of health systems integration. He was formerly the Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), and the Chief Operating Officer (Population Health) at National Healthcare Group (NHG); and is presently the Campus Chief Operating Officer, Woodlands Health (WH). In this role, he drives the building and development of an acute general and rehabilitation hospital campus, which integrates care delivery for patients requiring acute hospital, primary and long term care; as well as the community care re-design for health and social care to be closer to the patients’ homes.
Jason Cheah
Deputy group chief executive officer (strategy, planning and resourcing), National Healthcare Group; CEO, Woodlands Health, SingaporeDr Jason Cheah is the Deputy Group CEO (Strategy, Planning and Resourcing) of National Healthcare Group (NHG) and the CEO of Woodlands Health (WH). Dr Cheah is actively involved in NHG’s efforts to provide a comprehensive range of public health services for a population of about 2.2 million people. Since 2019, he has held positions that oversee comprehensive group-wide initiatives focused on organizational and system transformation. This includes driving financial and systemic changes within the Group towards accountable care, implementing capitation design, and developing the NHG Health Plan. In his current position as Deputy Group CEO (Strategy, Planning and Resourcing) at NHG, he oversees and drives the transformation roadmap and implementation plans for NHG, while also working to strengthen the organization's culture and identity. Dr Cheah has also led in the development, commissioning and operations of the new Woodlands Health Campus since it’s inception in 2014. WH, a member of NHG, is Singapore’s newest Public Healthcare Institution serving the needs of the North-Western population in Singapore. It includes a fully integrated acute and community hospital, specialist outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities and green healing spaces, and comprises 1400 beds when fully opened.Developing an integrated, vibrant and SMART health campus – a Singapore case study
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Singapore has one of the best-performing healthcare systems in the world and has achieved higher health-adjusted life expectancy with lower healthcare expenditure as a percentage of GDP, compared to many other developed countries. To meet health service demand with a rapidly ageing population and rising impact from chronic diseases, public hospital capacity is expected to increase by 30 per cent by 2030. In addition, there is an increasing in emphasis on integration effort across acute, rehabilitation, intermediate and long-term care, as well as enabling primary care for preventative and continuing care.
Woodlands Health Campus is the newest healthcare development in Singapore, contributing to overall healthcare capacity growth. Officially opened in July 2024, it is also the very first to integrate acute, ambulatory, intermediate and long-term care facilities, embracing the challenge to develop new models of care.
This presentation outlines the journey in creating a new paradigm of hospital planning, including redefining the role of the hospital, innovating new models of care, transforming care delivery, enabling process improvement and catalysing technology adoption. As one the rare large-scale healthcare developments designed and built in the worldwide pandemic, the experience in design for resilience and future-proofing will also offer great learning.
The Woodlands Health Campus development embodied the principles of person-centricity, integration, placemaking and future-proofing. Community surveys were conducted to unearth the needs and aspirations of the population and anchor the planning vision. A systematic participatory design approach was in place to engage the clinicians and users collectively in service planning, process mapping, space planning, design, mock-up and prototyping, technology adoption and operational commissioning. The same approach carried through in applying lessons learnt from Covid-19, transforming care delivery, protection and surveillance, and professional and patient collaboration. The participatory approach was instrumental in creating a coherent composition of the integrated, vibrant and SMART health campus.
The decade-long planning and development journey has generated valuable insights into important aspects of hospital planning. Inspired by person-centric planning and community placemaking, programmes were developed to build a sense of belonging and shared identities among staff, partners, volunteers and residents in the community. Today, the health campus is welcomed as a destination for health services, arts and leisure, community programmes. It is a place to meet and learn together. It is expected the 'anchoring' of Woodlands Health Campus will continue evolving in the years to come.
Learning Objectives
- Discuss the anchoring role of a hospital to create a paradigm shift in healthcare facility planning and development
- Share insights and considerations amid challenges, and the lessons learnt that will help push the envelope for thought leadership
- Build healthcare design 'common'
16.20Creating a sticky campus within a health precinct: Non-clinical partner strategies for better health outcomes
Tara Veldman
Managing director and health lead, BLP, AustraliaTara is the Managing Director, Principal and Health Lead instrumental in the expansion of BLP. She brings 25 years of experience and a dedication to designing a healthy world in a cross-section of spaces, including hospitals, health hubs, education precincts, high-tech research labs, and residential communities. Combining her interests in psychology, art, and architecture, Tara is fascinated by how buildings and spaces make people feel. Her passion for sustainable architecture is inspired by her time living in Australia, the Netherlands, Frankfurt, and the Middle East. These life experiences have driven her to create designed environments and places that work and complement their urban setting while using and integrating nature and the natural landscape where possible. Underpinning projects with evidence-based design, Tara's work exemplifies innovation, strategic thinking, and best practice. She is a regular contributor to health design conferences and seminars, presenting alongside some of the world's most respected thought leaders in the sector both at home and abroad. Grounded in research and insight, Tara's human-centred design approach and active stakeholder engagement allow the voices of those who will occupy the spaces to be heard. Design outcomes are considered and impactful and exceed both her clients' and the end 'users' expectations.
Sam Shepherd
Founder and director, Bellringer, AustraliaFounder & Managing Director BellRinger Property Group Sam’s passion in precinct advisory combines extensive experience in property development with a commitment to creating places that resonate with communities. Sam’s background in diverse property projects, from retail, health, residential and beyond, informs a holistic and forward-thinking approach. Dedicated to redefining property development by integrating non-core assets that transform spaces into vibrant, people-centric places, Sam’s has contributed to the success of a significant number of precincts across Australia, enhancing the quality and prosperity of life for all. Sam excels in thinking about vibrant, community-centric environments. Sam’s dedication to fostering deeper connections within communities create spaces that promote health, wellbeing, and sustainability, both social and economic.Creating a sticky campus within a health precinct: Non-clinical partner strategies for better health outcomes
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The concept of a 'sticky campus' approach – spaces designed to attract, engage and retain individuals – has significant impact when developing health precincts. The integration of local economies and community strategies into such precincts delivers improved outcomes in health, education, research and wellbeing.
This session explores how the core principles used in sticky campus drivers – community-centric planning, retail drivers and mixed-use property development – can be leveraged to benefit the development of health precincts, creating dynamic, inclusive environments that meet the diverse needs of patients, clinicians, researchers, students and the broader community.
Community-centric planning prioritises the needs and wellbeing of users of a precinct, emphasising active, genuine and meaningful engagement with local residents, stakeholders and organisations, creating environments that are accessible, inclusive and reflective of community values. The integration of essential community services, transit-friendly environments, walkability and the incorporation of urban and green spaces and recreational facilities foster connection, enhance quality of life and are vibrant, functional and resilient over time, promoting economic and social sustainability.
Examples include the Campbelltown Hospital's central street (western Sydney), where 26 nationalities were engaged in its development, the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, where Royal Park amenities are integrated with the service offerings in the hospital hub, and Guy's Hospital in London, which integrates seamlessly with its urban surroundings.
Retail integration facilitates elements that deliver daily amenities into health precincts: convenience stores, food and beverage, service offerings like dry cleaning parcel deliveries, and pharmacies – helping to normalise health environments. Aligning retail offerings with the demographic and behavioural profiles of the precinct’s users ensures relevance and maximises social engagement. The supermarket at Westmead Children’s Hospital in western Sydney, for example, is located to attract the community in, while Groningen University Medical Center creates an internal street with its integrated retail boulevard.
Mixed-use development principles, such as place-making, cross-utilisation of spaces, co-location of different uses and diversity of building typologies, create ecosystems that encourage engagement from users. Hospital development capital expenditure can anchor a mixed-use precinct and drive improved economic and social outcomes that are more than the sum of the parts. For example, the new Footscray Hospital in Melbourne boasts a village green with various uses surrounding it, and Zaans Medical Centre in the Netherlands includes a hospital, aged care, housing, offices and retail.
A sticky campus requires the integration of health-driven development with community, retail and mixed-use development so that precincts can serve as vibrant hubs that improve health, research and education outcomes, and enhance quality of life for all.
Learning Objectives
- Ecosystem thinking – combing clinical and non-clinical precinct planning
- Using health precinct development as a catalyst for economic and social gain
- Thinking about health precincts as public and community assets
16.40A case study for a new collaborative approach to the design and procurement of major healthcare projects
Jason-Emery Groen
Senior vice-president, HDR Architecture Associates, CanadaJason-Emery is an award-winning and versatile architect with over 27 years experience. He leads a team of talented colleagues throughout HDR to enhance the design excellence of a variety of project types, ranging from the first non encapsulated all mass timber acute care hospital in Canada to the design of complex multi-billion dollar healthcare facilities and campuses. Jason-Emery is a senior member of HDR’s global Design Directorate and balances his project driven efforts with leading global design initiatives within the corporation. Jason’s enthusiastic style and creative manner has made him a strong team leader and advocate for design integrity within each commission. His approach is to fully understand and engage each architectural challenge and to help clients, communities and all those associated with a project see the full potential of inherent opportunities. Jason-Emery's leadership ensures effective and interactive user engagement and experience. His integrated approach develops a strong sense of ownership with all stakeholders to ensure an enduring commitment to design excellence, sustainability, and innovation.
Karen Stockton
Executive director, planning and development, The Ottawa Hospital, CanadaKaren Stockton is the Executive Director of Planning and Development at The Ottawa Hospital, where she has held various leadership roles since 2010. With over 20 years of healthcare leadership experience, Karen is responsible for overseeing the planning and redevelopment of the hospital’s three major quaternary care, academic, and research campuses, along with more than 20 additional sites across the Ottawa region. In addition to her role at The Ottawa Hospital, Karen actively contributes to national committees focused on infection control, healthcare design, and construction. Karen holds a Master of Health Science degree from the University of Toronto and is a Certified Infection Control (CIC) professional.
Robin Snell
Director, Parkin Architects, CanadaAs a Director with Parkin, Robin is an experienced health care architect who has worked on a wide range of projects across Canada for more than 30 years. He is passionate about healthcare and uses his leadership skills to guide complex projects to successful outcomes. Robin is an enthusiastic advocate for evidence-based design and is an EDAC and LEED accredited professional, leading recent healthcare projects in Ontario, Atlantic Canada, and British Columbia. Recently nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Robin’s expertise is recognized on a national level where he serves as the vice-chair of the Canadian Standards Association Technical Committee for Health Care Facilities. He’s also an active member of several CSA healthcare design subcommittees, including Z-8000 for Canadian healthcare facility design and other standards including wayfinding, area measurement, and design studies and post-occupancy evaluation.A case study for a new collaborative approach to the design and procurement of major healthcare projects
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This presentation on a practice-based case study is based on combined perspectives of the owner, the owner’s lead architect and the proponent’s design team lead. It aims to exemplify one of the first major projects under the new progressive procurement model for major healthcare infrastructure that support highly collaborative and co-operative team building as a key to success in public-private partnerships.
The framework includes key relationships between the owner, the owner’s consultants, the proponent and governmental agencies in working through complex value-for-money decisions while innovating in the capital healthcare arena and moving the design development forward on over 2,400,000 square feet of state-of-the-art healthcare space in Canada’s national capital.
The practical application described will include a focus on how each of the owner's, the owner's consultants' and the proponents' teams learned through this new procurement process, and what has lead to the success of one of Canada’s largest ever healthcare developments built on National Capital Commission land, including the direct scrutiny of one of the most rigorous design excellence review panels in Canada.
The outcomes that will be identified include new and innovative processes for data tabulation for reporting to governmental agencies, streamlined compliance processes and the demonstration of continuity throughout the development phase of the key principals for the project. They will also include how health planning investment and the Ottawa Hospital new campus development will promote quality improvement and strengthen resiliency in healthcare capital planning and construction.
As part of the design process, the planning, design and compliance team worked through a new Progressive P3 Model to help impart their years of design development experience to the proponent team. This ensured that as the health planning capital investment value was refined, so that key elements of the design and function were not only maintained, but also enhanced by the proponent team. Tertiary care, for example, as part of the overall quaternary care campus, incorporated the approach taken for designing a facility during and post-pandemic to ensure long-term resilience, optimised cost efficiency, and the significance of regional distribution of critical care services for a multi-site facility offering academic, research and trauma care.
Art and architecture is at the core of the project through continuous engagement by both the owner’s consultants and the proponent with the local community, including multiple Indigenous communities, to create a common sense of belonging for all while promoting wellbeing, identity and dignity – a rare achievement at this scale of healthcare architecture.
Learning Objectives
- Learners will understand how a healthcare provider can promote quality improvement and strengthen resiliency in post-pandemic healthcare capital planning and construction across multiple sites
- Explore opportunities and tools for highly effective collaboration and coordination with multi-stakeholder teams in a Progressive procurement model to drive best practice for project facility planning and design decisions
- Learners will analyse tangible examples of a holistic approach to art and architecture developed in a highly collaborative process that contributes to emotional healing, patient dignity and staff empowerment
17.00Panel discussionEnd of Population health stream -
System and infrastructure transformation
Seligman Theatre
10.45 - 12.30Session 6- Remodelling and unblocking health systems
Matthew Tulley
Redevelopment director, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, UK10.45The ‘vital few’: Understanding and improving the healthcare ecosystem – the case of intermediate care
Hamish Dibley
Consulting director, Dibley Consulting, United KingdomHamish is an independent management consultant and improvement coach. He possesses expertise in change management and organisational transformation, specialising in systems thinking, service design and customer service in the public services. Having started his career in academia, he has held leadership roles in local government and the NHS and has worked as a senior management consultant in both private and public sectors. Hamish has a record of business development and leading change programmes with authenticity, integrity and professionalism to achieve better service at less cost. He has evolved a proven approach to better understand and improve service systems, from the customer perspective. His passion and purpose are to achieve transformation by leading cross-functional teams to align data; estates; finances; measures; operations; procurement; strategy; technology and workforce.The ‘vital few’: Understanding and improving the healthcare ecosystem – the case of intermediate care
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The West Essex Health and Care Partnership worked with Hamish Dibley, an independent management consultant and improvement coach, to undertake work to consider innovative options for the future commissioning and delivery of intermediate care. Working with the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) and local authority commissioning bodies, and an array of acute, community, mental health, primary and secondary care provider organisations, we developed an understanding of the current and future levels of demand to support the appraisal of various ways forward.
Historically services have been understood, commissioned, managed and measured through a lens of activity (for example, referrals rather than the person in receipt of the activity, the value it provided to them and how it contributed to their being able to reach their desired outcome).
As part of the work to inform the options for the recommissioning of services, Hamish’s 'humanising healthcare' approach was deployed to obtain a thorough understanding of person level demand and capacity was required to support the West Essex population. Through the lens of activity, patient demand for services was predictable. Some services were experiencing relatively stable demand, whereas other services were seeing gradual increases.
Deploying a unique set of quantitative and qualitative techniques to gain insight into the current intermediate care provision unearthed previously unknown insights. The work revealed counter-intuitive truths, including the stability of service users (6,500 people or 1.4 per cent of the population use intermediate care) – 556 of these people (the ‘vital few’) being responsible for 20 per cent of all work activity and non-value interactions, principally spread over two geographical localities (North Epping and Harlow). Such people are behind a disproportionate amount (30 per cent) of the £25 million annual budget for no good reason. This ‘wasteful work’ phenomenon is common across all services.
The emerging picture is not one of ‘complex patients’, but an overly and artificially complicated intermediate care system that doesn’t serve people's real needs. This is the reason why small numbers of people consume a disproportionate amount of non-value activity and costs. Services are not designed to respond to people's needs.
Working collaboratively with the clients, the work robustly identifies real patient needs, the current causes of system waste and how to build future improvement capability to be achieved through alternative holistic commissioning arrangements and patient-centred ‘proof of concept’ operating models, focusing initially on the needs of the ‘vital few’ to improve services, release capacity and reduce costs.
Learning Objectives
- A new theory of change for healthcare systems
- How to effectively research healthcare performance challenges
- How to practically improve healthcare systems and impact on estates
11.05Bed-blocking and flow: Navigating the hospital traffic jam
Pollie Boyle
Principal consultant, healthcare planning, Mott MacDonald, United KingdomPollie is a qualified doctor and a Principal Consultant in the Healthcare Planning Team at Mott MacDonald. With more than 20 years of healthcare consultancy experience, Pollie fuses this knowledge and her clinical background to deliver solutions and improve pathways for both patients and staff. Areas of expertise include decant planning, stakeholder engagement, evidence based clinical pathway redesign, demand and capacity modelling, clinical briefing, estates strategies, masterplanning and the development of schedules of accommodation. She enjoys data analysis and will use her clinical expertise to interpret healthcare data intelligently.
Kirstie Edwards
Senior consultant, Mott MacDonald, United KingdomKirstie is a senior consultant who, after completing her PHD in computational bio-mechanics, specialises in healthcare modelling. She has been involved in numerous projects, both nationally and internationally, looking at population demand across the healthcare sector forecasting the core size requirements for infrastructure projects. She has a particular interest in how health data can be better utilised to inform strategic decision making, helping to improve outcomes.
Krysta George
Consultant, Mott MacDonald, United KingdomKrysta is a consultant who has recently moved to the United Kingdom following her career in healthcare in New Zealand. Krysta has held many senior operational and project-based roles in the New Zealand healthcare system, including primary care, community services, central government, and tertiary and quaternary services. With a particular interest in systems and healthcare planning, she is looking forward to developing a stronger understanding of the complex interdependencies of health and how this will inform a more sustainable future model of healthcare.Bed-blocking and flow: Navigating the hospital traffic jam
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It is well understood that many patients stay in acute hospitals longer than medically necessary; bed-blocking is expensive and may be linked to poorer health outcomes. Patient flows mean several services are dependent on bed availability with bed-blocking potentially resulting in emergency department delays and cancelled operations. Current methodologies used to plan future hospitals often focus on the acute site itself and rarely forecast demand for the wider healthcare system, let alone social care. As a result, we often size hospitals to meet current working practices, replicating services that are under immense strain rather than addressing the wider issues.
This presentation looks at the impact of bed-blocking to demonstrate the importance of understanding demand and capacity across the wider health and social care system before planning future services and their supporting infrastructure. Publicly available bed-blocking data was analysed to understand the correlation between delayed discharge, bed availability within the acute sector, delays and cancellations in other hospital services, and bed availability outside the acute sector.
At any one time, around 10 per cent of acute beds are occupied by a patient fit to discharge, with an estimated 10,000 beds possible for release. Approximately 60 per cent of long-stay, delayed discharges are due to lack of access to social and community care. The impact of bed blockages is more far-reaching because of the possible knock-on impact on emergency department waiting times and cancellations of elective procedures.
This highlights the need to look at models of care for the whole health and social care system when planning acute services, and the importance of modelling at whole-system level. If fewer people are ‘blocking’ a hospital bed, the demand on our acute setting will begin to look very different. We should no longer design more of the same and expect our outcomes to improve; we need to use what we know about the whole system and incorporate this into our planning and design.
We can learn lessons from other countries who experience similar challenges, to improve patient flows out of the acute setting. Right now, we are planning larger emergency departments to meet our occupancy issues when we could reduce the pressure from the other end of the admission. Considerations need to include visibility of available beds, staffing and workforce challenges, and having access to shared patient records with social and community care: a local cross-sector command centre.Learning Objectives
- Identifying the knock-on impact of bed-blocking on flows and capacity within the acute setting
- The importance of cross-sector care to optimise hospital flow and reduce demand on the acute sector
- The need to model demand and capacity at a system level
11.25Beyond bed counts: Examining Ninewells Hospital’s approach to flow managementMuhammad Ahmed Saeed
Research assistant in applied game design for healthcare systems, Abertay University, United KingdomDesign HOPES (Healthy Organisations in a Place-based Ecosystem, Scotland) is a two-year transdisciplinary research project that exploits the potential of design-led thinking and making to innovate and tackle multifaceted health delivery challenges to meet urgent Net Zero goals for a sustainable health and social care system. The vision of Design HOPES aligns with the NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy and aims to generate tangible outcomes in products, services, and policies that promote sustainability relevant to buildings and land, travel, care, communities, and digital design. Taking an urban living laboratory approach, the project seeks to emphasise prevention, patient empowerment and self-care, eliminate waste, drive lean clinical pathways, and develop low-carbon alternatives across Scotland’s health and social care provision highlighting that “good health and social care is environmentally sustainable care”. AHRC Reference Number: AH/Y00373X/1 Particularly, theme 6: Sustainable digital design led by Abertay University aims to create a serious game labelled "Flow" that visualises how patients move through a hospital. It uses game features to enable better decisions to be made for urgent or semi-urgent healthcare in NHS Tayside. This dynamic platform will contribute to healthcare training, optimised healthcare processes, and support resilience through scenario planning while promoting environmental sustainability.Beyond bed counts: Examining Ninewells Hospital’s approach to flow management
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Hospitals have traditionally measured their efficiency and productivity by the number of available and utilised beds, using this as a key indicator of their capacity. However, as the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted, this approach can create bottlenecks in the system where the requirement of beds often exceeds the availability, disrupting patient flow and impacting care quality. When bed space is limited, especially during busy periods, a new approach is needed to better utilise the resources available. To address this, Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, along with other hospitals in Scotland, has implemented a flow management system, which focuses on improving efficiency through time management rather than just bed numbers.
By using data to understand peak and quiet times, determine staffing needs, and figure out which patients can be redirected to other services, this system aims to streamline patient flow, cut down on waiting times and improve outcomes. Ninewells, for example, has surpassed national targets for four-hour accident and emergency waiting times by improving processes through these flow management strategies.
Building on these techniques and processes, Flow, a serious game currently under development, aims to help explore sustainable healthcare practices by using real-world data, including historical information from Ninewells Hospital, to simulate the complexities of healthcare systems. Utilising game technology and thoughtful design, Flow will present Ninewells’ operational data in a way that offers a deeper understanding of how healthcare systems function, moving beyond traditional spreadsheets and graphs. The game acts as a new tool for training, collaboration and policy making, allowing users to experience the decision-making process and understand how those decisions impact patient care, resource use and overall hospital performance.
To better understand how Ninewells Hospital works, the Flow research and development team ran a workshop with NHS Tayside professionals, including GPs, hospital consultants, administrative staff, ambulance services and a group of researchers, game designers and visual artists. The workshop included a data journey exercise, where participants worked together to map out patient pathways within Ninewells Hospital’s system. This exercise helped identify key decision makers, important touchpoints and the data collected at different stages of a patient’s journey.
The workshop also included a brief development session, where participants imagined game prototypes that could address these real-world healthcare challenges. This presentation outlines the insights gathered from the workshop, that were used to shape the development of the game and provide a foundation to develop the game development brief.Learning Objectives
- Insights into collaborative design methods for healthcare innovation
- The potential of games as tools for training, collaboration and policymaking
- Lessons from Ninewells Hospital’s flow management success
11.45Clustering building zones to maximise efficiency in primary, acute and tertiary settings: A study of different geographies and typologies
Conor Ellis
Director, Health Planning & Delivery, IrelandHis global experience brings transferable best practice from many years of consultancy in 32 countries including many of the largest and most complex projects with a value of some €30+billion. Conor worked for several years in operational and strategic management healthcare roles and that reinforces his knowledge of improving healthcare efficiency, design and strategy through to operational commissioning He has contributed to national toolkits, including detailed design reviews on major projects. He has advised the UAE Ministry of Health, Qatar Ministry of Health, UK DH, UK Treasury and Government Property Unit on improving health efficiency, particularly the use of assets, and has delivered lectures and articles on the subject worldwide. He is the lead author of several reports on improving healthcare outcomes with significant international media coverage. He has led the work on several award-winning hospital projects, with his team twice winning technical advisor of the year and best designed healthcare facility. His projects have included many of Europe’s largest and complex including Karolinska Sweden, UCLH, St James Dublin, UHB, Manchester Hospitals, Newcastle Hospitals and projects in Canada, HMC Qatar Medical City Australia, Germany and the Middle East. Additionally he has worked on more than 50 major community hubs and several Elective care centres involving multiple stakeholders and geographies. His interests are in future flexibility, innovation in care pathways, asset utilisation and technological change driving change to health building design and spaces.Clustering building zones to maximise efficiency in primary, acute and tertiary settings: A study of different geographies and typologies
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For many years, many stakeholders have increasingly looked at maximising the use of space. Traditionally, this is focused on some element of demand modelling moving forward into building layout and the design of the building to facilitate efficient delivery. One of the difficulties has been in arranging departments that not only link services to maximise the care pathway output, but also avoid replicating unnecessary support.
While there have been some great exemplar projects that have moved these parameters forward, too often we find, in both primary and acute care, the space is misused as we fall back on accepting the clinical assertion for 'unique' situations, or trying to achieve a deal, meaning concessions to departments or individuals which lead to inflexibility and oversized floor plates. Further, the debates about privacy and the separation of facilities management (FM)/logistics away from clinical space has lead to solutions that add corridors/circulation areas to improve observation or separation while leading to increased costs and decreased networking areas. Even bedroom design has at least three workable solutions with very different outcomes. In primary care, the separation of GP zones from group/treatment and secondary care again constitutes a fundamental approach to outputs of area and cost that affect noise, daylight impact and clinical performance flows.
in the UK and Ireland there are still new buildings with underutilisation in the under-30s of 45 per cent in primary care and often less than 75 per cent in some elements of the acute. On the other hand, there are areas where demand is more than 100 per cent and space needs relocating, isn’t fit for purpose or needs facility safety or quality enhancement.
This session will look at what effective clusters really will mean, not only the standardisation of the common top 50-type rooms, but also how the organisation can maximise the integration of services, facilitating efficient patient, staff and logistic service delivery. Health Planning & Delivery (HPD) will look at how one can plan a building template, so that is not only digitally enabled as an integral part of the solution from the healthy economy that supports better use of clinical delivery and minimises staff movement but also maximises FM revenue support, with an 'every metre counts' mentality.
Three examples will be given from primary care, acute and tertiary projects, covering most areas of healthcare service orientation. This will include an ongoing primary care facility in London, a university hospital centre in Dublin and several exemplar planned facilities within the UK and Ireland.
Learning Objectives
- Clustering for functional type and evidence-based design
- Changing behaviours to improve use, efficiency and value for money
- Layout repeatability and 'understanding' local constraints to ensure good daylight and high-quality patient and staff environments
12.05Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networking14.00 - 15.30Session 7- Transformative infrastructure programmes
Peter Ward
Director of Real Estate Development, King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, UKPeter is the Director of Real Estate Development for King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. He is leading a programme for the redevelopment of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ campuses and community facilities in Lambeth and Southwark, with a combined capital value of more than £2bn over the next decade. Until November 2017 he was the Director of Healthcare Projects for John Laing, a leading international investor in economic and social infrastructure which delivered more than 20 major healthcare Public-Private Partnership projects and over 40 clinics and primary care facilities during his time there. He has worked on the development of public infrastructure since 1989 and has substantial experience in the successful structuring and delivery of a diverse range of project financing, PPP and development projects in the healthcare, water and transportation sectors in the UK and overseas. Since 2001 he has managed the development of healthcare projects with a capital value exceeding £2bn. Peter is a Chartered Civil Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and has served two full terms as a Non-Executive Director of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He also led the development of a UN standard for the use of PPP in the healthcare sector for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and remains a member of the United Nations PPP Business Advisory Board.14.00Leading transformative capital programmes: Primary research exploring approaches taken to embed clinical and digital transformation in programmes
Samuel Rose
Director, IMPOWER, United KingdomSamuel has a strong belief in improving public services and an ability to build strong, Trusted Advisor partnerships with leaders to help them improve services for citizens and taxpayers. Samuel’s consulting expertise is in health and care system and provider strategy; capital programme design and mobilisation, financial strategy, clinical reconfiguration; digital strategy and service transformation. Key successes include: > Supporting NHS organisations in attracting over £1bn capital investment over the past 3 years. > Transformation of 4-hour performance through improvements in ED process, patient flow and integrated discharge between NHS providers and local authority.
Nicole Samuel
Delivery director, IMPOWER, UKNicole is a healthcare strategist with clinical background and track record of delivering complex strategic transformation within the NHS. Proven ability to develop high-performing teams (MCA Team Leader Finalist) and deliver innovative, lasting results with C-suite clients. Passionate about developing transformative solutions and a healthier future for all. She has designed and managed large-scale programmes (using agile and waterfall approach), delivering strategic transformation at organisational and regional levels, development of successful business cases, designing digitally-enabled clinical services and fostering frontline ownership.Leading transformative capital programmes: Primary research exploring approaches taken to embed clinical and digital transformation in programmes
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Healthcare systems worldwide are under increasing pressure to meet the demands of ageing populations with growing health needs, ageing estate and rising costs. Providing new bedded capacity and replacing inadequate estate is only part of the solution. Examples from new estates opening at the Royal Liverpool Hospital (UK) and the Royal Adelaide Hospital (Australia) highlight the significant operational and financial challenges faced by new developments where transformation assumptions in and out of hospital are not delivered.
Equally, the UK’s New Hospital Programme has needed to set ambitious transformation objectives to demonstrate a return on investment – expecting digital and clinical transformation to support a 12 per cent reduction in length of stay and a 1.8 per cent reduction in demand for acute care. This is in the face of annual increases in demand for non-elective services from an ageing population. Therefore, it is critical that healthcare transformation, in and out of acute facilities, occurs alongside building planning and design, as re-providing acute estate is no longer viable alone. Every new capital programme needs to plan and design for both transformation in design and clinical practice.
This presentation and research paper will explore approaches to embedding transformation within capital programmes. It will address how programme leaders approach clinical and digital transformation, collaborate with hospital and the wider health and care ecosystem, share best practice and knowledge, and manage risks associated with hospitals that are too small or not sufficiently ambitious. The paper will utilise primary research with programme directors for new hospital builds in the planning stage and recent openings. Methods will include interviews with, and surveys featuring, qualitative and quantitative questions. Data will be analysed using qualitative and quantitative techniques. Programme directors will be reached through our national network. The results of the primary research will be presented at the EHD2025. Key themes from the research will be summarised and presented, providing valuable insights into the approaches undertaken by various projects.
From initial conversations with our clients and network, we know that there are significant differences in how well prepared organisations are for change. The risk of wasting the investment opportunity or not planning for transformation early could have significant impacts on patient care for years to come. We expect our research to shed light on the approaches undertaken by projects, identifying best practice and steps to better embed transformation in building planning and design of healthcare capital programmes.Learning Objectives
- Share best practice in delivering transformative capital programmes that foster partnering to integrate care and build health communities
- Understand capital programme director confidence in leading capital programmes that delivery quality improvement and health system resilience
- Make recommendations that large capital programmes can adopt to maximise benefits through whole system-level adoption of digital health and transformation
14.20Advancing healthcare infrastructure through partnership working, relationship maturity, and capital prioritisation: Insights from Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB infrastructure s
Beverley Letherby
Partner, regional director, Archus, United KingdomBeverley is Associate Director, with specialism in Project and Programme Management and a background in Valuation and Estate Management and has a breadth of property development and project management experience gained from working within the NHS estates field since 1988. She has managed a number of projects of various sizes ranging from business case development and construction projects to estate rationalisation, disposal and acquisition of NHS property. Organisations she has worked for include various NHS Trusts, Somerset Health Authority, NHS Executive South & West and NHS Estates / Inventures until November 2005. Bev worked as a freelance consultant focused on NHS build projects until 2014 before joining the health team of a large national consultancy and joining Archus on its inception in 2017.
Martin Rooney
Regional director, Archus, United KingdomA leader with a strong track record of delivery at all levels in health service transformation, estate planning, development and project delivery. Extensive experience with public and private partnerships, both locally and nationally. Martin has worked across several of the highest profile UK and Ireland national healthcare estate transformation initiatives in recent years. These include leading formation of the national NHS Strategic Estate Planning function after the Naylor Review in 2017, the introduction of the Health Infrastructure Plan and the New Hospital Programme (NHP). Previously national director roles at Community Health Partnerships and NHS England have given Martin rounded experience in forming leading teams in the infrastructure strategy arena. He has also supported a number of NHS bodies in all aspects of bringing clinical and estate transformation programmes to fruition.Advancing healthcare infrastructure through partnership working, relationship maturity, and capital prioritisation: Insights from Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB infrastructure s
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The Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Integrated Care Board (ICB) infrastructure strategy outlines a comprehensive road map to achieve a resilient and effective healthcare infrastructure. The strategy emphasises the significance of partnership working, relationship maturity and capital prioritisation processes in transforming healthcare services and delivering integrated care.
The purpose of this study is to explore how collaborative efforts, mature relationships among healthcare stakeholders and systematic capital prioritisation can enhance healthcare infrastructure. The aim is to provide insights into effective strategies that can be replicated in other regions to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
The BNSSG ICB infrastructure strategy, focuses on partnership working, relationship maturity and capital prioritisation. The analysis includes:
• examining the collaborative frameworks and governance models established within the BNSSG ICS partnership;
• working collaboratively since summer 2022 to develop a process for determining how capital funding is allocated, using the Estates Steering Group as the primary forum for discussion with ongoing oversight from the system directors of finance.
The analysis reveals several advantages of the strategic approaches adopted by the BNSSG ICB. The capital prioritisation process ensures that investments are directed towards critical risk schemes and strategic development, thereby optimising healthcare infrastructure and service delivery. The key advantages of the prioritisation approach include a set of agreed principles that determine the allocation of capital. For example, 'required' capital schemes, such as critical backlog maintenance and general equipment replacements, remain at the discretion of individual organisations. In contrast, larger schemes, like major redevelopments and new clinical/administrative spaces, are subject to system-level prioritisation and agreement.
Shifting capital spend to support the delivery of primary care projects has proven advantageous by directly addressing high-risk areas and ensuring that primary and community care sectors receive necessary funding in the absence of national allocations. This framework led to the agreement of a two-year capital plan for 2023/24 and 2024/25, with £8.68 million allocated to primary and community care schemes deemed to be of the highest risk, and £3 million ring-fenced for net zero schemes in 2024/25, prioritised by the Green Plan Steering Group.
Learning Objectives
- Systematic capital prioritisation
- Optimising healthcare infrastructure and service delivery
- Delivery of primary care
14.40“The hospital will only do what only the hospital can do”: Lessons on co-production from a New Hospital Programme site
Helena Jopling
Consultant in public health medicine, West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, United KingdomBetween 2020 and 2024, Helena held the role of Associate Medical Director for the Future System Programme at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust - the trust's project name for the rebuild of West Suffolk Hospital under the UK Government's New Hospital Programme. As the clinical lead for the project, Helena led the creation of a new clinical and care model for the future of healthcare services in west Suffolk, an archetypal small rural healthcare system serving 275,000 people. Helena is a public health doctor working in the NHS. She was uniquely placed to bring expertise in health needs assessment, health inequalities, and stakeholder engagement to her role.“The hospital will only do what only the hospital can do”: Lessons on co-production from a New Hospital Programme site
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West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT) is building a new district general hospital under the UK Government's New Hospital Programme (NHP). Inspired by a case study from Texas, and with the encouragement and tutelage of their local Healthwatch, the WSFT project team adopted co-production as the method through which they would develop their new clinical model and architectural designs. Co-production is a way of working which brings the people who use and work in healthcare services together with the people who make decisions. Its purpose is to create a better, shared understanding of both assets and constraints in order to design effective solutions for quality improvement and healthcare sustainability.
The author of the study recruited and developed a team of 21 clinicians and managers to act as co-production leads – representatives from the clinical services whose role was to engage their colleagues and gather a wide range of perspectives to inform the project tasks. The co-production leads were recruited not just from the hospital services but also from community services and primary care, to reflect the integrated nature of healthcare delivery. Lay people were recruited as co-production leads to represent the public, and local patient advocacy groups were invited to be involved.
Through co-production, a new clinical and care model was devised based on the strategic principle that "the hospital will only do what only the hospital can do" – a model for a sustainable, vertically-integrated healthcare system which would see the rural catchment population of 275,000 people through the next 60 years. Co-production was used to refine and improve the demand and capacity model and to determine the most important transformation priorities for the local system. The architectural designs were developed through iterative cycles of co-production workshops. Human factor and ergonomics expertise was also brought in, to excellent effect, on the recommendation of one of the hospital co-production leads.
The author will present the findings of a qualitative study into the professional experience of co-production; an account of the activities and resources required; an analysis of co-production's strengths and weaknesses in the project; and her personal reflections on clinical leadership for an NHP build. The lessons will be widely applicable for anyone involved in the design or improvement of clinical services or healthcare environments.
Learning Objectives
- Define co-production and understand its applications in clinical services and healthcare design
- Explore the learning from a case study on the use of co-production in a new hospital build
- Reflect on the clinician experience of participation in the New Hospital Programme
15.00Panel discussion15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 8- Designing for integrated and community care
Jaime Bishop
Director, Fleet Architects; Chair, Architects for Health, UKJaime is a proven project designer, competition winner and studio leader. During his professional career he has been responsible for multiple projects with values ranging between 8 and 120 million pounds and was one of three associate directors responsible for the management of a 65 person firm under a Managing Director. He is an experienced all-round designer with specialist skills in healthcare and has sat on the executive board of Architects for Health (AfH) since 2006. He has significant experience as the lead architect in major PFI schemes including the preparation of a reference project for a $2 billion teaching hospital in Adelaide, Australia. He has been a visiting tutor at various universities since 2002 including Nottingham, Cardiff and London Metropolitan. Since 2012 Jaime and Richard have been teaching third year degree level at London South Bank University and established their studio, The Transpontine Laboratory, based at the university in 2014. Jaime was educated at The Royal College of Art, Bath University and the TU Delft Highrise Scholarship. He has been ARB registered and a member of RIBA since 2006. He is a recognised figure in the healthcare sector with connections throughout the industry. Jaime has detailed knowledge of traditional and PFI contracts, fee negotiation and project cost control. Jaime has sat on the board of City and Hackney NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and, social enterprise, East London Integrated Care. He has also served as an elected governor at the Homerton University NHS Foundation Trust.16.00Flexibility and participation to implement the design of Italian Integrated Community Healthcare Centres
Eletta Naldi
Architect and research fellow, University of Florence, ItalyArchitect and Ph.D. candidate in Technology of Architecture, she graduated in 2016 from the School of Architecture of the University of Florence. From 2017 to 2019, she was a research fellow at the Department of Architecture of Florence, working on three research grants focused on healthcare design, and won the Romano Del Nord Research Scholarship promoted by The Architectural Foundation of San Francisco. In 2019, she began her doctoral thesis on the planning, design, and governance of Community Healthcare Centres, which is currently in its final stages. Since 2023, she has been a research fellow in a project aimed at regenerating the cultural landscapes of Italian inner areas.Flexibility and participation to implement the design of Italian Integrated Community Healthcare Centres
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Health ecosystems are evolving rapidly due to changes in epidemiological, geographical, demographic, economic and cultural contexts. In Italy, the National Health Service was restructured to address challenges highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic. This led to the establishment of Case della Comunità (CdC) – Integrated Community Health Centres – to enhance primary and community-based care. These centres aim to provide integrated socio-health services accessible to citizens, representing a proximity care model where multidisciplinary teams deliver healthcare and social integration services. However, rooted in outdated planning and design approaches, CdCs must evolve to prioritise community and territorial needs, ensuring dynamic and effective responses to their populations.
The study aims to develop tools for improving healthcare centre programming, design and management. Using flexibility and participation as interpretative lenses, it seeks to redefine the socio-health model and inspire tools aligned with the construction process phases. The goal is to ensure that CdCs become adaptable structures capable of addressing social, health and cultural needs while fostering continuous community engagement and inclusive resource management.
The study combined fieldwork and literature analysis: i) case studies in Italy and the UK explored operational and design approaches; ii) interviews with technical managers, designers, healthcare professionals, users and third sector representatives identified process challenges and solutions; iii) regulations, design competitions and guidelines were reviewed, emphasising the early construction phases recognised as critical for public healthcare infrastructure. Insights from international practices, notably in the UK, were integrated. The study emphasised the early phases of the construction process, the brief phase, recognised as the most strategic and influential for public healthcare infrastructure.
The research developed a meta-tool ecosystem to guide CdC programming and design. This dynamic framework enhances stakeholder dialogue, helping clients articulate future-oriented needs while enabling designers to respond with culturally and technically appropriate solutions. Synchronising with construction phases, the tools provide a flexible framework to support strategic decisions, foster collaboration and ensure coherence between individual design elements and overarching goals.
The study reinterprets the programming and design of healthcare infrastructure, emphasising flexibility and participation to address contemporary challenges. By prioritising process over product, it proposes tools that enable CdCs to adapt to evolving needs while strengthening their connection to territorial and community contexts. Ultimately, the research highlights CdCs' potential as innovative socio-health structures aligned with national healthcare reforms, advocating for participatory and strategic processes that balance normative compliance and creative solutions for functional and resilient outcomes.Learning Objectives
- Understand the role of flexibility and participation in healthcare programming and design
- Enhance the ability to produce project briefs that are high-quality and responsive to the needs of both the clients and the population
- To understand Italy's efforts to establish a model based on proximity, community and integrated care
16.20Transforming primary and community care: Healthcare buildings as citizen public spaces
Albert Vitaller
Architect, VITALLER arquitectura, SpainAlbert Vitaller. He is the founding partner of Vitaller Arquitectura. Architect by ETSAB-UPC and Master in Large-Scale Architecture by UPC-Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. With more than 25 years of experience in health and socio-health architecture, he has developed projects in all their stages ranging from master and functional plans for the main hospitals and healthcare facilities in Spain to the development of comprehensive architectural projects and construction management and site supervision. He has published several papers regarding innovative design principles for palliative care centres, nursing homes and mental healthcare facilities. Among the many projects carried out following evidence-based healthcare design, stand out the Barcelona Clinic Hospital Refurbishment, the Cellex Biomedical Research Centre, the Nursing Home and Mental Health Centre in Balaguer (Lleida), the Guttman Institute Neurorehabilitation Centre and Independent Life Housing Units in Barcelona, the Outpatients Surgery Hospital in Granollers, the Oberig Clinic in Kiev (Ukraine), the Corachan Clinic Outpatients Centre In Barcelona, the Hospital for long-term illness and chronic-condition patients in Mislata (Valencia), the Inpatient Mental Health Facility in Martorell (Barcelona) or or the Bellvitge Hospital Extension in Barcelona. He has been lecturer at several international congresses in healthcare architecture and teacher in the Master of Health Architecture at the UPC.
Laia Isern
Architect, VITALLER arquitectura, SpainLaia Isern. She is partner in Vitaller Arquitectura since 2006. Architect by ETSAB-UPC Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and Master in Architecture, Organization and Management of Hospital Infrastructures by Universidad CEU San Pablo. With more than 15 years of experience in health and socio-health architecture, he has developed projects in all their stages ranging from master and functional plans for the main hospitals and healthcare facilities in Spain to the development of comprehensive architectural projects and construction management and site supervision. She’s focused developes her work around Human Centered Design processes and Lean Design, developing complex projects with high added value that exceed clients' expectations. Among the projects developed as architect in Vitaller Arquitectura stand out the Barcelona Clinic Hospital Refurbishment, the Nursing Home and Mental Health Centre in Balaguer (Lleida), Guttman Institute Neurorehabilitation Centre and Independent Life Housing Units in Barcelona, the Oberig Clinic in Kiev (Ukraine), the Corachan Clinic Outpatients Centre in Barcelona, the Hospital for long-term illness and chronic-condition patients in Mislata (Valencia) or the Bellvitge Hospital Extension in Barcelona. She has been lecturer at several international congresses in healthcare architecture and teacher in the Master of Health Architecture at the UPC.Transforming primary and community care: Healthcare buildings as citizen public spaces
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Primary and community care is the first direct contact that citizens have with the health system. Its care model is based on offering citizens a comprehensive quality care service: from care, health promotion and disease prevention to rehabilitation, treatment and chronic disease. In recent years, healthcare has been in constant change, where new and complex health needs arise both for people and for the health system itself. But the need for transformation and the updating of organisational, assistance and reinforcement models has been highlighted – as well as, in this context, the importance of primary and community care within the health system, which has played a fundamental role in the management of complex needs.
At the Catalan level, the main health challenges in primary and community care are:
1. long-term conditions;
2. new diseases;
3. new public health challenges;
4. attention to the social environment.
Faced with the need to reform the health system and provide primary and community care with sufficient resources, a transformation is needed, in order to strengthen it and make it a benchmark within the system. Of the different aspects to be transformed, we have focused on developing the most appropriate care spaces – that is, reformulating the buildings intended for primary and community care as places in which to develop the activity from this new perspective.
We will present two projects of newly built primary and community care centres where the main design tool is the integration of health in the community, promoting the wellbeing and participation of people. They are accessible, equitable, inclusive, safe and supportive, promote health and prevention, and places where outdoor spaces are treated with the same intensity and interest as consultation rooms. The patient journey begins long before they arrive at the centre. Their experience before entering the consultation room sets the scene for the medical visit. The exterior of a health establishment is influenced by their points of contact prior to arrival; primary and community care spaces must also be the spaces of the community, neighbourhood or village – part of the network of public spaces, creating links of familiarity with health.
To conclude, the integration of health spaces within the city with a greater presence in the community, assuming an active role in health promotion, is a fundamental part of the transformation of primary care to respond to new health challenges.
Learning Objectives
- Transforming primary and community care
- Most appropriate care spaces
- Healthcare buildings as public space
16.40A journey through integrated health and social care hubs in Scotland
Calum MacCalman
Director, NORR, United KingdomCalum is a director and chartered architect with 35 years’ experience delivering complex projects. He has extensive experience designing and delivering healthcare, higher education and residential projects. With a passion for healthcare design, he has led teams to create award-winning architecture including the Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award for the Small Animal Hospital in Glasgow. Calum’s unique triad of experience – as client, architect and general contractor – provides extraordinary insights and perspective on every project. From concept to completion, he understands the requirements from all three sides and how collaboration plays a vital role in achieving the defined objectives.A journey through integrated health and social care hubs in Scotland
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Over the past 15 years there have been significant changes to the demographic and the economic in Scotland, leading to different needs in health and social care. In 2011, the Scottish Government committed to integrating health and social care and to address the different and more complex demands of a growing and older population. This was also captured in the 'National Clinical Strategy for Scotland' published in 2016, which recognised the active role that communities play in providing support to health and social care.
We will review the changing needs of primary care, taking you on a 20-year journey of integrated health and social care hubs design in Scotland on the following projects:
• Easterhouse Health Centre and Auchinlea Mental Health Resource Centre: The existing Health Centre and Mental Health Resource Centre was refurbished and expanded creating a new link between the existing Health Centre and the adjacent Mental Health Resource Centre.
• Pollok Civic Realm: Built between the newly expanded Pollok Health Centre and the Pollok Leisure Centre, Pollok Civic Realm was Glasgow’s first facility with truly integrated health, social and leisure facilities. Forming part of the overall Pollok town centre regeneration, it houses a café, a library, a museum, childcare facilities and other specialist social and healthcare-related services. The underlying design philosophy was to create a civic hub, housing all the essential aspects of community life under one roof.
• The Vale Health and Care Centre: The delivery of the Vale Centre for Health and Care was an explicit commitment within the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Vision for the Vale of Leven. It brings together a variety of clinical services under one roof, including three GP practices, sexual health, speech therapy, health visitors, primary care mental health, integrated care, community nursing teams, nutrition, physiotherapy, podiatry, prescribing support and dental health, as well as shared community facilities.
• Maryhill Health and Care Centre: The new building sought to reshape services from a patient's point of view with health services designed around the needs of patients and clients through co-operation between patients, their carers and families and NHS staff.
• Caithness Community Hubs: The Caithness redesign is one of three national pathfinder schemes to test how to implement local care supported by the Scottish Futures Trust and Carnell Farrar (specialist healthcare planners) – a flexible model of health and social care achieved through the integration of services, utilising technology, and embracing the Place Principle.Learning Objectives
- Background and lessons learned from 20 years of design of integrated health and social care hubs
- Changing demands of primary care in Scotland
- How we collaborate across the disciplines to deliver integrated and social health services
17.00Panel discussionEnd of System and infrastructure transformation stream -
Health planning and investment
Council Chamber
Supported by
10.45 - 12.30Session 9- Standards, guidelines and design innovationSunand Prasad OBE
Programme director, European Healthcare Design; Principal, Perkins&Will, UKSunand Prasad is a principal at Perkins&Will. While designing across several sectors, he has been consistently engaged in healthcare and sustainability for four decades. At the core of his architectural practice, alongside interdisciplinary collaboration, Sunand holds a passionate belief that expertise and aesthetic judgement are most effective in creating truly successful environments when they are catalysed by the everyday experience of people. Sunand has been active in the wider built environment industry, particularly championing low-carbon, regenerative design, and until recently, as chair of the UK Green Building Council. He was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 2007 to 2009, campaigning for action on climate change. He was founding member of the UK Government’s Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment; a London Mayor’s design advocate; a trustee of the Centre for Cities; and chair of the Trustees of Article 25, the humanitarian architecture charity. He currently chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architecture and the External Advisory Board of TRUUD, a major research project on the fundamental links between health and urban development. He has written widely on architecture, sustainability and healthcare design, such as the book 'Changing Hospital Architecture'.10.45Standards and guidance: A vision for the future
Pradipti Verma
Senior consultant, Lexica, United KingdomPradipti is an experienced professional with more than seven years of expertise in the healthcare and life sciences industry. She has successfully worked on diverse projects, including healthcare planning, market research, strategy development, model of care development and more. Pradipti has played a key role in supporting initiatives such as primary healthcare centre development, international market research, business case development, workforce strategy implementation, organisational structure design, feasibility analysis, financial modelling for wellness centres. Her extensive experience and knowledge have proven invaluable in driving growth and improving healthcare services across different contexts.Standards and guidance: A vision for the future
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The 2025 EHD Congress will attract professionals dedicated to planning and designing health services and facilities from all over the world. This is a great opportunity for either a round table or workshop session to consider what an architect really needs to know in order to develop a successful design solution (i.e. what to include in a brief and how best to convey it – e.g. style of diagrams), and what they need to see in standards and guidance (what is superfluous, or even to be actively discouraged). Likewise, what do patients, clinicians, maintenance and facilities management and administration staff feel it is important that we record to ensure solutions will be functionally suitable and supportive, and that their health facility will remain high-functioning in face of future change?
In the UK, Health Building Notes (HBN) and Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) guidance is being updated, and a standard typology within New Hospital Programme (NHP) standards, dubbed ‘Hospital 2.0’, is under development. Do we need both? What do our colleagues feel would work in their countries?
While a handful of nations have maintained standards for decades, a growing number of countries have developed or are developing comprehensive new sets of standards and kits of parts, bringing new thinking to our industry. Approaches to guidance vs standardisation vs minimum performance specification are diverse, as are the ways in which these are organised and disseminated. Does one approach achieve better results than others? What are conference goers' experiences of using client briefs and national guidance?
Teams developing new hospitals bring analytical, technical and design thinking approaches to the table. Performance and experiential aspects of quality of design will be framed, expressed and assessed, as will technical and quantitative aspects. How can guidance or briefs reflect and support such a wide range of viewpoints, without becoming overly cumbersome?
We use our skills to dive deep into clinical-operational model development, to understand the true needs of a project, envision patient and staff experiences, and support best clinical outcomes, and much more. Does that mean that each health facility needs to be at least somewhat unique? How much diversity is helpful within a single health system? And, how can guidance change to address system integration implications?
Quick hands-on activities, online closed-query questionnaires with real-time polling outcomes, and open questions and viewpoints will be used to frame a vision for guidance development and updating, and briefing methods.Learning Objectives
- Identify key elements to include in a design brief for health facilities
- Evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches to guidance and standardisation in healthcare design
- Analyse the impact of diverse viewpoints on the quality and functionality of health facility designs
11.05Standardisation in Australian hospital design: Balancing innovation and humanistic environments
Oana Gavriliu
Principal, Hassell, United KingdomOana’s international healthcare expertise developed over 22 years, covers a wide range of healthcare buildings and commissions and was gained through a range of major projects in UK, Europe, Middle East and Australia applying British, Australian and US hospital design standards, working for large architectural practices with a long track record in healthcare design. She has particular expertise in developing masterplans for large academic medical campuses that bring together healthcare, education and research, as well as designing paediatric hospitals and combined women’s and children's facilities. Passionate about innovation, Oana believes in the power of architecture to delight, calm, and contribute to the well-being of patients, their families, and hospital staff. Her goal is to design health campuses and buildings that seamlessly integrate with surrounding communities, creating sustainable environments that flourish, accommodate growth, and foster innovation and holistic well-being for all their users.
Jack Kerlin
Buildings growth leader, Stantec, AustraliaJack has over 25 years of experience overseeing the delivery of building and engineering projects on a global scale spanning Asia, the UK, and the Middle East. He’s a natural problem solver with a forward-thinking approach—his career has been defined by a desire to continuously learn and grow. With a passion for sustainable solutions and innovation, Jack strives to challenge standard energy practices and champion decarbonization. He’s committed to contributing to a net zero carbon future and delivering high-quality social outcomes for clients and communities alike. Lately, he’s focused on driving digital transformation and leveraging technology to enhance project delivery and operations.
Stephen Watson
Principal, Hassell, AustraliaStephen is a recognised leader in health architecture and planning, bringing over 20 years of experience in delivering complex and future-focused health projects, many of which are award winning; including the recently completed Ipswich Hospital Mental Health Unit and the Specialist, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) at Herston, Brisbane. A thoughtful and considered leader, Stephen champions a collaborative design approach via in-depth consultation with clients, contractors and end-users, and engagement with the design team. He encourages debate and challenges design decisions to create outcomes that exceed expectations. Other key highlights in Steve’s portfolio include masterplanning for Townsville University Hospital redevelopment and playing a key role in the design and delivery of the main clinical buildings at the Gold Coast University Hospital. Intuitively attuned to delivering innovative, human-centred and evidence-based design, Stephen is a forward-thinking leader in his field.Standardisation in Australian hospital design: Balancing innovation and humanistic environments
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Over the past 15 years, Australian hospital design has been guided by the Australasian Health Facility Guidelines (AusHFG). These standards have provided a structured framework for healthcare design, supporting consistent, cost-effective design outcomes and timely and efficient clinical service delivery. However, the approach to applying these standards – whether as guideline or rigid mandate – varies between states and has significantly influenced the balance between innovation, efficiency and the creation of humanistic environments.
This paper explores how standardisation in hospital design has been applied in practice, focusing on its impact on clinical functionality, design quality, innovation and the creation of human-centric spaces. By examining a series of projects, it identifies key benefits and drawback of this approach and its implications for future practice.
The paper is based on evaluating six hospital projects, which reflect key standards, including:
1. regular structural grids of 8.4m x 8.4m;
2. standardised health planning units (HPUs) with departmental schedules of accommodation (SoAs);
3. standardised rooms – both in nomenclature and layout;
4. building services and environmental guidance.
These case studies illustrate how the balance between strict adherence to standards and relative design freedom has shaped outcomes.
Key findings include:
1. standardisation promotes consistency and modularity, leading to recognisable hospital typologies and clinical spaces while supporting prefabrication and adaptability;
2. standardising grids and rooms allow for customised departmental configurations tailored to local clinical needs;
3. where used as a baseline/guideline, standards enable efficiency in planning, freeing up resources and time to innovate in interior design, landscaping and patient-centred spaces;
4. in some contexts, rigid application of standards has limited the ability to respond to local cultural needs and site-specific challenges.
The adoption of AusHFG standards has supported the delivery of numerous hospital schemes across Australia in the past 15 years, with many completed on time, within budget and with great outcomes for patients, staff and carers. The application of the standards has demonstrated that when used as guidance, they support innovation and enable the creation of adaptive, humanistic environments. However, rigid adherence can stifle creativity, inhibit cultural responses and reduce the quality of clinical spaces. These findings suggest that future use of standards should emphasise their role as guidelines rather than mandates, encouraging designers to balance efficiency with innovation and human-centred outcomes. For programmes like the New Hospital Programme (NHP), this approach offers valuable insights into leveraging standardisation without compromising design quality or adaptability.
Learning Objectives
- Study in practice of system-wide hospital design standards
- Standards as guidelines provide an agreed baseline for design enabling process efficiencies
- Mandated standards may limit opportunity for innovation
11.25Designing for hospital programmes – the art and architecture of localising standardisation
Sannah McColl
Principal, Architectus, AustraliaSannah McColl Principal, Health Sector at Architectus, is an accomplished architect and strategic thinker who is passionate about good design in healthcare buildings. With more than two decades of experience planning, designing and delivering major health projects in Australia and New Zealand she champions evidence-based design in combination with beautiful, functional, efficient, and intuitive solutions.
Codey Lyon
Technical director, health sector lead, AECOM, AustraliaCodey Lyon is AECOM's Technical Director, Health Sector Lead for our Buildings + Places business line in Victoria and South Australia. She brings a wealth of salutogenic health experience in designing supportive health environments and her design-focused approach, integrating her clinical and architectural backgrounds to embed engineering, is critical to achieving wellness outcomes in health projectsDesigning for hospital programmes – the art and architecture of localising standardisation
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Our presentation traces the emergence of ‘programmes of works’ across major hospital delivery around the globe in Australia, New Zealand and the UK with standardisation as a key design driver, alongside efficient, value-for-money solutions that are innovative, embedded in place, recovery-focused and reduce reliance on hospital beds while providing equivalent and best-practice care for all.
While standardisation in health planning and design can regulate best-practice care, efficiency and consistency for the Government funding body, its antithesis, localisation, can foster innovation and adaptability to meet the health network’s model of care and respond to context and community expectations around local needs and connection to place.
Our project experience and our practice-based research demonstrate the complex interplay of tensions, which exists across a range of domains and requires deft resolution and creative problem-solving to reconcile standardisation and the role of architecture in care delivery and as a public institution.
To manage these inherent tensions, AECOM and Architectus Conrad Gargett formulated a robust scalable methodology to guide our hospital redevelopment programme’s design and engagement process in a way which is respectful of place and context, varied geographic regions, site conditions and demographics; adapts to varied models of care; is patient-centred; and navigates the tension between standardisation and localisation. |Our methodology can be variously applied to brownfield, greenfield and adaptive reuse scenarios for health networks across vast regions.
These strategies fall across key domains for discussion including:
1. building teams and partnerships to establish a shared understanding of a strategic approach and a clear vision;
2. developing a scalable stakeholder engagement process that enables a local approach to be deployed in concert with an overarching ‘knowledge share’ process for consistency;
3. using design principles and ‘keys’ to weave standardisation into impactful and contextual architectural responses;
4. scenario testing to account for regional and demographic variations;
5. determining ‘value outcomes’.
Learning Objectives
- Designing for hospital programmes across diverse regions – where to start
- Navigating the tensions of delivering standardised design responses which are contextual and localised
- Explaining our robust and scalable methodology for hospital programme design and engagement – approach and lessons
11.45Putting the heart into H2.0
Valentina Chisci
Senior healthcare architect, Perkins&Will, United KingdomValentina is a Senior Healthcare Architect with 20 year’s experience in the UK, Italy and Chile. She is a versatile architect with strong management skills, and enjoys teamwork and collaboration with colleagues and clients. Having worked on all stages of design and delivery, she is able to listen, challenge and translate the clients needs into design solutions that embed the clients requirements and aspirations at the core of the design. With extensive experience working at RIBA Stage 0 – 2 she has the ability to listen and produce concept and design options, bringing the client along the journey and is able to assist them in understanding and evaluating the pros and cons through all steps of the design development. She is currently leading the architectural healthcare team on the Future Paget Programme.
Jim Hackett
Programme director, strategic estates: Future Paget programme, James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United KingdomJim joined James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (JPUH) in March 2021 as Programme Director for the new hospital under the National Hospital Programme. He developed the Trust and Advisory team and led the production of the Strategic Outline Case (SOC) to completion in April 2022 and more recently the second SOC approved by the Trust Board in December 2024. Jim has over forty years’ experience in the construction industry in various sectors, most recently in the health sector for the last 33 years. He has worked in the private, NHS, and local authority sectors providing Advisory Services, Programme and Cost Management, Business Case Preparation, Clinical and Estate Strategies. He has experience across the all procurement routes, including acute hospitals, all levels of mental health, and primary care. Other areas of expertise are NHS Strategy and Drivers, planning of system wide services, and logistics of implementation. Jim has developed NHS procurement guidance and provided associated training including the updating of the Scottish Capital Investment Manual (SCIM) for Scottish Government, and achieving certification in ISO 44001: Collaborative Business Relationships. Jim has led the management of various Frameworks and Projects, liaison within NHS, Government departments, and related advisory and regulatory organisations.
Justin Starck
Associate principal, Portland Design, United KingdomWith over 25 years of creating, launching and reinvigorating brands, Justin leads projects to define brand strategy and create inspiring customer experiences across multiple touchpoints - blending original thinking and insight with the practicality of delivering robust design solutions. Justin enjoys helping clients to bring their brand stories to life by humanising the business challenges. His previous experience of working in brand engagement has allowed him to bring the vision, values and strategy to life, both internally and externally for companies. He has also worked across a diverse range of categories including brand roll-outs across mixed-use global developments, retail, food & beverage, automative, airports, universities, telecommunications and financial.Putting the heart into H2.0
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The UK’s New Hospital Programme (NHP) to roll out new hospitals over the coming decades takes a systematic and industrialised approach to the transformation, design, delivery and renewal of healthcare facilities across the country, promoting modern methods of construction and standardised design solutions. A key pillar of this programme is Hospital 2.0 (H2.0), a systems approach to design that sets out standardised briefs and design solutions – standard modules, department clusters, rooms and components.
While the NHP’s approach to rebuilding the UK’s rapidly deteriorating and underfunded hospital estate is to be applauded, its one-size-fits-all approach risks rubber stamping cookie-cutter hospitals across the country offering restricted response to site, context, or human experience, let alone the specific needs of the hospital and its community.
Industrialised approaches to hospital building programmes are not new. Neither is the question about what makes a hospital building welcoming and comfortable, conducive to healing and wellbeing. Yet Hospital 2.0 poses a particular challenge in tailoring its standardised modular design to create meaningful people-centred designs.
James Paget University Hospital is a large district general hospital in Great Yarmouth in the east of England, one of the most deprived areas of the country. Built in the 1970s out of a now failing, prefabricated system – reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete – the hospital will be one of the first to be designed and built to H2.0 principles. Using this project as a case study, this presentation will explore how designers can balance the relationship between the standard and the particular, the generic and the contextual, in order to tailor the NHP approach to create people-centric, beautiful and humane places.
The paper will demonstrate how a set of specific design principles, established in collaboration with the Trust, enables an iterative approach to test, verify and refine options based on the standardised H2.0 modules and design to meet the Trust’s own vision, aspirations and priorities. It will also explore how a storytelling approach to placemaking can be used as a vehicle for creating a cohesive connection between human experiences through the hospital. In anticipating the physical and emotional touchpoints along key journeys – for patients, visitors and staff alike – we can ensure an informed and seamless design empathy and create a place that has meaning and connection in the heart of the community.
Learning Objectives
- Standardised design vs specific patient-centric design
- Creative approach to the use of predetermined modular design
- Placemaking and design empathy
12.05Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networking14.00 - 15.30Session 10- Post-occupancy evaluation
Dan Gibson
Director, MJ Medical; Healthcare Design Leadership, UK14.00Showcasing student contributions to evidence-based design: Conducting post-occupancy evaluation studies on the public spaces in a Dutch university medical centre
Liesbeth van Heel
Senior policy advisor and researcher, Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC), The NetherlandsTrained in Facility Management and Business Economics, Liesbeth van Heel joined Erasmus MC in 1992 . She worked in the FM-department, was an administrator for the department of Pediatric Surgery and served on the the Executive Board's staff, before joining the hospital’s redevelopment project’s management team in 2001. After years of working as university hospital real estate professional, leading a small expertise team (PMO), her focus shifted to the coordinating effort to align the various strategic programs within Erasmus MC toward a safe relocation in May 2018 to the new hospital building, with fitting work processes, logistics and IT-support. She is a Board Member of the European Health Property Network (EuHPN). She co-coordinated the scientific Program Evaluation of Our New Erasmus MC (PE-ONE, between 2017 and 2023), which focused on infection prevention, experiences with wards with 100% single rooms and stakeholder engagement. Currently, she combines her PhD-work with a role as senior advisor within the Strategy team of Erasmus MC's Real Estate Directorate.
Deirdre Casella
Lecturer, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, The NetherlandsDeirdre Casella joined Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in 2022 as a lecturer and research supervisor. Currently, she is a faculty member of the Real Estate BSc programme of the Institute of the Built Environment. Following her Master of Arts in Development Studies and Demography at Erasmus International Institute of Social Studies (1999) she worked as an educator, researcher and advisor in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene services in universities and policy and applied research institutions in Europe, South and East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. In 2021 she defended her PhD dissertation (Delft University of Technology) on the role of social learning in sustainable water services delivery from a socio-technical systems perspective. Her research drew on more than 15 years of field experience and action research into the contribution of multi-stakeholder learning initiatives to achieving sustainable public services in urban and rural contexts. Currently, in addition to delivering BSc educational programmes on climate adaptation in the built environment, she co-coordinates the Erasmus MC-Hogeschool Rotterdam Urban Lab.
Auke Brugmans
Lecturer and researcher, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, The NetherlandsAuke Brugmans is since 2016 a senior lecturer at the Institute of Built Environment, department Real Estate Management at Rotterdam University of applied sciences. Auke is researcher at the research group area development and transition management at the Centre of Expertise HR Tech. In the combination of lecturer and researcher, Auke is able to connect education and research directly and brings more than 20 years of experience in practice. Auke is energetic and creative and loves to bring people from different backgrounds and expertise together. Auke worked from 1997 to 2016 at various commercial companies in the field of real estate. In addition, she held various positions abroad (2001 to 2007). In 2016, she made the switch to higher education. Auke teaches in the field of urban development and scaling futures and supervises students in the Urban Lab Erasmus MC and in multidisciplinary projects.
Mimi Lie Wei Lie
Urban lab bachelor thesis researcher, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, The NetherlandsMimi Lie Wei Lie is a final-year student in Real Estate Management at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Since the beginning of the program in 2020, Mimi has demonstrated a strong interest in the built environment, which started at a young age. During a minor in City Branding at the Willem de Kooning Academy in 2023, she gained valuable insights into placemaking, sparking a deeper interest in how urban spaces can shape identity and user experience. Building on this knowledge, she chose to focus her graduation research on placemaking, particularly in the context of the public spaces at Erasmus MC. The central research question explores how placemaking can connect the hospital’s identity carriers with the user experience to strengthen its brand identity. This research is conducted in collaboration with the Urban Lab Erasmus MC, part of the Centre of Expertise at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Through this work, Mimi aims to contribute to the ongoing development of meaningful public spaces that balance functionality, identity, and user engagement. Combining a passion for real estate and urban design, she seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice to create innovative solutions in urban environments.
Dennis Glasbergen
Real estate management student, The NetherlandsDennis Glasbergen is a final-year student in Real Estate Management at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. From a pre-master course he acquired working experience with SPSS and is happy to utilizing this asset in a societal relevant field (healthcare environments). Dennis’s research focuses on analyzing data on user-experience of the public spaces at Erasmus MC. These spaces are at the heart of the ‘medical city inside the city’ that came into use in 2018. In his research Dennis is looking for vital information to inform the planning and design of an extension to the existing public spaces, catering to Pediatric and Psychiatry patients. This research is conducted in the context of the Urban Lab Erasmus MC, a collaboration between the directorate of Real Estate at Erasmus MC and the Centre of Expertise on the Built Environment at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Through this work, Dennis aims to contribute to the enhancement of the quality of public spaces catering to patient and visitor needsShowcasing student contributions to evidence-based design: Conducting post-occupancy evaluation studies on the public spaces in a Dutch university medical centre
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Public spaces in healthcare facilities perform multiple functions and contribute to their users’ first impressions of the healthcare organisation and the quality of care to be expected. User experiences are important, but there might be a wide range of different user groups going through the same ‘front door’.
Post-occupancy evaluation (PoE) offers a systematic approach to assessing whether buildings fulfil their design intentions and respond to both explicit and implicit user needs. However, there are often barriers to performing and publishing PoE research in hospital built environments, such as lack of opportunity to apply findings in new projects or difficulty in writing up results in scientific papers. Challenges such as sample size and representativity need to be addressed during the research operationalisation phase. And, given the explicit and implicit user needs that are central to the PoE concept, a mix of evaluation instruments is needed. However, a collaboration between a Dutch university medical centre (UMC) and a neighbouring university of applied sciences brought the opportunity to apply different evaluation instruments and perspectives to PoE studies of the UMC’s public spaces, based on both student and organisational interests. In this so-called 'Urban Lab', successive groups of bachelor-level students are working together on individual graduation projects, with tutoring and mentoring provided by both organisations.
The aim of the research is to highlight contributions from qualitative and quantitative studies conducted by students to improved understanding of user experiences and needs in the public spaces of a Dutch UMC on the brink of expanding its campus.
Qualitative studies were performed on shared entrance spaces for psychiatric and paediatric services and on the levels of cohesion within the existing paediatric hospital. These studies combined literature searches with interviews, (user) journeys with personas and site visits to gather data. Currently, large surveys are being prepared for patients, employees and students to gather more quantitative data on the user experiences from these end-user groups.
Initial results offer insights into the various zones that can be identified within public spaces, and that can be designed in a way to suit different user groups in more public or more intimate ways. The results from the surveys will be available for presentation at EHD2025.
In conclusion, an Urban Lab offers users a valuable vehicle for building a rich evaluation-based knowledge source for future health facility design challenges.
Learning Objectives
- Highlight student contributions to PoE research
- User needs evaluation of public spaces in a university medical centre
- Balancing student interests with an organisation's future design challenges
14.15Designing for recovery: The impact of human-centred design on mental health outcomes using Highgate East as a case study
Mark Carter
Partner, Ryder Architecture, United KingdomMark joined Ryder in 2017. He has been involved in design for healthcare for over 25 years and has experience of multi phased projects in the acute sector, including emergency, theatre and diagnostics departments. He has worked on a vast number of primary care facilities that provide community health services with particular expertise in mental health design for a range of service users, and also has a portfolio of commercial projects including leisure and food and beverage outlets. Mark became a partner of Ryder in 2020.
John Naylor
Senior researcher, Ryder Architecture, United KingdomJohn joined Ryder in 2024. He gained his diploma at the Architectural Association in 2013, winning the Fosters Prize for Sustainable Infrastructure. He has experience on complex projects in the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, China and Haiti, such as the Qingdao Eden Project. His interest lies in developing wider use of bio based materials in construction in LMICs. In 2014 he set up the bamboo Visiting School programme at the Architectural Association, which he now co leads as the AA-ITB BambooLab. He is studying a PhD in Engineering at Newcastle University and in 2022 he was named one of the RIBA Rising Stars.Designing for recovery: The impact of human-centred design on mental health outcomes using Highgate East as a case study
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Highgate East is a new 78-bed mental health inpatient facility for the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust on the Whittington Hospital site. The facility includes adult acute and older adult wards with therapy, support and administration space. The project brief resulted from the redevelopment of the St Pancras Hospital site and need to re-provide out-of-date inpatient ward accommodation elsewhere in the area.
With its urban context, the location and aesthetic of the new building help to destigmatise mental health services. The café and sports hall are publicly accessible, helping to blur the boundary between the service and the community and are placed to the front entry level of the building with glazed facades to create active frontages. This is complemented with extensive landscaped areas creating calming public realm spaces.
A research study has been implemented to demonstrate how these design strategies influence mental health outcomes and can inform future design for mental health. A mixed-methods approach has been employed to assess the impact of design on clinical outcomes, encompassing both qualitative and quantitative research. The study focused on three key areas:
- deinstitutionalisation and destigmatisation: public-facing spaces, such as the café and sports hall, were examined for their role in reducing stigma by fostering community interaction;
- staff and service user welfare: the correlation between staff wellbeing and their capacity to enhance patient care was assessed through staff surveys, focus groups and retention data;
- wellbeing through environmental design: the influence of design features, including natural light, terraced gardens and living walls on staff and patient wellbeing was evaluated through observational studies and qualitative methods.
Over the course of 12 months, data collection from staff and patients is being used to gauge the impact of Highgate East’s design compared to the previous St Pancras Hospital. Preliminary findings indicate improved staff satisfaction, reduced patient recovery times and greater community interaction. The café and sports hall are demonstrating significant success in fostering community integration, contributing to the destigmatisation of mental health services.
The study shows that the design of Highgate East and the co-design process have enhanced the perception and delivery of mental health care. The findings provide valuable evidence that human-centred design positively influences mental health outcomes, staff welfare and public engagement. This research offers actionable insights for future facility planning, demonstrating that sustainable, therapeutic environments are integral to supporting recovery pathways and meeting NHS sustainability and care objectives.Learning Objectives
- How to achieve destigmatisation in mental health design
- How to improve recovery pathways through design
- How to improve staff and user welfare through design
14.30Värnamo Operation and ICU Clinic post-occupancy study
Anders Medin
Architect, White arkitekter, SwedenAnders is an architect and has in his professional career developed a broad competence within healthcare design. Anders is working from White’s Uppsala office and is a White partner since 2012. Anders has during his career built up a great experience in end user design dialogues. Cooperating with end users, doctors and nurses, in developing projects is a key factor for reaching a successful design. Designing healthcare facilities that support the recovery and well-being of patients and their families at the same time as offering a good working environment for the staff requires a skill in integrating the healthcare functions with architectural design. A good example of this is the project Värnamo Operation and South Entrance, a new building at Värnamo Hospital which was rewarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the category Transformation and Adaption of the 2020 European Design Award.Värnamo Operation and ICU Clinic post-occupancy study
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The Värnamo Operation and ICU Clinic project was highly commended in the 2020 EHD Awards in the category Adaption and Transformation. In autumn 2024, a post-occupancy study was carried out, to find out whether some of our most important design ideas in healthcare architecture are working as intended.
Värnamo Hospital is, in its 1970’s design, a piece of great architecture. An significant part of the project was that the addition of new buildings should enhance the hospital's existing qualities – transformation and adaption were a major challenge. Now after some years (the design phase ended in 2015), is the result as intended? The main aim of the staff interviews conducted during the re-visit on-site in Värnamo was to find out whether the original plan for the use of the facilities still is applicable. A reference group was engaged in Jönköpings län (Jönköping county) to identify the most interesting issues to be investigated.
An important aspect of the design was contact with the outdoors: with inner courtyards and landscape views. So, how are the new additions embracing this existing quality?
Interior design aimed to support orientation and wayfinding, using bright colours and decorative elements in strategic places. Views of daylight were also used as an element for wayfinding.
Patient, staff and goods flow is a key factor in hospital design and can be a particularly complex task in planning surgery and ICU wards. The layout was planned with staff representatives and hospital function planners. It was also planned for flexibility in use. Is the layout working? Does its flexibility stand the test?
A concept for an optimised ICU ward was designed by CVA (Chalmers University of Technology). This concept was realised in the Värnamo project. Staff and patient environment functions were highly considered, including the possibilities for better staff co-operation, patient integrity versus surveillance, space for relatives and patient rooms directly connected to outdoor areas.
Our presentation will identify some of the lessons learned regarding healthcare design – care functions, patient and staff environment. Which design ideas regarding staff and patient environment, for example, can be considered general and be reused in coming projects? These include:
• design elements for wayfinding;
• connections with the outdoors and greenery;
• layout and room size for operation units;
• connections and flow between outpatient wards/surgery/recovery, surgery/central sterile services department (CSSD), ICU/surgery;
• the CVA concept for ICU wards.
Learning Objectives
- Post-occupancy study
- ICU ward
- Surgery ward
14.45Design intentions and outcomes: A critical case study of the West Park Healthcare Centre redevelopment
Elika Herischi
Senior healthcare architect, Cannon Design, CanadaDuring her professional career as an architect and senior clinical planner, Elika has been involved in a diverse range of projects for leading healthcare institutions across Canada, the US and internationally. She works closely with clients and focus groups to explore opportunities that yield operational efficiencies and effective design solutions that provide maximum flexibility for future change and incorporate high-technology demands in support of patient-centred care. Her keen eye for detail and expertise in facilities design and operational planning provide her with an extensive foundation from which to make informed decisions concerning planning and programming issues.
Martha Harvey
Director of operational readiness, University Health Network - West Park Healthcare Centre, CanadaMartha Harvey is an accomplished senior healthcare leader with over 30 years of extensive experience in acute, rehabilitation, and ambulatory care. Her expertise is leading and executing strategic operational initiatives, as well as supporting complex change management principles to achieve successful and transformative outcomes. Martha’s role as Director of Operational Readiness for West Park Healthcare Centre’s new $1.2B hospital redevelopment project is to lead strategic clinical planning and operational readiness. She is keenly involved in pre- and post-occupancy evaluation (POE) research and is a member of the Canadian Standards Association to develop national standards for this type of evaluation. Martha participates in several other organizations including being a board member for the Nursing Leadership Network of Ontario.
Jason Dobbin
Principal, Montgomery Sisam Architects, CanadaJason Dobbin is an award-winning architect and a Principal of Toronto-based practice Montgomery Sisam. His portfolio is wide ranging, with transformational project in healthcare, education, supportive housing, and urban infrastructure. For Jason, every design is an opportunity to cultivate a dialogue. He believes in a culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and creative discovery. Jason’s contributions extend beyond his practice in studio, working with several industry organizations to support positive, inclusive urban development. He is a former Chair and current executive member of the Toronto Society of Architects and a committee member of the Urban Land Institute of Toronto (ULI).
Marsha Spencer
Business practice leader, Cannon Design, CanadaMarsha Spencer is the Business Practice Leader for Cannon Design's Toronto office, with over 25 years of experience as a registered architect and project manager. She believes that good architecture goes beyond functionality, incorporating the psychology of space to create buildings that are personal, functional, and community oriented. Marsha excels in making clients feel at ease, expertly guiding them from the design process through changing conditions to successful project completion. Marsha specializes in healthcare, leading projects for diverse clients including University Health Network, West Park Health Centre, Loyola University Medical Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, St. Alexius Medical Center, and the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital.Design intentions and outcomes: A critical case study of the West Park Healthcare Centre redevelopment
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While some general design guidelines derived from acute settings apply to rehabilitation environments, most do not consider the unique needs and sensitivity of rehabilitation patients. Current evidence suggests rehabilitation patients require enriched environments that build confidence and motivation, offer sufficient privacy as well as positive stimulation, and create opportunities for physical and social interaction (Pasha & McCuskey Shepley, 2024). When paired with a patient-centred care mandate, these environments must also be functionally flexible, highly inclusive and offer ample opportunity for choice and control. How these intentions are qualitatively interpreted and physically implemented vary from project to project. In the current development context, rarely is there an opportunity to reflect critically on design outcomes.
This case study looks at findings from the West Park Healthcare Centre redevelopment in the context of an ongoing pre-post-occupancy study to better understand the impacts of design decisions on the care experience. Located in Toronto, Canada, West Park is among the foremost rehabilitation and complex continuing care hospitals in the country. Its redevelopment was driven by three research-informed design intentions: (i) to preserve and enhance connections with nature; (ii) to create a healing environment better aligned with organisational principles of person-centred care; and (iii) to create opportunities for community outreach and reverse inclusion.
Design outcomes include highly flexible, accessible and adaptable patient care spaces; enhanced inpatient bedrooms with designated family zones and operable, low-sill windows; an entry pavilion featuring a range of public amenities; a large entry plaza for community-directed activities; natural materials that reflect the hospital’s natural surroundings; graphic devices inspired by the landscape to enhance wayfinding and offer compelling destination points; and a comprehensive landscape design inclusive of open terraces and cascading gardens, designated outdoor spaces for each of the public and therapeutic space, and series of walking trails interconnecting the building, its gardens and the larger campus. Collectively, these features create a physically, functionally and psychologically supportive environment for personalised patient care that invites family and community to be part of the healing process. Ensuring alignment between design outcomes and building operations, however, required significant consideration to, among other things, circulation, access control, programme integration and indoor environment quality.
Translating design intentions into actionable solutions in health facility design poses many challenges. This design review, together with preliminary findings from the post-occupancy evaluation, contribute to a growing body of knowledge in research and practice on the qualitative experiences of design in rehabilitation and complex continuing care.Learning Objectives
- Describe the current evidence base in the design of rehabilitation environments as well as recent trends and best practices
- Identify key considerations in the interpretation and operationalisation of patient-centred care design intentions
- Feed forward post-occupancy lessons to the design and operationalisation of other rehabilitation and complex continuing care environments
15.00Panel discussion15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 11- Strategic planning toolkits
Bonnie Chu
Healthcare sector director, Ramboll UK, United KingdomBonnie is a UK qualified architect with 20+ years experience in the healthcare sector and Construction Industry. She has worked for architects, developers, main contractors and now in engineering consultancy. The diversity and breadth of her experience in these different aspects of a project enhances her drive to collaborate with like-minded professionals to make the changes we need to keep our societies and health system resilient to combat the impact of climate change.16.00Using digital solutions to generate high-quality compliant design and robust business cases in weeks not months
Brian Niven
Technical director for health consulting, Mott MacDonald, United KingdomBrian has over 30 years’ experience in the health sector. He has worked extensively in healthcare consultancy and been involved in a wide range of projects including strategic and clinical reviews of primary care, acute and community services, appraisal of future investments of healthcare, and service evaluations. With a background in operational research and a career which started in data analysis in the NHS, Brian has had a passion for data analysis and modelling throughout his career. His key area of intertest is in system flows and dynamics and has created bespoke whole system models for NHS clients. This interest has most recently led him into supporting the development of the Healthcare Configurator toolkit, a set of tools which can model the future state of service and infrastructure requirements across the health and care system.
Jon Gray
Senior design manager, Mott MacDonald, United KingdomJon has over 20 years’ experience in engineering consultancy, working across a range of sectors including Health, Water and Utilities. Throughout his career, Jon has demonstrated a strong focus on continuous improvement, inclusive global delivery models, innovation and digital delivery. Jon’s expertise has been developed across a variety of collaborative and Alliance driven programmes of work. In particular, this includes delivering complex, major projects with a focus on the importance of using the right data, in the right environment and Jon is currently leading two major multi-disciplinary health projects through OBC as part of collaborative Architectural Design Led Teams. Jon’s experience of driving new and innovative ways of working and having a unique understanding of digital delivery in operational environments has naturally evolved into his leadership role in the development of our Healthcare System Configurator.Using digital solutions to generate high-quality compliant design and robust business cases in weeks not months
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Current early business case processes are plagued by inconsistent assumptions on activity, cyclical design, inaccurate cost modelling and extended approvals periods on business cases. But an intuitive and interactive digital toolkit to support future health planning and investments enables system thinking and optimised design, bespoke to a site and accurate cost modelling.
Our response to this is a Healthcare Configurator comprising six key essential elements in hospital and health infrastructure planning, design and ultimately delivery and commissioning:
• Demand and capacity modelling (Define)
• Schedule of accommodation (Size)
• Libraries of components (Commoditise)
• Massing and stacking (Visualise)
• Cost schedule and target value design (Cost)
• Design management and whole process quality management systems (Control)
By leveraging and maximising the power of existing data and information, the development of technology and experiences of health and care system leaders, we have been able to transform the early-stage process to generate an evidence-based and robust early business case model within weeks for our clients.
It starts by modelling the 'right care in the right place', 'right sizing the healthcare assets' for optimised care delivery. It then uses standardised rules based on policy, standards and regulation to generate a compliant Schedule of Accommodation. Technology is then utilised to optimise the best fit for an individual site using the right clinical adjacencies. Finally, the technology is then able to generate a robust ‘should cost’ model to support business case processes and confirm compliance with initiatives such as NHS Net Zero, all within weeks.
We would like to share our journey, the lessons that we learnt and how it has been received by the market - drawing on specific shared insights in how we have been working with clients, receiving their support in further enhancements, and how they have used the outputs to develop their future investment strategies in capital infrastructure projects and resource planning.
Learning Objectives
- Systems approach to strategic service planning – “moving beyond the hospital”
- Business case development process – 'new thinking' through new and efficient processes
- Value for money
16.20Generative AI-supported horizon scanning for UK healthcare futures
Steven Libralon
Director, Hoare Lea, United KingdomSteven joined Hoare Lea in 2003 as a Graduate Engineer and has developed to Director. Steven leads the Exeter Office and has been involved in S&R and Healthcare projects for 15+ years, Currently leading healthcare for the SW Business Unit and Product Lead for Hoare Lea nationally. He's primary focus is on Healthcare project delivery and developments within the South West but has also worked on national and international projects. Steven leads the have SBS framework and has comprehensive experience with the ProCure framework contracts and the associated management experience related to the contractual arrangements, charges and rate reviews including the planning, delivery and implementation to achieve specific objectives across the firm.
Anni Feng
Associate director, Hoare Lea, United KingdomAnni is a chartered engineer in the UK with a background in computer and communication systems engineering. She has diverse telecommunications and digital design and advisory experience in various sectors, including healthcare, technology and transportation. She has worked on projects in America, Africa, Middle East, South Asia and across Europe. Anni first gained her healthcare experience while on a long-term assignment with Arup Canada. She has had the privilege to be involved in many healthcare projects of different scales and complexities since. Some examples include being the lead digital engineering advisor in the health workstream for the Peru Reconstruction programme, leading the digital workstream in a cancer centre design competition in Wales and being the digital advisor for a major hospital replacement project in Scotland.Generative AI-supported horizon scanning for UK healthcare futures
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The UK healthcare system is undergoing a major transformation, driven by changes in demographics, funding pressures and advancements in technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) – the future of healthcare has never looked so uncertain. This presentation explores the use of horizon scanning together with generative AI to create foresight about possible outcomes for the healthcare system into the future. The outcomes range from preposterous to preferable. In shaping the design, construction and operation of healthcare facilities with an understanding of the possible futures of the healthcare system, we can collectively influence and work toward building the preferable future.
Our approach combined AI-facilitated horizon scanning, human expert workshop reviews and case study analysis to identify key trends and disruptors. The research moved through a structured set of prompts, including understanding critical issues, the vision for a successful UK healthcare, dangers of not achieving the vision and key changes needed to realise the vision. Additional prompts in the healthcare design context were given to integrating sustainable design principles – e.g. applying circular economy frameworks and achieving net-zero carbon goals in healthcare infrastructure.
The horizon scanning outputs were reviewed by human experts and debated in facilitated workshops to explore how future technologies and systems, including AI, could be embedded within facility designs to support personalised medicine and efficient care delivery. We also analysed global exemplars where smart hospital designs successfully combined innovative technology with humanistic environments to promote recovery and wellbeing. We explored diverse and provocative points of view to define what the preferable future is, and challenged the methods and priorities for achieving the vision.
A roadmap was created to highlight actions, which need to be prioritised to realise the vision, such as the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration within broader strategies for equity, sustainability and resilience, policy influence, and early engagement between construction professionals and healthcare stakeholders to align infrastructure with technological requirements and clinical priorities.
There are two key conclusions from this work: 1) the effectiveness of using generative AI to support horizon-scanning activities and how it could be better augmented by human experts; and 2) the output provides a range of future outcomes. Healthcare projects of the future must prioritise adaptive, humanistic environments that balance technological ambition with community health goals. These findings provide actionable insights for construction professionals, emphasising the dual mandate of supporting cutting-edge clinical practices and advancing sustainable healthcare design.Learning Objectives
- Learn about the novel approach of combining AI-facilitated horizon scanning with human expert input
- Recognise the role of technological advancements in shaping healthcare infrastructure and operational efficiency
- Develop strategies for interdisciplinary collaboration that align clinical, technological and construction methods
16.40Master planning for the future: a strategic planning toolkit for NHS estates in a time of change
Rachelle Mcdade
Director of healthcare planning , Currie & Brown, United KingdomRachelle has over 28 years experience of leading large healthcare redevelopments. Experienced in developing models of care, whole hospital policies, design principles & schedules of accommodation to ensure the best brief is developed. She shall rigorously challenge the clinicians to ensure the best patient pathways are delivered and staff efficiency is prioritised. Ensuring an integrated digital strategy is delivered from the outset. Working collaboratively with the clinicians she shall ensure that the patient & staff wellbeing are at the fore front of all design solutions. She has experience in reconfiguration programmes, large complex acute hospitals, mental health facilities, medical education campuses, and wellbeing-focussed primary and community facilities. Rachelle is an enthusiastic advocate of digitally enabled and sustainable healthcare design who supports clinicians and design teams in translating clinical and operational strategies into smart healthcare ecosystems.
Miliana Dotcheva
Associate director RFH business strategy and master planning, Royal Free hospital Foundation Trust, United KingdomMiliana has started her professional journey as an architect in Paris working on variety of projects ranging from education and retail to high end residential and corporate estate refurbishments. In 2008, following a family move to Brussels, she came into contact with healthcare design – improving healthcare infrastructure and environment became her lifelong commitment. As a senior leader within the Brugmann University Hospital Planning & Design team, she has led multiple programmes and introduced the strategic space planning approach to the reconfiguration of the hospital estate. Since her move to London in 2016, she has collaborated with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT and Royal Free London NHS FT capital teams, at RFL she took further responsibility on heading the Group Space Planning team. In her current role, Miliana is leading the articulation of local priorities with the Group agenda, the development of the RFH site masterplan, championing strategic thinking and enabling the inception of innovative models of care.
Rafael Marks
Principal, Perkins&Will , United KingdomRafael Marks is a principal at Perkins&Will’s London Studio. He has over 30 years experience working both in the UK and abroad on a diverse portfolio of award-winning healthcare and education projects. From small nurseries to large mixed-use health, research and education buildings on complex sites, he has a wealth of experience in navigating complex briefs and sites to create long-lasting, sustainable solutions. Recent projects include Oriel, an integrated healthcare, research and education facility for Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London (winner of WAF 2022 Future Healthcare project), Kingdom Health Campus, a combined hospital and medical university in Amman, the Royal Free Hospital campus masterplan, and the on-going James Paget University Hospital.Master planning for the future: a strategic planning toolkit for NHS estates in a time of change
Abstract Copy
The new UK government's 10-year NHS plan is likely to include significant capital investment to rebuild and refurbish NHS estate. However, it is unlikely to be sufficient to address the billions of pounds in backlog maintenance that has accumulated over the years. Add to this the increasing healthcare needs, an ageing population, the digitisation of healthcare and its concomitant infrastructure requirements, plus the net-zero carbon goals: NHS trusts are facing an unprecedented set of challenges.
Within this highly resource-constrained environment, a new paradigm is emerging in which to think about the management, development and transformation of the NHS estate as an enabler of preventative, first-class patient-centric healthcare. The Royal Free Hospital (RFH) site in Hampstead with its iconic Brutalist tower (one of the largest single-building hospitals in the country) is one such estate exemplifying these challenges; the estate suffers from the same infrastructural and maintenance problems as so many other estates nationally.
Following a refresh of the Royal Free London group clinical strategy, the Trust commissioned Perkins&Will Architects, Currie & Brown Healthcare Planners and a wider design team to develop a more agile system-wide clinically-led masterplan. This masterplan establishes a long-term vision for the RFH site and provides a phased, structured and strategic approach to clinical redevelopment. It provides a framework for optimising space utilisation, expanding and modernising facilities and services, and upgrading infrastructure to improve operational efficiency. Through this approach it supports the Trust in streamlining expenditure and reducing running costs, leading to increased revenue and enabling access to a wide range of funding streams. Ultimately, it serves as a toolkit that defines the pathway to transforming the hospital estate into a modern, efficient, sustainable and people-centric academic healthcare campus.
This presentation explains how this planning toolkit was developed through extensive stakeholder engagement and how it has begun to transform the way in which future development of the estate can be managed and adapted to suit evolving clinical needs and priorities. Cognisant of the short-term and contingent requirements to which all NHS estates must respond, the masterplan toolkit provides a longer-term flexible and strategic approach to the estate’s development and system wide integration. The presentation illustrates how this strategic planning toolkit was developed for the Royal Free and how it can provide a template for other estates and trusts to create integrated master plans that can deliver system wide sustainable improvements for the future NHS estate.
Learning Objectives
- System-wide clinically-led master plan
- Strategic planning toolkit
- Framework for optimising estate
17.00Panel discussionEnd of Health planning and investment stream -
Intersection of clinical medicine and design
Linacre and Sloane Room
10.45 - 12.30Session 12- Designing for emergency care
Tom Best MBE, MD
Clinical director / intensivist, King’s College Hospital, UKClinical director / intensivist, King’s College Hospital, UK10.45Optimising emergency care: Smart strategies for affordable, compact and high-performance design solutions in the emergency department
Deborah Wingler
Global practice director, applied research, HKS, United StatesDr. Deborah Wingler’s research focuses on improving the patient and staff experience. As Global Practice Director of Applied Research for HKS, Deborah collaborates with research and design teams to develop and implement research initiatives that drive innovation and achieve measurable impact across the healthcare practice and firm, globally. Through her research, Deborah has had the opportunity to work with some of the most forward-thinking Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations, manufacturers, and design firms in the industry to support their respective research agendas. Both in practice and academia, her research has focused on the integration of research into the design process.
Colby Dearman
Studio practice leader, health, HKS, United StatesRecipient of the American Institute of Architects Henry Adams Medal, Colby believes architecture means planning and creating healthy work and productive environments that enhance an organization’s brand and mission. He is particularly experienced and a specialist in emergency services planning. As a certified American College of Healthcare Architect, Colby has a passion for engaging with healthcare professionals to collaboratively lead them through operational, logistical, and functional issues enabling the team to make design decisions that promote operational best practices through evidence-based solutions. From conceptual visioning through first-patient, Colby leads teams through efforts to align planning and design solutions to meet clients’ goals. He is recognized by clients for his value in strategic thinking, team leadership, problem solving and healthcare planning knowledge.Optimising emergency care: Smart strategies for affordable, compact and high-performance design solutions in the emergency department
Abstract Copy
Emergency departments around the world face similar challenges with excessive wait times, overcrowding, boarding and rising costs of care. At the same time, healthcare systems are being challenged to do more with less, while at the same time providing an elevated patient and staff experience. Incorporating an innovative design solution such as low-acuity treatment stations (LATS) within the emergency department can significantly improve the way care is delivered in the emergency department by optimising square footage without compromising function or patient, family and staff experience.
In this session, participants will explore crucial considerations in the design, planning and implementation of LATS in the emergency department. Critical departmental and operational impacts along with clinical staffing implications will also be discussed. Participants will also hear how LATS are being included in national guidelines, such as the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) 'Guidelines for Design and Construction' in the United States, to elevate emergency department design across the industry.
Drawing insights from recent projects, case studies and industry best practices, presenters will demonstrate how integrating these specialised treatment stations for low-acuity patients can streamline operational processes, reduce wait times and optimise staffing resources. Presenters will also share how discrete simulation modeling can be leveraged during the design process to evaluate and align planning considerations and operational models when implementing LATS into emergency department design.
At roughly half the size of a traditional 120 square foot exam room, LATS allow for an increasing number of low-acuity patients who can be treated in the emergency department. Organisations who have implemented this design strategy into their emergency departments have shown a significant improvement in operational efficiencies as well as an improved patient and staff experience.
Considering innovative design solutions such as LATS that can have a positive impact on addressing the challenges emergency departments face today is essential. Insights from this session will further contribute to evolving design guidelines and regulatory processes for creating more cost-effective, efficient and human-centred emergency department design.
Learning Objectives
- Explore design parameters for implementing low-acuity treatment stations (LATS) in emergency departments, emphasising strategic placement within varying workflow models
- Understand the impact of code and life safety requirements on planning and implementing LATS in the emergency department, ensuring compliance for a safe healthcare environment
- Learn how LATS implementation influences patient and staff satisfaction, specifically addressing reduced wait times for low-acuity patients
11.05From velocity to value: The evolution of emergency care
Cherizza Choi
Consultant, healthcare strategy and planning, Lexica, United KingdomCherizza is currently a Healthcare Planner at Lexica. Her focus is on clinical service transformation, as well as supporting clients with developing schedules of accommodation, clinical briefs, and strategic planning. With an MPhil in Population Health Sciences from the University of Cambridge, Cherizza has a strength in literature reviews and meta-analyses in public health research.
Bernadette Bhakti
Senior Consultant, Lexica, United KingdomBernadette is a critical care nurse and healthcare planner. With over 15 years of clinical experience in Australia and the UK, Bernadette specialises in stakeholder engagement and translating the client’s requirements into clinical and functional briefs and schedules of accommodation for the design team. Bernadette’s interest is in hospital design for safety and quality.From velocity to value: The evolution of emergency care
Abstract Copy
Emergency department (ED) overcrowding disproportionately impacts vulnerable groups; the elderly, children and mental health patients are among the worst affected. NHS England maintains its ambition of achieving the ED four-hour target, which unfortunately, has not been met since 2015. While it is a useful performance indicator, imposing a target without considering patients’ complexities can demoralise staff and encourage inappropriate discharges, without necessarily improving quality of care.
We helped a London trust redesign its ED, shifting the focus to value-based emergency care and incorporating well-established initiatives to improve efficiency, while investing in purpose-designed spaces for the growing cohort of patients. We relocated the urgent treatment centre to the ground floor separate from the main ED, acting as the front door for walk-ins. This simple yet effective setup allows ED staff to focus on higher acuity patients. An ED command centre – inspired by airport control towers – will digitally track patients from arrival to discharge, enhancing service co-ordination. The Trust’s virtual hospital, a digital-first approach to care, will alleviate pressure in ED by promoting early discharges and admission avoidance.
What set this ED apart are the spaces provided for less conventional ‘casualty’ patients. A mental health village will provide a safe and calming environment for patients in crisis. Around 20 per cent of the ED footprint is an assessment area, with dementia-friendly rooms and daylight access. These are dedicated spaces when care is co-ordinated in a one-stop shop approach, utilising ED’s specialist resources.
EDs traditionally follow a conveyor belt model, designed for episodic ‘accident and emergency’ cases. As part of the future healthcare ecosystem, EDs must adapt and evolve, striving for a balance between efficiency, safety and compassionate care. Our discussion will delve further into the implementation of value-based care in EDs and how funding models can incentivise the right result.Learning Objectives
- Value-based care in urgent and emergency care
- Improving staff and patient experience in ED
- Revolutionising healthcare funding models
11.25A new ‘integrated front door’ to reimagine the emergency department
Tom Gilbert-Rule
Director, Gilling Dod, United KingdomTom is a Director at Gilling Dod Architects with over 15 years of design and delivering in the Healthcare Sector, primarily for the NHS, including both Mental Health and Acute schemes. Working with Trusts with all elements of business case, design and delivery of schemes. Providing aspirational schemes with measurable Clinical and Estate benefits.
Julian Auckland-Lewis
Programme director, Great Wester Hospitals NHS FT, United KingdomJulian Auckland-Lewis is Programme Director for the Way Forward Programme at Great Western Hospital NHS Trust. After a Philosophy Degree at the University of Exeter, Julian served in the British Army, attending Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, and completing a number of operational tours, including the Balkans, as well as working with the EU and NATO. Following his military service, Julian joined the NHS General Management Training at the Kings Fund, London and gained operational management experience across the NHS, in a variety of settings, subsequently holding operational and strategic transformation posts at Board level. Since 2019, Julian has led the delivery of major capital construction & service improvement schemes at GWH. The most recent of these is the ‘Integrated Front Door’ (IFD)Project which has increased the capacity, quality, clinical capability, and efficiency of the Trusts ‘Emergency front door’ services, as well as radically improving patient experience and staff working environments.
Elizabeth Barneby
Consultant emergency physician and clinical lead for urgent and emergency care, Great Western Hospitals NHS FT, United KingdomDr. Elizabeth Barneby is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Great Western Hospital. After graduating from Bristol Medical School in 2004, she served in the British Army, completing operational tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as working with the United Nations. Following her military service, she trained in Emergency Medicine in the Severn Deanery, gaining experience in diverse healthcare settings before becoming a Consultant at Great Western Hospital in 2015. In 2020, she took on the role of Clinical Lead for the Emergency Department, overseeing critical service delivery and patient care improvements. Since 2019, Dr. Barneby has been instrumental in the Integrated Front Door (IFD) Project, helping to streamline emergency services and enhance patient pathways. She remains committed to developing the IFD initiative, collaborating across the Trust to maximise its impact and drive sustainable improvements in urgent and emergency care.A new ‘integrated front door’ to reimagine the emergency department
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Gillling Dod has been working with Great Western Hospital in Swindon to design and build, with contractor IHP, a new 'integrated front door' (IFD) to reimagine the hospital's emergency department (ED). The new clinical model utilises the existing estate, with refurbishments and extensions, to create a ‘single front door’ for all urgent care, including the urgent treatment centre (UTC), expanded ED, joint assessment unit, children’s emergency department (CED) and co-located medical/surgical assessment.
The brief was to reduce pressure on the ED as, since opening, patient numbers have increased from 48,000 to 100,000. While the expansions provide additional space, the need was not just to grow to meet the demand but also to improve clinical services and flows, and reduce anxiety/tension for users and clinicians.
The new ‘single front door’ provides access to self-attending, GP referral, NHS 111 and urgent/emergency care – increasing UTC patients by 17,600 a year and reducing the pressure on ED. With ED being for only serious/complex or life-threatening conditions, new clinical flows, increased area (ED by 60 per cent) and the co-location of specialist services has increased efficiency, patient and staff morale/retention and space within the hospital for expansion.
A new ‘Patient Navigator’, by an experienced practitioner, provides ‘quick-fire’ triage, avoiding duplicated assessment or ‘hand-offs’ between departments, and creating efficient flows into UTC, CED, ED and the new mental health facilities. This is complemented by clear navigation, patient-friendly spaces, and the ability for excellent clinical observation. The open feel and bespoke interior design creates calming spaces, leading to reduced escalation in a challenging environment. The design provides patient-orientated spaces with discrete access to priority areas like resuscitation, imaging, etc. The flows are designed to provide efficient movement and prompt referral, escalation, admission or discharge, as required.
The project was a joint effort, with the Trust communicating with, and involving, patient, staff and local groups in the process, in order to foster pride and local ownership. ‘Mums on a mission’ aided in the design of the changing spaces facilities, while artworks of NHS heroes were donated by children.
The scheme has been future-proofed for pandemics, is Health Technical Memorandum (HTM)/Health Building Note (HBN) compliant, and rated BREEAM Excellent. Air source heat pumps have reduced running costs by 30 per cent, and are designed to bring backlog maintenance to 2030 down by £0.7m. The scheme utilised modern methods of construction (MMC) with repeatable elements, and is designed to allow four floors to be added in the future, aiding expansion and reduced carbon.
Scheme awards: Swindon Building Control – Best non-residential scheme, and IHEEM – New Build, Project of the Year.
We believe this is a fantastic design and a new clinical model that we look forward to presenting, both as an exemplar and to inform IFD developments within the NHS.Learning Objectives
- New clinical model for emergency departments
- Reuse and expansion of existing hospital estate
- Reduction in anxiety and aggression in emergency departments
11.45Precedent setting emergency care for seniors
Lisa Tobin
Principal, Cumulus Architects, CanadaLisa brings over 20 years of experience working almost exclusively within healthcare design. Her experience in clinical planning, backed by a broad knowledge of best practice, evidence-based design, accessibility design, and infection control, allows her to provide innovative solutions across the sector. Lisa is well known for her ability to translate competing user group needs within complex, fast-tracked projects that support both staff and patient wellbeing. She has been involved in numerous new build hospital projects as well as renovations within operational healthcare environments. As a Principal with Cumulus Architects Lisa has led complex multi-phased renovations for clients including University Health Network, Unity Health Toronto, Humber River Hospital and SickKids. Prior to joining Cumulus Lisa focused primarily on P3 hospital design and development delivering the Milton District Hospital Expansion and St. Catharines Hospital & Walker Family Cancer Centre as well as pursuits for Stanton Territorial Hospital, St. Michael’s Hospital Redevelopment, and the Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre. With her extensive knowledge and rich portfolio, Lisa regularly participates in critical conversations surrounding best practice, standards, and innovation in healthcare design. She is currently working with the University Health Network in Toronto to deliver Canada’s first emergency medicine centre focused exclusively on seniors care at Toronto Western Hospital. Credentials: MRAIC, OAA, EDAC
Tessa Ringer
Medical director, Myrna Daniels Seniors Emergency Medicine Centre and Staff Emergency Physician , University Health Network, CanadaTessa Ringer (she/her) is an emergency physician and Medical Director of the Myrna Daniels Seniors Emergency Medicine Centre (SEMC) at University Health Network in Toronto, Canada. From its inception, she has led the world’s first comprehensive program in geriatric emergency medicine, shaping its design, strategic vision, and clinical program. Supported by a $52 million gift from the John & Myrna Daniels Foundation, the SEMC embraces world-leading research, education, and clinical care, as well as the construction of Canada’s first purpose-built geriatric emergency department based at Toronto Western Hospital. She strives to centre patient care in every design decision and is proud to helm one of only a few clinician-led health infrastructure projects. She is prouder still to be one of Canada’s only out transgender healthcare leaders, and is a fierce advocate for the inclusion and visibility of gender diverse people at every level of health care. Previously, she was an attorney and a management consultant with a focus on health and government. She holds a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar and member of Balliol College. Credentials: MD JD MPHIL CCFP(EM)
Roxana Kobuta
Principal, Resource Planning Group, CanadaRoxana is a Principal at Resource Planning Group (RPG), a leading Canadian programming and planning firm that helps healthcare organizations focus on opportunities for innovation and leading edge, cost-effective pre-design solutions, all tied to the established model of care and service delivery model. Roxana has led numerous Master and Functional Programs ranging from small rural hospitals to complex multi-site organizations. Her work experiences have led her to appreciate the importance of an organization’s strategy in driving excellence at all levels of the organization and equipped her with the ability to take on an analytical, critical, and strategic lens to the projects she takes on. Credentials: MBA HBScPrecedent setting emergency care for seniors
Abstract Copy
The growing elderly population presents unique challenges for emergency departments (EDs), which are traditionally designed to manage acute trauma rather than the complex needs of older adults. Seniors are more likely to present with falls, cognitive impairments and chronic conditions, yet traditional ED environments often fail to provide the safety, comfort and specialised care they require. The Myrna Daniels Seniors Emergency Medicine Centre (SEM) at Toronto Western Hospital, part of the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada is pioneering a new approach by combining adaptive, humanistic design with tailored clinical strategies to improve patient outcomes, reduce hospital admissions and enhance patient dignity. Our discussion will focus on three themes.
Intersection of design and clinical medicine
The SEM, set to open in 2025, represents a pioneering initiative addressing the needs of a rapidly ageing urban population. With no direct Canadian precedent, the project relies on an evidence-based approach to design that integrates validated strategies to support the perceptual, physical and cognitive changes experienced by older adults. By establishing a new model of care and aligning clinical service planning with innovative infrastructure, the centre addresses traditional barriers seniors face in emergency care. Through partnerships with patient advocates, healthcare providers and caregivers, the design ensures seamless care pathways that guide senior patients through diagnosis, treatment and a timely return to home, improving patient outcomes and care delivery efficiency.
Art and architecture
Empathetic design is a core principle informing the development of the SEM and similar healthcare initiatives. By observing and understanding patients’ lived experiences within healthcare environments, design decisions prioritise dignity, comfort and accessibility, particularly for ageing and neurodiverse populations. The goal is to create human-centred spaces that promote feelings of safety, wellbeing and empowerment for both patients and staff. The design integrates biophilic principles, art and architecture as tools to foster identity and recovery while addressing challenges like fall hazards, cognitive limitations and physical accessibility in healthcare spaces.
Tertiary care
The SEM exemplifies how specialist services can be integrated into healthcare infrastructure to better meet the needs of geriatric patients. The facility’s design supports enhanced geriatric assessment from specialist staff, accommodations for cognitive impairments and removal of physical hazards, ensuring older patients receive care within a tailored environment (including, but not limited to, mental health, rehab, geriatric specialties, oncology). This approach advances access to care, optimises outcomes for a vulnerable patient population and positions the SEM as a model for inclusive healthcare delivery.
Learning Objectives
- Innovation
- Design
- Accessibility
12.05Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networking14.00 - 15.30Session 13- Designing for patient safety
Chair: Ganesh Suntharalingam OBE, Intensivist, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, UKGanesh Suntharalingam OBE
Intensivist, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, UKGanesh is an intensive care consultant with a specialist interest in leadership, service design and development. He is honorary secretary and forthcoming president-elect of the Intensive Care Society.14.00Disrupting the status quo: Applying evidence-based design to reduce HAIs, prevent patient falls and improve safety at the new Cowichan District Hospital
Kyle Basilius
Principal, Parkin Architects, CanadaKyle is an American-licensed architect, a board-certified healthcare architect, and a principal. For nearly 20 years, he has collaborated closely with clinicians and clients, specializing in the planning, master planning, and programming of healthcare construction projects in the United States, Denmark, and Canada. Kyle is actively involved in the healthcare design community. He serves as co-chair of the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) Continuing Competence Committee and has also contributed as the International Federation of Healthcare Engineering’s (IFHE) volunteer technical architect for the WHO and WFP-led INITIATE² Infectious Disease Treatment Module (IDTM) project. Additionally, he is a member of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z8000 Ambulatory Care/Procedures Working Group.
Corrine Pettigrew
Clinical and support services lead for operational readiness, CDH Replacement Project, Island Health, CanadaCorry Pettigrew, a Clinical Manager within the local Health Authority, brings a unique lens to healthcare design. She brings a diverse background in kinesiology, ergonomics, and safety as well as an in-depth understanding of the many healthcare departmental operations. This cumulative knowledge and experience is used to collaborate with other subject matter experts in an evidence-based design approach to create healing environments that optimize workflow and are safe for all who inhabit the space; patients, staff and visitors alike.
Melinda Lobo
Associate, Parkin Architects, CanadaMelinda Lobo, an accomplished Clinical Planner and Project Manager, brings a wealth of expertise in institutional planning, with a focus on architecture, healthcare, urban design, and master planning. With a strong foundation in evidence-based design principles, Melinda has been instrumental in collaborating with diverse clients to create transformative healing environments. Her deep understanding of spatial optimization and user-centered design has led to the development of healthcare spaces that prioritize seamless navigation and foster therapeutic experiences. Driven by a passion for architecture, healthcare, and urban design, Melinda is dedicated to crafting human-centered environments that inspire wellness and enhance the built experience.Disrupting the status quo: Applying evidence-based design to reduce HAIs, prevent patient falls and improve safety at the new Cowichan District Hospital
Abstract Copy
British Columbia, Canada is experiencing a healthcare infrastructure boom to modernise facilities and meet the needs of a growing population. Island Health, which serves Vancouver Island and the adjacent Gulf Islands, has constructed purpose-designed facilities over the past decade and continues to innovate. The New Cowichan District Hospital Redevelopment Project aims to triple the facility's size while improving health outcomes through evidence-based design (EBD) interventions focused on four strategic areas: infection prevention and control (IPC), occupational health and safety (OH&S), patient fall reduction and room standardisation.
Infection prevention and control
The goal is to achieve a 20 per cent reduction in MRSA and C. difficile healthcare-associated infection rates compared to the old facility. Key strategies include:
• the creation of outbreak units;
• curtainless, predominantly single-patient rooms;
• wall-mounted waste management units;
• separate soiled and clean material corridors;
• dedicated hand hygiene sinks in staff corridors;
• ultraviolet-C disinfection lights in shared or high-traffic washrooms.
Occupational health and safety
To reduce staff musculoskeletal injury time-loss rates by 25 per cent, design interventions focus on minimising turns in travel paths, particularly for food service and equipment depot staff. In the absence of automated guided vehicles (AGVs), deliberate department adjacencies and simplified pathways address historically high injury rates related to material handling.
Patient fall reduction
Patient bedrooms and washrooms pose the highest fall risks. Design interventions aim to reduce falls by 50 per cent through:
• washroom fixtures and accessories oriented to minimise turning movements;
• clear, unobstructed paths from the bed to the washroom;
• visibility of the toilet and washroom door from the bed;
• double-sided toilet clearance to support staff assistance.
Standardisation of recurrent rooms
Standardising 24 room types enhances efficiency, optimises workflows, and reduces cognitive load by creating consistent and predictable environments. Specific interventions are expected to reduce 'hospital harm' or patient safety errors by 30 per cent, defined as the number of discharges with at least one harm event per 100 discharges. Key strategies include:
• leveraging the dRofus database to log operational flows and integrate EBD research into room design;
• implementing same-handed layouts across departments to ensure uniform operational and clinical flows.
Research-driven design interventions, developed in collaboration with user groups and the community, are being implemented across these four categories. With the new facility set to open in spring 2027, a post-occupancy evaluation framework is being prepared to validate these hypotheses, with findings to be published in 2028.Learning Objectives
- Gain an understanding of how evidence-based design principles address critical healthcare challenges – including infection prevention and control, occupational health and safety and patient fall reduction – to enhance patient care and staff welfare
- Develop an understanding of how evidence-based design research, when applied to design standardisation and documentation, supports clinical service planning strategies, fosters improved patient care and enhances clinical workflows
- Analyse design interventions that create spaces supporting patient recovery and staff safety. Understand how thoughtful, evidence-based design contributes to positive outcomes for both patients and healthcare providers
14.20Updated guidance for infection prevention and control in hospital planning, and challenges with water systems
Lilian Leistad
Hospital planner, Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency (Sykehusbygg HF), NorwayLilian has been working in Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency) since 2017. The job covers early planning of hospitals (including estimating future hospital activity and capacity needs) and pre- and post-evaluation of hospitals and monitoring through the phases of a project. Additionally, the job includes developing evaluation tools and guidelines, in cooperation with internal and external actors, including health authorities and other relevant institutions. Previous work has been related to research within molecular medicine and epidemiology, including health registries and health studies, as well as biological material and contribution to public reports (e.g. National health and hospital plan). She has a Master`s degree in cell biology and holds a PhD in Molecular Medicine from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. The thesis was about the role of inflammatory mediators in rheumatic diseases.
Anita Wang Børseth
Hospital planner, special adviser in infection prevention and control, Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency (Sykehusbygg HF), NorwayAnita has been working in Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency) since April 2024. The job covers advice and guidance within infection prevention and control for various projects, and hospital planning. The task about advice and guidance consists of development of platform for knowledge and guidelines. Planning and implementation of training and skills development within infection control. Cooperation with external actors, including health authorities and other relevant institutions. Assistance in investigations, case management and decision support within infection prevention and control. Previous work has been more 20 years as an infection prevention and control practitioner in hospitals, first in local level and later in regional level. The work has included services as expert assistance to other health institutions in Central Norway Regional Health Authority, including infection control advice, monitoring, education and training of personnel, developing e learning for health peroneal, participating different project and improvement work, research and investigation of outbreaks. She has also for almost three years’ experience from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health as senior adviser with task during the pandemic, with advice, surveillance and developing guidelines for the Norwegian health care. She has a Master`s degree in Public health, with title of the thesis: Single-occupancy rooms: an infectious disease prevention measure in hospitals.Updated guidance for infection prevention and control in hospital planning, and challenges with water systems
Abstract Copy
To minimise the risk of transmission of infection in hospitals, good environmental hygiene and clinical practice supported by the physical environment are highly important. Experiences from the Covid-19-pandemic and new challenges with water systems as a source of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have made us aware of their implications in hospital buildings. Updated knowledge of infection prevention and control in hospitals is therefore needed. We will present the updated Norwegian guidelines for infection prevention and control in hospital planning, focusing on lessons learned from the Covid-19-pandemic and challenges with water systems.
A common method is a prerequisite to the transfer knowledge between the hospital projects and a foundation for knowledge-based practice. To develop and establish the guidelines for infection prevention and control in hospital planning, we performed a systematic literature review, that included international guidelines for built environment and water systems, document studies and evaluation, and engaged a work group of professionals from the field of infection prevention and control. This helped us to build insight into how to design and plan hospital facilities with updated recommendations for the physical environment.
Acquiring knowledge among hospital planners about the physical environment that facilitates good practice for infection prevention and control contributes not only to the planning and design of safer workplaces for healthcare personnel, but also to better outcomes for patients. The Norwegian guidelines for infection prevention and control in hospital planning are a useful and important tool that can act a foundation for the design, planning, construction and refurbishment of hospitals. Our recommendation is that the guidelines should be used for all hospital projects. The updated guidelines for infection prevention and control in hospital planning will be published in a new platform for knowledge on the Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency's website: Kunnskapsbanken - Sykehusbygg HF.
In summary, the overall messages to ensure effective infection prevention and control are:
• include document studies, evaluation, literature review and engage a working group of professionals in developing guidelines;
• results included in updated guidelines for infection prevention and control must be transferred to design, planning, construction and refurbishment of hospitals together with existing hospitals;
• include discussion around the challenges with water systems in healthcare;
• facilitate collaboration between hospital planners, hospital staff, professionals in infection prevention control and those in charge of construction and building.Learning Objectives
- Updated guidance for infection prevention and control in hospital planning
- Lessons learned from the Covid-19-pandemic in hospital planning
- Challenges with water systems in hospitals and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)
14.40Beyond the dirty corridor: Designing facilities for surgical procedures that improve patient safety
Iván Paul Martín Jefremovas
Architect, Department of Health - Valencian Regional Government (Generalitat Valenciana), SpainIván Paul Martín Jefremovas is an Spanish architect graduated from the University of Zaragoza (2014) with exchange stays at Università IUAV di Venezia, and Polytechnic University of Valencia, and with a Master’s degree in Healthcare Engineering and Architecture Design. After a period working for private heritage restoration projects, since 2015, he has been Civil Servant for the Spanish Regional Administration, first for the Aragón Region (2015-2020) and nowadays for the Valencian Region (since 2020), specializing in the management of public infrastructure projects developing a technical expertise in designing complex infrastructures. Currently, he plays a key role in the Infrastructure Office of the Valencian Department of Health, leading flagship projects such as the implementation of a proton therapy unit at La Fe University Hospital in Valencia or the new Campus for the Clinic University Hospital in Valencia. His expertise also extends to educational infrastructure, small-scale projects, housing, and heritage restoration, where he combines creativity and innovation with meticulous technical execution. Iván is a committed professional who actively contributes to advancing healthcare infrastructure, as evidenced by his participation in specialised forums. He has been actively involved lecturing in several editions of the Spanish National Congress of Healthcare Infrastructure, including serving as a moderator and scientific committee member in the 2021 edition, underlining the importance of creating sustainable and functional environments that prioritise patient wellbeing. With over a decade of experience, Iván aims to transform ideas into feasible and inspiring realities, improving public services through his passion for design, construction, and innovation.Beyond the dirty corridor: Designing facilities for surgical procedures that improve patient safety
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Hospitals and, more particularly, facilities for surgical procedures are highly complex environments where multiple risk factors for patient safety converge. The WHO estimates that up to 50 per cent of adverse events are potentially avoidable, so their prevention is one of the main fields of work of healthcare institutions. In this context, infrastructure can play a relevant role by adding layers of security against adverse events.
In terms of infrastructure, strategies to achieve this have traditionally focused on the separation of clean and dirty circuits, the use of coatings that favour asepsis, ensuring certain levels of indoor air quality, as well as guaranteeing the continuity of its operation even in critical situations. However, solutions to improve patient safety based on the needs of the professionals working in the surgical block have been explored in a more limited way.
The purpose of our study was to analyse the impact of the design of facilities for surgical procedures on patient safety from the perspective of infection prevention, operational efficiency and the wellbeing of professionals – in particular, identifying how factors such as air conditioning, circulation flows and spatial layout affect both the quality of care and staff wellbeing, and ultimately, patient safety.
An exhaustive review of the existing scientific and regulatory literature and national and international guidelines was used, complemented by the analysis of case studies in hospitals with different configurations of surgical blocks through observation, unstructured interview, survey and three detailed case studies.
The results showed a tendency of the design guidelines towards prescriptive approaches – and the importance of maintaining a vision throughout the project, making design decisions aligned with the processes, especially in those issues subject to debate, such as the circulation scheme. The case studies showed a wide variability of configurations that, in general, are open to improvement via process management or through the vision of the professionals working in them.
Adequate design of surgical blocks helps to prevent infections, facilitates the processes by minimising the risks associated with error and contributes to improving the wellbeing of personnel and, therefore, patient safety. Likewise, new lines of research were revealed that delve deeper into certain aspects that have been studied or into new visions, such as that of the patients themselves.
These findings could serve as catalysts for a change in the perception and design of future surgical blocks in Spain, allowing greater flexibility in the incorporation of innovative design elements.Learning Objectives
- Patient safety
- Professional wellbeing
- Surgical block logistics
15.00Panel discussion15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 14- Healthcare workforce wellbeing
Unni Dahl
Hospital planner, Sykehusbygg HFUnni has been working in Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency) since 2015. The job covers early planning of hospitals, pre- and post-evaluation of hospitals and monitoring through the phases of a project. Additionally, the job includes developing evaluation tools and guidelines. Previous work includes collaboration between hospital and primary health care services, developing specialist health care services for patients with chronic diseases, patient education programs and patient participation. Unni has background as a nurse and has a Master’s degree in pedagogics where the thesis was a study of the doctor – patient communication. She holds a PhD in Medicine. The thesis was about coordination of health care services and follow-up among elderly and chronically ill patients after hospital discharge.16.00Refining a mixed-method toolkit for examining the wellbeing of nurses in psychiatric facilities
Milica Vujovic
Assitant professor, Technische Universitat Wien, AustriaMilica Vujovic is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at TU Wien, where she teaches courses on the advanced design of data-informed design and social infrastructure. With an interest in evidence-based design, Milica's research integrates computer science, data science, and mechatronics principles to inform architectural practices through scientific methodologies. Her expertise is gathering, processing, analysing, and visualising data using contemporary methods and tools. Milica's previous research projects have involved deploying multimodal sensor systems to collect data on human behaviour, enabling a deeper understanding of the environmental impacts on different behavioural patterns. Additionally, she has explored environmental characteristics and developed methods to detect and measure their influences. Milica is also actively involved in interdisciplinary research collaborations. One of them is the Sustainable and Healthy Environments (SHE) Lab at the Melbourne School of Design. Together, they work on projects integrating Internet of Things (IoT) devices and novel data acquisition techniques in office environments. These collaborations underscore commitment to advancing sustainable and health-conscious design practices through innovative partnerships and cutting-edge research methodologies. In addition to her teaching and research, Milica serves as the head of the Spatial Interest Group “Knowledge Discovery in Architecture” at the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (CAIML) at TU Wien. In this role, she drives initiatives to leverage AI and machine learning techniques to address spatial design challenges and enhance architectural practices. Through her multifaceted roles in teaching, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Milica is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of architectural innovation and promoting sustainable, human-centric design solutions.
Maja Kevdzija
Assistant professor in healthcare design, Technische Universitat Wien, AustriaDr.-Ing. Maja Kevdzija, EDAC is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at TU Wien, Austria in the field of Healthcare Design. She has extensive experience in conducting empirical research using the mixed methods approach (observation, shadowing, interview) in close contact with vulnerable populations in healthcare environments and in teaching research methods examining the relationship between the built environment and its users. Her research on mobility-supporting rehabilitation centers for stroke patients was awarded multiple awards, most notably the Healthcare Environment Award 2020 (USA), the 2021 European Healthcare Design Award in the Design Research category (UK), and the 2021 EDRA Certificate of Research Excellence (CORE) with Merit Status (USA).
Matthäus Fellinger
MD, Prim. Dr. Dr., Klinik Hietzing Wien, AustriaPrim. DDr. Matthäus Fellinger is the Head of the 2nd Psychiatry Department, specializing in Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine with a focus on Social Psychiatry. With extensive expertise in social psychiatry, Dr. Fellinger is dedicated to advancing mental health care through innovative approaches and interdisciplinary collaboration. He also leads the Karl Landsteiner Institute for Mental Health, where he oversees research initiatives aimed at improving mental health outcomes and fostering inclusive therapeutic practices.Refining a mixed-method toolkit for examining the wellbeing of nurses in psychiatric facilities
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The combination of clinical expertise, compassion and alertness is essential in psychiatric nursing. Stress, heavy workloads and constant patient attention may negatively impact nurses’ mental health, job satisfaction and the quality of provided care (Foster et al., 2020; Ham et al., 2022). Furthermore, the impact of a medical facility’s physical environment on staff, especially nurses, is gaining attention due to their frequent interaction with patients and surroundings (Rafeeq and Mustafa, 2021; Shen et. al., 2023; Karki and Parikh, 2024). However, the impact of the physical environment on psychiatric nurses is still underexplored. Understanding the relationship between stress, the environment and interpersonal dynamics is critical for improving nurses’ wellbeing and patient care.
This session presents the iterative development and optimisation of a mixed-method research toolkit designed to investigate the impact of the physical environment on the wellbeing of psychiatric nurses. Initially combining qualitative observations and quantitative sensor data, the methodology underwent extensive testing and refinement in the recently renovated psychiatric department of Klinik Hietzing (Vienna) to address the challenges of studying dynamic and sensitive settings such as psychiatric facilities. By iteratively improving the approach, a toolkit was tailored to capture nuanced interactions between environmental factors and nurses' physiological and psychological responses.
The study employed a comprehensive methodology, combining behavioural mapping of nurses' activities and movements with sensor-based data on light exposure (melanopic EDI), heart rate variability (HRV), sleep patterns and activity. The toolkit captured personal experiences, stress levels and interaction occurrences, offering a holistic view of factors affecting nurses' wellbeing and performance. Early testing revealed several limitations, including the intrusiveness of observations during certain tasks and challenges with maintaining sensor precision and participant comfort. These insights informed an iterative optimisation process, leading to adjustments such as block scheduling for observations, alternative remote observation techniques and dual-sensor setups for light dosimetry and HRV monitoring.
The optimised toolkit balances data accuracy with participant comfort, ensuring feasibility while maintaining the rigour. To illustrate the outcomes of the final setup, this paper includes sample data that demonstrate the effectiveness of the refined methodology. The presented research demonstrates the importance of iterative optimisation in mixed-method research, particularly in sensitive and dynamic settings like psychiatric facilities. By refining the balance between qualitative and quantitative approaches, the resulting toolkit provides a robust method for studying environmental effects and physiological responses that can be employed fully or partially to better understand and improve working environments for healthcare professionals.Learning Objectives
- Understand the role of environmental factors on nurses' wellbeing
- Explore mixed-method research approaches
- Develop skills in iterative research design and methodology optimisation
16.20Architectural design parameters and its effect on the wellbeing of nurses
Manasi Deshpande
Architect, Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture, IndiaI am an architect and a M.Arch - Environmental Architecture student with a passion for sustainable and impactful design. With a strong foundation in civil engineering and architecture, my work focuses on creating functional spaces that blend creativity and purpose. During my internship at B.Arch level, I contributed to various healthcare projects, honing my skills in design execution and project management. During my internship at AEEE, I was involved in policy research and environmental studies to promote energy-efficient solutions. Outside of architecture, I enjoy reading, creative writing, and exploring new ideas through design.Sujata Karve, Professor and head of department, Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture, India
Sujata Karve
Professor and head of department, Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture, IndiaArchitect- planner with over 20 years of experience in academics and 10 years in sustainable planning and environmental design consultancy. Currently the Head of Department of M. Arch (Environmental Architecture) at BNCA, Pune, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from MMCA, Pune, Master’s degree in Planning from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and was awarded Ph. D in 2018 from the SPPU. With a focus on environment and environmental behaviour, she is actively involved in various research-oriented activities and academics. With a keen interest in resilience planning, she has researched, taught and written on environmental behaviour, climate resilience and planning and energy efficiency. She has collaborated on various studio-based projects focused on environmental planning and design. Her doctoral research straddles the field of environmental psychology, spatial behaviour, space syntax and comfort studies with a focus on healthcare environments. She is a LEED GA and IGBC AP and is actively involved in projects aiming to achieve green certification. She is also understanding behaviour at urban level and its applicability in planning for resilience. She is a Member of BOS (Architecture) at SPPU. She is also on the Doctoral Research committees at various institutions in India.Architectural design parameters and its effect on the wellbeing of nurses
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The design of healthcare environments plays a crucial role in the wellbeing of healthcare providers, especially nurses who are at the forefront of patient care. There has been strong empirical evidence which shows the influence of design attributes on users’ wellbeing in healthcare environments. Largely seen as healing spaces for the patients, it cannot be overlooked that it is a work environment for the non-patient whose wellbeing is equally important.
This study explores the effect of architectural elements that shape healthcare spaces on the physical and mental wellbeing of nurses as non-patient users. While patient-centred design has been widely studied, the environments where nurses work are often overlooked, leading to a gap in meeting their needs. The research tries to understand this through the lens of environmental behaviour and how architecture plays a role.
This research compares two healthcare settings: private hospitals, which typically offer better facilities and environments, and government hospitals, where conditions are often less ideal. By examining differences in psychological wellbeing, job satisfaction and engagement with the physical workspace among these two groups of nurses, the study aims to highlight how architectural design influences their daily experiences and overall satisfaction with their work environment. The study is based in India, about which there is relatively less research.
The respondents for this study comprised nursing staff from two 350-bed multi-specialty hospitals, with 50 from a government hospital and 50 from a private hospital. Data was collected through surveys and structured questionnaires, as well as employing a mixed-methods approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection. In addition to the surveys and structured questionnaires, open questions were used to get better insights, exploring factors such as natural light, noise levels, resting spaces, building design, ventilation and temperature. The statistical data gained from the surveys enabled the researchers to identify correlations between environmental factors and nurses’ wellbeing, while open-ended questions offered qualitative insights into nurses' experiences in both settings.
The comparative analysis conducted between private and government hospitals showed a difference in the levels of satisfaction in the work environments of the two hospitals. By focusing on elements like natural light, noise control, ergonomic resting areas and building design, this research advocates the need for healthcare architecture that provides a comfortable and satisfactory environment for nurses, regardless of their work setting.
Learning Objectives
- To understand the effect of built environment of nurses' wellbeing
- To explore whether hospital ownership results in differences between the work environments provided
- To identify factors that play a significant role in the perception of satisfaction
16.40Supporting a healthy workforce for the NHS
Sharon Cook
Senior architect, P+HS Architects, United KingdomBased in the Newcastle Studio and one of the Practice's Healthcare Leads, Sharon has over 10 years experience of working on projects in the Healthcare sector. Sharon’s expertise covers Primary Care and Acute Care; working for a cross section of NHS Trusts and private clients. Equipped with a broad range of skills, Sharon has a passion for stakeholder engagement and also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Construction Project Management. Recent schemes include refurbishment of Pathology labs, ITU and Endoscopy Departments and also a new build Health and Care Academy encompassing a Primary Care centre, nursing School, training and conference facility.
Hannah Gallacher
Business manager, Northumbria Health and Care Academy, United KingdomHannah Gallacher is the Business Manager at the Northumbria Health and Care Academy, where she plays a pivotal role in driving innovation in healthcare education and workforce development. She holds a Joint Honours BSc in Health and Social Care with Counselling and began her NHS career in a clinical role within palliative care. This early experience provided her with a deep understanding of patient-centered care, which continues to inform her work today. With over 13 years of experience in the NHS, Hannah has held several key project management positions, delivering complex initiatives that improve service delivery and workforce capability. In her current role, she works closely with a senior clinical team to develop and implement transformative education and training programs for healthcare professionals across Northumbria using state-of-the-art simulation, AI and VR resources. Hannah is passionate about fostering innovation and collaboration in healthcare education, ensuring that training is not only responsive to current workforce needs but also anticipates future challenges of the NHS.Supporting a healthy workforce for the NHS
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It has been widely reported that the NHS is facing a crisis in staffing. "Train, retain and reform" are priority areas stated in the ‘NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan’ – but how can the built environment help? Looking at two completed projects, we explore the approaches used.
The Health and Care Academy at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSEC), host to a trailblazing partnership between Northumbria NHS Foundation Trust and Sunderland University, trains the workforce of the future through provision of a state-of-the-art nursing, midwifery and allied health professional training facility. In addition, as winner of the Healthy Workplace Award at Healthy City Design 2024 and targeting WELL Gold accreditation, it is a fantastic working environment. This extends to the collocated uses within the building, including conference accommodation, a community health professionals base and GP practice. There is an emphasis on providing different workspaces including breakout, a wide range of meeting spaces and more traditionally configured offices. Dedicated telephone and digital consulting spaces to support the GP’s modern ways of working, recognise the increased need for facilities to interact digitally with patients. Staff rest areas and external spaces are also key.
The Northern Centre for Cancer Care, Cumberland Infirmary, completed in 2021, was driven by a goal of all-round sustainability, including being socially sustainable and a successful building where people aspire to work or be treated. This was in response to a service deemed to be at risk, partly down to a lack of specialist staff. Working closely with building users to create a successful working environment with emphasis on having the spaces that staff need in the right location to support the working flow, Suzanne Stanley, Oncology services manager at Cumbria NHS, said: “We can see how the architects really listened to feedback - adding a staff rest room and meeting room; a flow allowing movement between LINACs and CTs without walking through the main waiting areas; side rooms for chemo patients that retained visual access from the nurses’ station.”
A few years on, the building has set a precedent for a welcoming, user-friendly environment for staff and patients which has been carried through following projects at Cumberland Infirmary and has been shown to improve the recruitment and retention of nurses and radiographers.
Looking ahead, we will reflect on how including more consideration of staff spaces during project inception can create successful projects in terms of attracting and retaining the NHS workforce.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the staffing challenges faced by the NHS and the part that the built environment can play in this
- Outlining design principles relating to example schemes
- Review learning from completed projects and feedback received
17.00Panel discussionEnd of Intersection of clinical medicine and design stream -
Art, design and inclusivity
Platt Room
10.45 - 12.30Session 15- Art and inclusive design
Ruth Charity
Arts co-ordinator, artlink, Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT, UKRuth Charity has worked for over 25 years curating and commissioning contemporary art, for the past 15 years focusing on work for public spaces, particularly in the field of arts and health. Her background is in visual arts curation – working for the British Council’s Visual Arts Department (1989-92) touring exhibitions overseas, as a curator at The Photographers’ Gallery, London (1992-97), Curator of the Mead Gallery at Warwick Arts Centre (1997), and Assistant Director of Artpoint, the public art commissioning agency for the South of England (1997- 2005). Ruth has always been interested in commissioning new work by artists in response to particular contexts, in supporting artists in taking their work in new directions, and involving and engaging the public in the development of new work. In 2007 she founded artlink, the arts programme for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Past projects include a 5 storey wall painting by Michael Craig-Martin for the Children’s Hospital atrium; a £250k integrated art programme for a new Cancer Centre at the Churchill Hospital; a extensive photographic project by Jan von Holleben to provide distraction on routes from children’s wards to theatres; and a Wellcome funded collaboration by artist Susan Morris and a chronobiologist to create a series of large tapestries reflecting sleep/wakefulness patterns. Additional freelance work has included the curation of a programme of work by photographer Gina Glover for the Oxford Fertility Centre; a series of commissions for new library and student facilities at Oxford Brookes University; and work on a Public Art Strategy for the Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Birmingham (for Willis Newson). Ruth has written on contemporary art in catalogues and journals. In 2005 she edited the publication ReViews: Artists and Public Space (Black Dog Publishing), an extensive review of Artpoint’s projects, focussing on the artist’s experience within public art practice.10.45Art as a curative tool
Lynn Lindley
Associate principal, senior interior designer, Arcadis, United KingdomLynn is a highly regarded interior designer with a wealth of experience designing public sector buildings, principally in healthcare. Having worked on an extensive range of projects from new build to retrofit, Lynn is extremely talented at taking the architectural structure and finding the optimal combination of space, colour, texture and materials to totally transform a building’s character. By applying holistic interior design concepts, her work centres on specific design aspects that improves a person’s wellbeing and creates a healthy environment. These include lighting, colour, interior form, product development, modern textures and materials and the incorporation of artworks in a finished scheme. Lynn has worked with a number of Arts consultants and is keen to integrate ‘artwork’ into healthcare design as an intrinsic part of a design strategy. Lynn has extensive hands-on experience designing very specialist interiors, specifically for mental health facilities encompassing older people and dementia, adult, children and adolescent units, low, medium and high security buildings. She has a profound understanding of the psychological and emotional impact colour, texture and light can have on ser-vice-users, and she has created a number of inspirational schemes that have fully supported the client’s model of care.
Hetty Dupays
Art and design manager, Royal United Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust , United KingdomAfter completing an MA in Fine Art (Painting) at Bath Spa University in 2004, Hetty has directed her energy, enthusiasm and skills to Art at the Heart (AATH). She is currently undertaking a HND in Interior Design, which will equip her with the necessary knowledge to create bespoke interior design schemes and arts commissions for the RUH; including ongoing projects for the Dyson Cancer Centre and RNHRD and Therapies Centre.Art as a curative tool
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Architecture has been, and arguably still is, inclusive within the subject of art. It is the means through which the spatial narrative is brought down to a human scale enabling the individual to connect with the environment surrounding them, opening up the opportunity to curate a particular range of emotional responses towards the spaces being designed.
The synergistic effect between art and architecture is powerful. Art can assist us when experiencing illness, processing challenging emotions and managing difficult circumstances. In a healthcare facility where art is integrated into the design, a patient's journey can be supported by creativity and healing.
One of the predominant, but not singular, characteristics to feature in creating positive outcomes and enhancing wellbeing is the natural environment. The idea that contact with nature is somehow good or beneficial for people is an old and widespread notion. For many years, there have been studies and discussions that have sought to understand this affiliation towards the natural environment. Evidence-based research reveals a compelling case for the inclusion of biophilic design principles when considering curative environments. With such strong arguments being presented, the application of these biophilic design principles within the remits of art are likely to result in inherent positive affiliations.
Our presentation will reveal how the synergistic effect between art and architecture inspired the vision for the RUH Dyson Cancer Centre in Bath. Following the journey from conception to completion, our conversation will highlight the profound impact that creative engagement can have on emotional wellbeing and recovery. We communicate our design journey through the choreography of architecture, art and interior design and demonstrate the value of the comprehensive art works curated by Art at the Heart of the RUH.
Our approach to the built environment is holistic and human-centred and rooted in how our innate relationship and connection with nature can provide supportive and uplifting environments for patients, staff and visitors. The vision behind the Cancer Centre from the onset was to bring the outside, natural world into the hospital environment, and a biophilic methodology underpins the theme of Land, Water, Sky.
The design of the Cancer Centre has been developed to promote clinical excellence, offer dignity and provide a feeling of calm, to reduce stress and anxiety, and provide an environment which supports every step of an individual’s journey and ultimately improves patient outcomes.Learning Objectives
- The benefits of art in healthcare
- Defining a design narrative
- The demands and requirements of site-specific art
11.05Community and co-existence in healthcare: How design learning at the sharp end of emergency departments and mental health inpatient facilities can enhance design in all healthcare environments
Martin Jones
Director, Art in Site, United KingdomMartin has a tendency to draw and scribble -his desk is often littered with piles of paper, covered in doodles of figures in action, designs and verbatim quotes from meetings. The notebooks p go back through a career in which he has approached film making, advertising and theatre all through the eyes of an artist - picking up from his co-creators the analytical mindset and ingenuity that get things made with the resources available. Martin believes in beauty - and its power to repair and inspire. This belief brings with it a painful understanding of how beauty can be driven out if you carelessly forget what it is like to be a human being in a real space, where real light falls in a real moment in time. Sometimes Martin’s drawings find their way directly onto the walls of Art in Site’s schemes, but more often they are his way of exchanging ideas - with the in-house team of designers he encourages - and with the artists and craftspeople that Art in Site draw into their schemes.
Craig McDonald
Consultant paediatrician, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, United KingdomConsultant Paediatrician, Stoke Mandeville Hospital Clinical Lead for the building of a new Children's ED, Stoke Mandeville Hospital
Gerd Sortland
Head occupational therapist, Camden and Islington Foundation NHS Trust, United KingdomGerd Sortland, qualified as an occupational therapist from University of Ulster, Jordanstown in 1999. Have for the past 25 years worked as an occupational therapist in the NHS, predominantly in mental health services. Have worked in a wide range of mental health settings in mental health such as community, acute inpatient, and forensic services. Have also experience from working on hospital development project especially working with service users to gather their input into new hospital environment. Currently works as head of occupational and arts therapies in hospital division in North London NHS Foundation Trust.Community and co-existence in healthcare: How design learning at the sharp end of emergency departments and mental health inpatient facilities can enhance design in all healthcare environments
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In a recent design consultation session, the mother of an adult with learning difficulties described emergency department (ED) waiting rooms a 'living hell' – a feeling compounded by her shame at the disturbance her son caused to others.
We will show how design responses at the 'sharp end' of ED can extend innovation in shared spaces throughout hospitals, especially sites of emotional and psychological distress, or where staff decompress. Motivated by cost consciousness and clinical flexibility, emotional care and mental health rooms too often look and feel like clinical rooms: the same hard surfaces, white paint and bright lighting recur – design tropes embedded in the procurement systems of UK hospitals, perpetuating a model of patient compliance (self-repression) that inhibits 'the patient’s part' in diagnosis. To be clinically useful, the answer to "How do you feel?" has to come out of calm interception, which is too often masked by feeling "anxious and discombobulated by this horrible little room".
"As a clinical team you have to work even harder if the environment is wrong, you have to make up ground." Debbie Komaromy, Head of nursing at Evelina London.
Policy and legislation has moved towards inclusion, driven by militant demand by people whose sensitivity to sensory experiences mean that a 'normal' utilitarian environment is disturbing, even traumatising. Responding by building separate, claustrophobic and ill-appointed rooms for each group results in increased load on clinical staff monitoring these rooms. Part of the answer must be to design shared spaces where people with very different needs can co-exist comfortably.
Our presentation will show the benefits of paying close attention social interaction: patient to patient and patient to staff. Empathetic design can help people to share spaces by providing choices: adjustable lighting, a different palette of materials, ‘calm spaces’ to withdraw from the hurly-burly and recuperate, furniture to help positive social interactions, and visual clues that link to staff training on best practice communication. It will look at staff and patient feedback on existing designs in use at Stoke Mandeville Children’s ED and Highgate East Mental Health Centre, designs for Yeovil ED and concepts for Homerton ED. We will go on to show how sensitivity to social dynamics in ‘human holding tanks’ can help to make a patient’s experience more comfortable and efficient in all areas of hospital design, from a ‘bad news room’ in maternity to a radical new approach to staff rooms.Learning Objectives
- Transferring design knowledge from emergency and mental health environments to improve and innovate in all areas of healthcare design
- Engendering and enabling community harmony and co-existence with furniture, zoning and distraction
- Improving clinician/patient interactions using design to mitigate anxiety and 'freak outs'
11.25Championing mental health recovery through creativity and co-design
Niamh White
Co-Founder, Hospital Rooms, UKNiamh White is a visual arts curator. She is co-founder of Hospital Rooms, which commissions world class artists to work in partnership with patients and staff to radically re-envision clinical mental health spaces. She has co-led Hospital Rooms’ strategic growth over the past 7 years and its transition into an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation in 2023. She has an excellent track record in generating significant funding from public bodies including Arts Council England, philanthropic foundations such as Garfield Weston Foundation, Rayne Foundation and Isabella Blow Foundation, and corporate partnerships including Hauser & Wirth and Pinterest. She has led evaluation and impact monitoring of projects with university and WHO partners, is an experienced public speaker and regularly delivers lectures at various universities and conferences. She is a Senior Research Fellow at Norwich University of the Arts, was a Professional Fellow at Leeds University and studied Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths College.
Tim A Shaw
Co-Founder, Hospital Rooms, UKTim A Shaw is a practicing artist and his work has been exhibited in the UK, Europe and USA. He is a co-founder of arts and mental health charity Hospital Rooms; co-founder of Making Time Arts, a social enterprise that delivers arts training to dementia caregivers; and programmes and co- curates the Dentons Art Prize, an arts award for exceptional emerging talent, now in it’s 11th round. He has led practical arts training sessions for professional artists in a number of countries, and has managed complex art installations for clients including Qatar Museum Authority, London Design Festival and Ayyam Gallery. He has been a curator on a number of projects including the public sculptures commissions for Horizon 120 in Braintree. He authored a book, Draw & Be Happy, published by Chronicle Books, Quarto, Ilex and Octopus, which was translated into multiple languages. He is a Senior Research Fellow at Norwich University of the Arts.Championing mental health recovery through creativity and co-design
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In 2016, artist Tim A Shaw and curator Niamh White, now co-founders of arts and mental health charity Hospital Rooms, first stepped into an inpatient mental health unit. They were visiting a close friend who had been hospitalised following a suicide attempt and were shocked to see the condition the ward was in – not just plain, clinical and uninspiring but actively dilapidated. Mental health service users would later tell us that their clinical environment was “dreary”, “bleak” and certainly not a place that tells patients arriving – often at one of the lowest moments of their lives – that this is a place where you will be cared for, this is a place where you will recover.
Fast forward eight years and, under Tim and Niamh’s direction, our growing team at Hospital Rooms brings the highest-quality design and creative activity into these spaces, working with acclaimed artists to catalyse a fundamental shift in the way we consider and treat people with the most difficult of mental health diagnoses. We have completed 23 projects nationwide, transforming the clinical environment of NHS mental health services, ranging from adult acute, specialist and forensic to psychiatric intensive care (PICU) and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
A key success of our wide-ranging art programme is our co-design model. Project teams work closely with service users and staff through an extensive research and development process to get to know them, their clinical environment and their aspirations for the space. Artists then lead an intensive season of creativity, facilitating workshops to inspire creativity and establish themes, colours and mediums in collaboration with the service users, which will underpin the resulting mural design.
Evidence tells us that participation in the arts in clinical settings can help patients to maintain a sense of personal dignity and control in what are often distressing circumstances ('The Power of Art', 2006). At Hospital Rooms, our evaluations continually tell us that patients desire to play a key role in the design of their environment, "I would have given anything to paint" (Service user, 2021), and significantly benefit from it, "Hospital Rooms has breathed beauty and comfort into a once clinical and cold space" (occupational therapist, 2022). This presentation will draw upon findings from our extensive evaluations to demonstrate the impact of the work of Hospital Rooms, making a case for participatory co-design and contributing to burgeoning scholarship at the intersection of art and health.Learning Objectives
- Congress attendees are introduced to the work of Hospital Rooms
- Congress attendees deepen their understanding of the impact of art in mental health care environments
- Congress attendees consider the benefits of service user participatory models of healthcare design
11.45The role of art and lighting in the redevelopment of a lower-ground floor hospital department
Andrew Hall
Head of impact and evaluation, CW+, United KingdomAndy Hall is the Head of Impact and Evaluation for CW+, the charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He oversees the charity’s strategy for evaluating the impact of its work, working closely with the Trust and key partners to measure and articulate the effect of the charity's programmes in the hospital community. He has worked with CW+ since 2016, when he joined as a member of the Arts Team. With a background in both music and academic research, Andy has led collaborative projects with clinicians from both hospital sites to investigate the effects of music and arts participation on patients and staff. This work has led to peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations across the country, including at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare and the Manchester Science Festival.
Laura Bradshaw
Arts project manager, CW+, United KingdomLaura joined CW+ as Arts Programme Manager in November 2023. She works across the arts programme, with responsibilities including managing collection activity and delivering art commissioning within the capital projects portfolio. Laura recently completed the MASc in Creative Health from UCL and her arts in health career began as the first NHS Arts Apprentice in 2019. Laura is especially passionate about the role of creativity for improving healthcare staff wellbeing. Prior to joining CW+ Laura worked as Assistant Arts Curator at UCLH NHS Foundation Trust and brings her experience of hospital arts programming to the role.The role of art and lighting in the redevelopment of a lower-ground floor hospital department
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The environments in which hospital staff work can have an impact on their wellbeing and job satisfaction. ‘Environment’ is one of the seven key factors identified in the NHS health and wellbeing framework, which states that it can impact the "behaviour, perceptions and productivity of workers". To this end, the UK Government's Health Building Note publications set out standards for healthcare environments, including recommendations on colour, lighting and art. However, the importance of consultation with the users of spaces should also not be underestimated.
The redevelopment of the therapy department at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital saw the outpatient therapy teams move from the ground floor to lower-ground floor of the hospital. The new space presented challenges for staff experience, including a lack of access to natural light and fresh air. The mitigation of these concerns was essential for the continued engagement of the clinical team, and to ensure a smooth transition to the new environment. The arts team from the hospital’s charity, CW+, was able to consult with staff on some of these environmental challenges. Through weekly meetings across six months, the team worked with staff to address concerns through the introduction of aesthetic elements, including bespoke ceiling lightboxes and new artwork.
Following the move to the new department, 18 therapy staff completed a post-occupancy feedback survey. Their responses showed an enthusiasm for the new environment, with 94 per cent rating the quality of the environment ‘good’ or ‘very good’, and 78 per cent agreeing the space felt warm and welcoming. Sixty-four per cent of respondents agreed that the new lightboxes and artwork helped them feel connected to the outside world, and despite the space lacking natural light, analysis of light level data showed that areas in the new department were in fact brighter, thanks to the bespoke lighting system and lightboxes. Thirteen respondents (72 per cent) said they had been involved in consultations with CW+, and 69 per cent of these agreed that the consultation process had positively affected their experience of the move.
The arts team at CW+ were able to mitigate potential challenges with the relocation of the department, not only with the lighting and artwork pieces themselves but also by supporting staff through consultation. At a time when staff retention is a priority across the NHS, this case study suggests that the importance of such environmental factors should not be underestimated, and that dedicated arts teams are well placed to ensure the engagement of staff.Learning Objectives
- Attendees will hear a practical example of the value of art and design elements in the transition of an acute hospital team to a new working environment
- They will also learn how consultation and co-design can not only ensure engagement but also improve staff experience of such a transition
- The role of dedicated arts teams in this process, particularly those led by NHS charities, will be explored
12.05Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networking14.00 - 15.30Session 16- The healing power of art: Integrating art into hospital spaces
Laura Waters
Head of arts, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust; Co-chair, National Arts in Hospitals Network, UKAs Head of Arts, Laura is responsible for the overall strategy of the arts programme, planning the route and motivating the team to help us reach our goals. Laura co-chairs the National Performance Advisory Group (NPAG) for Art, Heritage and Design in hospitals representing Air Arts and the NPAG group at conferences and events, and advocating for arts in health at a national level.14.00The healing power of art: Integrating art into hospital spacesRuth Charity
Arts co-ordinator, artlink, Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT, UKRuth Charity has worked for over 25 years curating and commissioning contemporary art, for the past 15 years focusing on work for public spaces, particularly in the field of arts and health. Her background is in visual arts curation – working for the British Council’s Visual Arts Department (1989-92) touring exhibitions overseas, as a curator at The Photographers’ Gallery, London (1992-97), Curator of the Mead Gallery at Warwick Arts Centre (1997), and Assistant Director of Artpoint, the public art commissioning agency for the South of England (1997- 2005). Ruth has always been interested in commissioning new work by artists in response to particular contexts, in supporting artists in taking their work in new directions, and involving and engaging the public in the development of new work. In 2007 she founded artlink, the arts programme for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Past projects include a 5 storey wall painting by Michael Craig-Martin for the Children’s Hospital atrium; a £250k integrated art programme for a new Cancer Centre at the Churchill Hospital; a extensive photographic project by Jan von Holleben to provide distraction on routes from children’s wards to theatres; and a Wellcome funded collaboration by artist Susan Morris and a chronobiologist to create a series of large tapestries reflecting sleep/wakefulness patterns. Additional freelance work has included the curation of a programme of work by photographer Gina Glover for the Oxford Fertility Centre; a series of commissions for new library and student facilities at Oxford Brookes University; and work on a Public Art Strategy for the Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Birmingham (for Willis Newson). Ruth has written on contemporary art in catalogues and journals. In 2005 she edited the publication ReViews: Artists and Public Space (Black Dog Publishing), an extensive review of Artpoint’s projects, focussing on the artist’s experience within public art practice.The healing power of art: Integrating art into hospital spaces
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This talk outlines the benefits of involving artists at the early stages of hospital design. Focusing on a number of exemplary case studies, it will explore best practice – from engagement with stakeholders to collaborative working between artists and architects – and reflect on the power of the arts to create inclusive, positive and humane spaces that support the health and wellbeing of patients, visitors and staff.
The session is organised by NAHN, the National Arts in Hospitals Network, and will launch NAHN’s new toolkit on the arts and environment.15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 17- Art, wayfinding and the patient journey
Neil Orpwood
Head of healthcare, HLM Architects, United KingdomNeil qualified as an architect in 1995, having started his degree at North East London Polytechnic in 1985. He is a Chartered Member of the RIBA, and has worked at HLM Architects in Sheffield since leaving full-time education. Heading up HLM’s Healthcare Team both nationally and internationally, he has a detailed knowledge of this specialist sector, working on a spectrum of projects, from small refurbishments through to multi-million-pound facilities.16.00Beyond signage: The impact of architectural elements as wayfinding anchors in healthcare settings
Smeya Shirley Deborah Prince Jawahar
Healthcare fellow, designer , Perkins&Will, United StatesSmeya Shirley Deborah is a Healthcare Fellow and Designer at Perkins&Will. She holds a Master of Science in Architecture with a focus on Health and Design from Georgia Tech and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from India, where she is also a licensed architect. Shirley specializes in designing healthcare spaces, particularly at the intersection of design and behavioral health. Her research examines how architecture influences behavioral psychology and user experience in built environments. Previously, she was a Graduate Research Assistant at Georgia Tech’s SimTigrate Design Lab, collaborating with Emory Brain Health’s Cognitive Empowerment Program. In this role, she researched the effects of light on alertness and circadian rhythms in individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Currently at Perkins&Will, Shirley investigates how architectural elements can serve as wayfinding anchors in healthcare settings, aiming to enhance patient navigation and reduce wayfinding anxiety through thoughtful design.
Todd Accardi
Senior medical planner, associate principal, Perkins&Will, United StatesTodd Accardi is a senior medical planner at Perkins&Will. His 25 years in this industry has taught him that it is through our own personal experiences that we learn how the design of a space can be a powerful force in the journey of one’s health, healing, and well-being. What Todd embraces most about his planner role in the healthcare architecture space is being the bridge between designers and industry subject matter experts. Solving these complex problems means being a master at facilitating conversations with a wide variety of leaders, their constituents, and ultimately, the end users. Todd believes that these authentic connections translate into stronger and more profound design solutions for both his local and international clients. Whether it is at work or home, Todd believes life is an endless journey to gain knowledge and achieve balance. That philosophy is embedded in his designs and relationships with clients.
Kalpana Kuttaiah
Architect, Perkins&Will, USAKalpana Kuttaiah is a licensed architect with a master’s degree in architecture. She has thirty-six years of professional experience with expertise in research and innovation. As a research knowledge manager and associate principal at Perkins&Will, Kalpana leads firmwide efforts in creating tools to benchmark databased, dissipating information, building a knowledge base on nationwide research initiatives, incorporating research ideas into project solutions, promoting activities and publications that focus on learning and critical inquiry, and provides leadership through the firms center of excellence. Kalpana also serves on the health practice council and the E. Todd Wheeler fellowship creation team.Beyond signage: The impact of architectural elements as wayfinding anchors in healthcare settings
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This research investigates the integration of wayfinding principles into the early stages of hospital design, with a focus on reducing reliance on signage and enhancing intuitive navigation for users, particularly patients who are unfamiliar with the environment. Traditional wayfinding strategies are often implemented during the interior design phase, emphasising visual elements such as signage, coloured walls and supergraphics. However, this study explores the potential of embedding wayfinding strategies within the spatial planning stage of design to determine whether a hospital can be structured in a way that supports self-navigation based on spatial heuristics, rather than relying solely on external cues.
The relevance of this research lies in addressing the phenomenon of 'wayfinding anxiety', where individuals, especially those with low wayfinding confidence, experience stress when navigating complex environments. This is particularly problematic in hospitals, where emotional responses to health-related events can vary greatly among users. Given the complexity of hospital spaces, this study aims to understand whether specific design elements can alleviate anxiety and enhance the ability of patients to navigate more confidently.
This research focuses on five key design elements: (1) the visibility of team/nurse stations or check-in counters; (2) the role of daylight and natural views in providing orientation; (3) the impact of minimising turns on route memory; (4) the preference for linear versus branching corridors; and (5) the potential disorientation caused by exiting elevators. The study evaluates how these elements influence wayfinding ability and anxiety, with the goal of identifying spatial strategies that promote better navigation.
Data collection involves a combination of observational studies and questionnaires, targeting patients as the primary user group. Scenarios are designed to assess the impact of each design element on wayfinding behaviour, such as determining whether the visibility of team stations enhances a patient's ability to navigate. The findings are expected to yield data-driven insights into how specific design decisions influence wayfinding anxiety and user orientation.
By analysing the relationships between design features and wayfinding outcomes, this research aims to provide evidence-based recommendations for hospital planning. The results could lead to more effective, user-centred design strategies that reduce wayfinding anxiety and improve patient experiences. Ultimately, this study seeks to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the intersection of spatial design and human behaviour in healthcare environments.
Learning Objectives
- Create data-driven recommendations that can help architects and designers optimise hospital layouts to reduce stress and confusion for patients
- Investigate how various design elements, such as daylight, the placement of team stations, corridor configurations and elevator exits contribute to intuitive navigation
- Synthesise research findings to propose evidence-based design strategies that improve wayfinding in hospital environments, focusing on spatial planning rather than signage
16.20Case study: Indigenous art and wayfinding within a hospital has measurable health outcomes for the local communities in regional New South Wales, Australia
Brent Railton
Director, Studio STH, AustraliaBrent is a Director of Studio STH, a practice that specialises in Health and Sciences. Brent has led a variety of health projects that include large urban hospital replacement projects, to small rural hospitals across all aspects from planning to delivery. A guiding principle in Brent’s approach is to listen, understand and deliver a design that responds to the unique needs of each project. This approach leads to outstanding team cohesion with the wider project stakeholder group and builds trust with the clinicians and end users involved. Brent has a continued thirst for knowledge in emerging health trends and design outcomes. His ability to keep abreast of trends has enabled him to be innovative and provide high-quality solutions. Particular areas of expertise include: • Healthcare architecture and planning • Facility planning for acute and non-acute services including non-acute mental health care • Client briefing, User Group Consultation and Consultant management • Master planning, feasibility studies and business cases • International expertise including Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom, Greece, India and Fiji With over 30 years’ of international experience Brent disseminates his knowledge to all projects and to the wider team he leads in Sydney, mentoring and encouraging their understanding of the healthcare sector.Case study: Indigenous art and wayfinding within a hospital has measurable health outcomes for the local communities in regional New South Wales, Australia
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The health disparity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples continues to be a significant issue for population health in Australia. Since 2008, 'Closing the Gap' Commonwealth policy aims to achieve equal life outcomes for all Australians by targeting life expectancy and reducing child mortality. In Macksville, New South Wales (NSW), Aboriginal communities make up 8 per cent of the population, compared to the NSW state average of 3.4 per cent.
In 2020, STH delivered the Macksville Hospital redevelopment for the Mid-North Coast Local Health District (MNCLHD) and Health Infrastructure NSW (HINSW). Among the project pillars was meaningful engagement with the Aboriginal communities, including Elders of the Gumbaynggirr community, integrating cultural elements to enhance local identity within Macksville Hospital.
Guided by evidence-based design, this case study outlines the implementation of art and language in the Macksville Hospital redevelopment. The theme of ‘Mountains to Sea’, identified by Aboriginal community, celebrates the coastal location of Macksville. Hand-woven sculptures were commissioned through collaboration with Elders, local community and school children. The use of bilingual (Gumbaynggirr) signage is included to validate cultural identity, assisting in navigation, bridging cultural differences and educating the wider community.
Through incorporating multi-media arts and storytelling, Macksville Hospital was co-designed with the community, therefore fostering a sense of familiarity and meaningful engagement with local Aboriginal communities. By incorporating language and art, this has strengthened community pride, healing and the relationship with the hospital and HINSW, further deepening the understanding of the ongoing role of the Gumbaynggirr community in Macksville.
MNCLHD research states that Indigenous emergency department presentations have increased by over 200 per cent since opening in 2020 to 2023. As a result, the improved cultural security has led to a 20 per cent increase in Aboriginal-identified staff at Macksville Hospital, an overall increase of 300 per cent.
The Macksville Hospital redevelopment integrates community engagement through the design process by incorporating Aboriginal cultural elements, enhancing community wellbeing and addressing health disparities. Through art, language and design, it fosters cultural identity and empowerment and improves clinical outcomes, including increased Indigenous staff and patient care.
Learning Objectives
- Meaningful engagement with the local Aboriginal communities
- The use of bilingual signage, assisting in navigation and bridging cultural difference
- The importance of incorporating multi-media arts and storytelling in design
16.40Human-centred design of healthcare environments: Investigating wayfinding experiences of older people with visual impairments
Parastoo Zali
PhD researcher, University of Strathclyde, United KingdomParastoo is a PhD researcher in Architecture at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, with a focus on accessible design of healthcare environments for older adults with visual impairments. Her research interests spans around inclusive design, participatory approaches, and vulnerable populations. She is a qualified architect with more than seven years of professional experience in architectural practice in Iran and has been awarded in several competitions. Parastoo's work reflects her dedication towards achieving equitable and sustainable communities through person-centered and inclusive design of the built environment.
Mario Ettore Giardini
Professor of biomedical engineering, University of Dundee, United KingdomI design biomedical instruments on the frontier between optics, electronics, and medicine. I work on portable and field clinical equipment, medical equipment for challenging environments, sensing for robotic surgery and digital healthcare. I pursue my activity on a global scale, to empower citizens to manage and improve health, live better lives, and to provide a pathway to healthcare equity and sustainability.
Lori B McElory
Professor of architecture, University of Strathclyde, United KingdomLori is an engineer with a background spanning the application of simulation in environmental engineering, architecture and sustainable design and has been active in the energy and environment field for over 25 years both in practice and research, working in the private and public sectors. This includes delivery of three state-of-the-art academic/industry collaborative programmes for the UK and Scottish Governments over a period of 20 plus years and the dissemination of this work internationally.Human-centred design of healthcare environments: Investigating wayfinding experiences of older people with visual impairments
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Navigating healthcare settings, particularly hospitals, is often challenging due to complex layouts and lack of spatial familiarity. These difficulties are compounded by the presence of visual impairment as part of the ageing process, which may cause objective difficulties in wayfinding, anxiety, frustration and increased risk of falls. While being frequent users of healthcare facilities, the accessibility needs of older adults in healthcare settings are usually neglected. Under the UK's Equality Act 2010, the National Health Service (NHS) must ensure that services address diverse needs, including age-related disabilities. This requires the physical environment of NHS premises to be accessible and inclusive. Addressing the specific needs of older people with visual impairments is therefore essential to support them, their families and their carers in navigating NHS spaces effectively and safely.
This study explores wayfinding and navigational experiences of older people with visual impairments on their healthcare visits, including hospitals, general practices and pharmacies. The study focuses on encountered barriers, employed strategies and suggestions for environmental enhancements.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with people aged 65 and over, living with visual impairment, from across Scotland (in urban and rural areas) in a format accessible to participants (in-person, by telephone or online). Interview data was then analysed using thematic analysis.
At the date of writing, 12 interviews have been conducted with a diverse sample in terms of the type and level of visual impairment, age, gender and assistive devices used for navigation. Issues were raised on various aspects of healthcare design, including the overall layout and legibility, non-standard stairs, lifts and escalators, indistinguishable entrances or reception areas, poor lighting and inaccessible signage. Despite some differences in environmental preferences based on the type and level of vision loss, auditory and tactile features were reported as being important enablers of wayfinding. Although participants adopted strategies such as asking staff for directions, counting their steps and observing other users, these could not always compensate for poor design of the setting. Among required adaptations, participants asked for clear instructions and consistency in the design of environmental features such as steps and lighting.
The study highlights the need for person-centred design principles to create healthcare environments that are accessible for older people with visual impairments. These insights have implications for architects and healthcare designers but also policy makers thriving for equity and inclusion in healthcare spaces.
Learning Objectives
- Identifying key barriers for accessibility and wayfinding for older people with visual impairments on their healthcare journeys
- Exploring strategies they commonly use to overcome the wayfinding challenges
- Propose actionable, person-centred design principles to enhance the accessibility of healthcare settings based on their insights
17.00Panel discussionEnd of Art, design and inclusivity stream
Closing keynote plenary
Wolfson Theatre
17.15 - 18.00Session 5- Closing keynote plenarySunand Prasad OBE
Programme director, European Healthcare Design; Principal, Perkins&Will, UKSunand Prasad is a principal at Perkins&Will. While designing across several sectors, he has been consistently engaged in healthcare and sustainability for four decades. At the core of his architectural practice, alongside interdisciplinary collaboration, Sunand holds a passionate belief that expertise and aesthetic judgement are most effective in creating truly successful environments when they are catalysed by the everyday experience of people. Sunand has been active in the wider built environment industry, particularly championing low-carbon, regenerative design, and until recently, as chair of the UK Green Building Council. He was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 2007 to 2009, campaigning for action on climate change. He was founding member of the UK Government’s Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment; a London Mayor’s design advocate; a trustee of the Centre for Cities; and chair of the Trustees of Article 25, the humanitarian architecture charity. He currently chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architecture and the External Advisory Board of TRUUD, a major research project on the fundamental links between health and urban development. He has written widely on architecture, sustainability and healthcare design, such as the book 'Changing Hospital Architecture'.17.15Digital oases to create environments that care
Jason Bruges
Artist and founder, Jason Bruges Studio, UKJason Bruges is a multidisciplinary artist and designer, based in London. Internationally renowned as a pioneer of the hybrid space between art, architecture, and technology, his artworks are moments of theatre that transform in response to their surroundings and connect people with their environments. A master of light and kinetic art, he uses a high-tech, mixed-media palette to explore spectacle, time-based interventions, and dynamic immersive experiences. After studying architecture at the Bartlett (UCL), Jason worked at Foster + Partners for three years and then Imagination as a senior interaction designer. In 2002, he set up Jason Bruges Studio where he works with a talented team to deliver impactful, boundary-pushing art projects world-wide. Jason is a passionate educator and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Media Architecture Award for Where Do We Go From Here? a ground-breaking, urban-scale, robotic intervention created for Hull UK City of Culture 2017.17.45Closing remarksSunand Prasad OBE
Programme director, European Healthcare Design; Principal, Perkins&Will, UKSunand Prasad is a principal at Perkins&Will. While designing across several sectors, he has been consistently engaged in healthcare and sustainability for four decades. At the core of his architectural practice, alongside interdisciplinary collaboration, Sunand holds a passionate belief that expertise and aesthetic judgement are most effective in creating truly successful environments when they are catalysed by the everyday experience of people. Sunand has been active in the wider built environment industry, particularly championing low-carbon, regenerative design, and until recently, as chair of the UK Green Building Council. He was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 2007 to 2009, campaigning for action on climate change. He was founding member of the UK Government’s Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment; a London Mayor’s design advocate; a trustee of the Centre for Cities; and chair of the Trustees of Article 25, the humanitarian architecture charity. He currently chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architecture and the External Advisory Board of TRUUD, a major research project on the fundamental links between health and urban development. He has written widely on architecture, sustainability and healthcare design, such as the book 'Changing Hospital Architecture'.17.50CloseWelcome drinks reception
Osler and Long Rooms
Supported by
18.00 - 20.30Welcome drinks reception, exhibition, Video+Poster Gallery -
08.00 - Registration opens
Opening keynote panel
Wolfson Theatre
Supported by
08.45 - 10.15Session 18-Jaime Bishop
Director, Fleet Architects; Chair, Architects for Health, UKJaime is a proven project designer, competition winner and studio leader. During his professional career he has been responsible for multiple projects with values ranging between 8 and 120 million pounds and was one of three associate directors responsible for the management of a 65 person firm under a Managing Director. He is an experienced all-round designer with specialist skills in healthcare and has sat on the executive board of Architects for Health (AfH) since 2006. He has significant experience as the lead architect in major PFI schemes including the preparation of a reference project for a $2 billion teaching hospital in Adelaide, Australia. He has been a visiting tutor at various universities since 2002 including Nottingham, Cardiff and London Metropolitan. Since 2012 Jaime and Richard have been teaching third year degree level at London South Bank University and established their studio, The Transpontine Laboratory, based at the university in 2014. Jaime was educated at The Royal College of Art, Bath University and the TU Delft Highrise Scholarship. He has been ARB registered and a member of RIBA since 2006. He is a recognised figure in the healthcare sector with connections throughout the industry. Jaime has detailed knowledge of traditional and PFI contracts, fee negotiation and project cost control. Jaime has sat on the board of City and Hackney NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and, social enterprise, East London Integrated Care. He has also served as an elected governor at the Homerton University NHS Foundation Trust.08.45Opening remarks09.00Hospital 2.0: Design and delivery that will support world-class patient care
Natalie Forrest
Senior responsible officer, The New Hospital Programme (DHSC), United Kingdom
Doug Baldock
Technical services director, The New Hospital Programme (NHSE), United Kingdom
Alpa Patel
Interim integration director, The New Hospital Programme (NHSE), United Kingdom
Andrew Parks
Managing consultant, Mott MacDonald, United Kingdom
Fiona Lennon
Deputy clinical director, The New Hospital Programme (NHSE), United KingdomHospital 2.0: Design and delivery that will support world-class patient care
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Following the New Hospital Programme review, the UK Government confirmed funding and a realistic timetable to put the Programme on track to deliver all of its hospital projects. Now, the New Hospital Programme can pivot to delivery at pace.
Hosted by senior members of the New Hospital Programme team, this panel will discuss how Hospital 2.0, a new, innovative approach to hospital design and delivery, has been developed to meet the needs of patients, staff and the wider public now and in the changing years ahead.
Speakers will cover the technical design of Hospital 2.0, presenting case studies that demonstrate how the standardised way of designing, costing and delivering new hospitals will support NHS staff to deliver for its patients.
With extensive engagement from clinical, workforce, patients and the public, the session will also discuss how this has influenced design and integration into local communities.
Learning Objectives
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10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networkingSelect a Stream
- Stream 6Art and architecture
- Stream 7Science, technology and digital transformation
- Stream 8Tertiary care
- Stream 9Climate-smart healthcare
- Stream 10Project showcase
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Art and architecture
Wolfson Theatre
Supported by
10.45 - 12.30Session 19- Healthy communities and the urban hospital
Paul Bell
Partner, Ryder Architecture, UKPaul is a partner at Ryder, established in Newcastle in 1953 with offices across the UK, Hong Kong, Vancouver and Amsterdam. Projects range in value from £50,000 to £300m, including civic, education, healthcare, infrastructure, leisure, manufacturing, office, residential, retail and science sectors. Paul completed his architectural education at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow in 1992 and with more than 20 years' experience in the healthcare sector, leads Ryder’s healthcare portfolio, which includes the award-winning Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary and the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow. In 2006, he established Ryder’s Glasgow team and led the early development of the Hong Kong team. Prior to joining Ryder, he worked with Terry Farrell for 11 years in London and Hong Kong and has spoken around the world on sustainable healthcare design.10.45Managing risk to deliver world-class acute service replacement hospitals
Hank Adams
Global director, health practice, HDR, United StatesAs HDR’s Global Director of Health, Hank provides the direction and inspiration for the firm’s skilled and imaginative thought leaders who work with healthcare clients to successfully solve the universal challenges of health and wellness. Hank relies on his own 35+ years of experience as a healthcare principal, project manager, healthcare planner and business developer to guide HDR’s planners, strategists, clinical specialists, economic analysts, designers and architects in 7 countries around the world to use evidence-based design and best practices to foster our ultimate goal: improving health and wellness. He is a frequent speaker, columnist and advocate for human-centered design.
Michael Street
Senior principal, health planning, HDR, USAWith over 25 years of experience, Michael has been instrumental in the design of numerous healthcare facilities. His healthcare experience encompasses a broad spectrum of domestic and international projects in both the ambulatory and acute care environments, as well as comprehensive facility master planning. He also has extensive experience using contemporary computer technology to communicate design ideas, which simplifies decision-making, expedites project development and provides continuous visual quality assurance throughout the project.
Rachael Patel
UK studio leader, HDR, UKRachael is the Studio Leader for the Architecture practice in London, United Kingdom, with over 20 years of professional experience, spanning Canada, US and United Kingdom, and across the multifaceted landscape of healthcare, architecture, infrastructure, project delivery, and strategy. Rachael is focused on providing tangible and practical solutions from an individual to a system level, focused on improving the landscape of the built environment. With each engagement, Rachael brings a unique approach and leadership style to provide problem solving and analysis and positively impact the planning and design of her client's infrastructure projects.Managing risk to deliver world-class acute service replacement hospitals
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Significant infrastructure investment has become increasingly necessary, but also increasingly risky, in our dynamic and complex global economy. Financial inflation, supply chain instability, labour shortages and more frequent natural disasters caused by climate change have created uncertainty and instability like we’ve never seen before.
An inability to tolerate lapses in the critical services they provide, coupled with the relentless advance of medical technologies has put healthcare organisations in a precarious position when considering capital improvement. How can we design a process in which estates, designers, constructors and operators balance their respective short- and long-term risks to deliver world-class care environments with the highest certainty of outcome?
The first step is recognising healthcare providers as anchor institutions that provide social value in the communities they serve. They have amassed significant equity in their respective 'brands' and they shoulder great responsibility to negotiate legal and financial terms that can maximise the value of their investment. Second, we must seriously consider the fundamental purpose of hospitals in our communities and what services they are actually providing. Decanting lower-acuity care away from monolithic medical centres could effectively “shift spending from reactive care in hospitals to more proactive care in the community setting”, as noted by Lord Darzi’s 'Independent Investigation of the NHS in England’.
In this session, we will share examples of exemplar hospitals from across the world, conceived and delivered in a variety of different ways. From the new hospital in Parnassus Heights at the University of San Francisco and the new Humber River Hospital outside Toronto to NHS England’s New Hospital Programme (and a few other examples in between), we will identify the risks and the trade-offs in developing new hospitals from multiple stakeholder perspectives, including the owner, the designer, the builder, the operator, the care provider and the patient.
They will share the tools and techniques used to build consensus among this diverse set of stakeholders, including a range of teaming arrangements and inclusive design techniques and technologies. They will detail the trade-offs and benefits of each, all while maintaining the overarching goal to provide world-class care in each of their respective communities, in the hope that they can inspire and influence the exemplar projects being undertaken today.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the risks facing major health infrastructure investment from multiple perspectives
- Recognise low-acuity programmes in current hospitals that could be decanted farther into communities
- Understand the pros and cons of different procurement and financial funding models
11.05New Footscray Hospital: Delivering a new type of health facility within a public-private partnership framework
Paul Curry
Director, Cox Architecture, AustraliaPaul has a depth of experience and background across projects spanning diverse sectors including significant residential, hotel, sports, civic, educational, retail, commercial, justice and health. This breadth of knowledge allows Paul to embed a richness and design knowledge on every project and makes him uniquely adept to lead large teams in throughout all stages of the design and delivery process. Paul has led the COX Melbourne studio through numerous significant, award-winning projects including Melbourne Square, the Christchurch Justice and Emergency Services Precinct and the New Footscray Hospital.New Footscray Hospital: Delivering a new type of health facility within a public-private partnership framework
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The new Footscray Hospital represents the Victorian Government’s largest ever singular health infrastructure spend which seeks to deliver a new type of community health infrastructure within a public-private partnership (PPP) framework that has been largely designed and delivered throughout a global pandemic.
Reflecting the important history of 'The People’s Hospital' – a hospital that was created and funded by the local community – the design for the new $2 billion hospital draws on its heritage as a community asset to provide Melbourne’s west with a new state-of-the-art facility that remains true to its heritage as a hospital in and of its community with the engagement of local community members and artists throughout the design process. In turn, the project has sought to address many of the political and cultural challenges that have faced it, combined with the after-effects of the pandemic including financial and construction challenges.
Seeking to create a new ecosystem of health for the western suburbs of Melbourne, the design and brief approach has drawn on its key stakeholders spanning the state, Western Health (health operator), Plenary Health (sponsor) and the design team lead by Cox Architecture and Billard Leece Partnership to create much more than a hospital.
Drawing on the benefits of the public-private partnership and ability to create more than a hospital, the design sought to create an enduring community asset for everyone. It sought to create a place for the community in which its members can interact with the precinct as a means of living well, not just a place to simply get better. The new Footscray Hospital includes a variety of additional spaces for the community and every day ranging from fresh food, cafes, community hall, gymnasiums, allied health and university spaces.
The new Footscray Hospital will open late 2025 to commence its 25 years in operation as a public-private partnership model, which will see the facility operated and maintained in a close partnership between the State Government, Western Health and Plenary Health.Learning Objectives
- Opportunities to improve health design and delivery through a public-private partnership
- Questioning the role that a hospital can play in the community and how a public-private partnership can help facilitate this
- Understanding a design approach for a holistic health approach, utilising a diverse stakeholder and investment team
11.25Urban healing – a big campus vision anchored in pragmatism
Michael Banman
Senior principal/design director North America, Stantec, CanadaAn award-winning architect, Michael is known for his ability to see beyond the usual. In his role, he leads design strategy and inspiration for a wide range of building types across the practice including institutional, commercial, healthcare, hospitality, academic, and cultural. Michael is a skilled designer with a disciplined approach to building science, construction, and cost management. His thoughtful approach to changing social landscapes, culture, sustainability and craft enable Michael to meet client demands with both architectural and technical excellence. Michael and his team have designed spaces for the Manitoba Museum, Manitoba Centennial Centre, University of Manitoba, RRC Polytech, the First Nations University of Canada, and City of Winnipeg. Currently, his integrated team of architects, engineers, and sustainability specialists are working on FortWhyte Alive’s all-mass timber Buffalo Crossing. Aiming to be Manitoba’s most sustainable building, it has achieved the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) Zero Carbon Building Design Standard and is targeting Passive House Certification. When he’s not designing spaces, Michael teaches professional practice at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture and has been a visiting critic and lecturer at Carleton University, University of Manitoba, Texas Tech University, University of Calgary, University of British Columbia, and British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Michael Moxam
Vice president and practice leader for design culture, Stantec, CanadaMichael Moxam is Vice President and Practice Leader for Design Culture with Stantec Architecture. Michael is committed to excellence in all aspects of the design process. His experience in the design and development of complex project types is characterized by a commitment to design excellence, an emphasis on a collaborative, integrated design process, and a desire to redefine established typologies. His approach focuses on research and analysis of factors such as community context, history, site, landscape, topography, and environmental context. Michael's goal is the creation of environments that inspire and enhance community connectivity and city building. Michael’s award-winning portfolio of work spans multiple sectors and includes Hennick Bridgepoint Health (Civic Trust Award and Governor Generals Medal in Architecture), Science Commons, University of Lethbridge, George Brown College’s Waterfront Health Science Campus (Architectural Record, Good Design is Good Business), Peterborough Regional Health Centre (Architectural Record Good Design is Good Business), Anishnawbe Community Health Centre and The University Health Network – Krembil Discovery Neuroscience Research Tower.Urban healing – a big campus vision anchored in pragmatism
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The Bannatyne Campus Master Plan is a visionary 50-year development ‘road map’ aimed at revitalising a crucial health, education and research precinct in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. This comprehensive plan addresses critical facility deficiencies and supports urgent programme growth, while reintroducing landscape as a principal organising element, resulting in clear campus connectivity and reconnecting the campus to the city. By thoroughly understanding the existing building fabric and its long-term capabilities, the plan outlines a pragmatic, step-by-step methodology to achieve its vision over five decades. A key goal is to guide the administration on strategic spending, avoiding the common pitfall of investing heavily in buildings that have outlived their usefulness – a challenge faced by urban campuses worldwide.
Historically significant for its contributions within the city to healthcare, specialised cancer care and medical education, the Bannatyne Campus is home to the Health Sciences Centre, CancerCare Manitoba and the University of Manitoba’s Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. The campus faces challenges with outdated facilities, operational inefficiencies and inadequate infrastructure that hinder its ability to meet current and future demands. The master plan proposes a transformative approach, enhancing connectivity and creating meaningful amenity spaces. Key components include re-establishing key public thoroughfares, the creation of interconnected green spaces and the introduction of a central ‘garden heart’. These initiatives aim to foster a cohesive environment that supports clinical care, education, research and community engagement.
Prioritising long-term goals
The Bannatyne Campus Master Plan seeks to optimise capital resources effectively while envisioning a bold future for the campus as an integrated precinct in the city. This presentation will explore the strategic vision, planning process and anticipated outcomes of the master plan, highlighting its potential to transform the future of health, research and education in Winnipeg.
Deep understanding of existing building fabric
The master plan addresses the challenge of ageing buildings through a deep understanding of what existing structures should and should not attempt to accommodate, and by planning timely demolitions and new interventions in a logical, pragmatic sequence. This approach aims to align the campus with modern standards for patient care, education and research.
A pragmatic approach
The master plan’s long-term redevelopment goals are designed to be cost-effective, mitigating the impact of inflation on construction and operational costs. By focusing on sustainable and efficient design, the plan seeks to minimise financial strain while achieving its objectives.Learning Objectives
- Understand the strategic vision and planning process of the Bannatyne Campus Master Plan, including its goals for revitalising the health and education precinct and how that process could be applied to other projects
- Identify the common challenges faced by campuses, such as outdated facilities and operational inefficiencies, and learn about new solutions for enhancing campus connectivity and creating meaningful amenity spaces
- Explore the long-term redevelopment goals of the master plan and the value they bring, focusing on sustainable and efficient design to optimise capital resources and align the campus with modern standards for patient care, education and research
11.45New acute hospital in Midlands completes: Setting a new standard in clinical healthcare design
Jane Ho
Regional practice director, Health, HKS, United KingdomJane leads the Health Team for London, Europe and Middle East and as a principal lead on clinical design, Jane enjoys taking a ‘patient-first’ approach to her design solutions, with her primary focus on the harmonious integration of concept and functionality with client and end-user needs. Jane brings expertise in user engagement and collaboration and has a wealth of healthcare facility planning, design and delivery experience from NHS Trust, private health, specialist care and research. From current private and public sector clients such as Cleveland Clinic and the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital to prior HKS experience in research and education institutions, Jane sensitively designs for flexibility, adaptability, and holistic user experience. Jane successfully completed a Master of Science in Planning Buildings for Health and is a RIBA registered architect.New acute hospital in Midlands completes: Setting a new standard in clinical healthcare design
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The Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) is a brand new state-of-the-art acute hospital for Sandwell and Birmingham NHS Trust. Bringing acute and emergency care from two separate hospitals into one centralised hub, MMUH is designed to support operational efficiency and technological innovation, while enhancing the patient and staff experience. The new nine-storey hospital spans 84,000 square metres, and provides both a purpose-built accident and emergency (A&E) department with imaging and diagnostic services and a dedicated children’s A&E department and assessment unit. The hospital provides 700 inpatient beds, of which 50 per cent are single room. It also has 13 operating theatres for emergency, planned and maternity surgery.
The hospital boasts an efficient spatial arrangement with clinical facilities arranged around two internal courtyards. Less heavily serviced ward accommodation is above the clinical facilities, with two levels of car parking below. MMUH’s Winter Garden provides a peaceful and therapeutic space to promote healing, relaxation and reflection. It covers five of the nine floors across the east-facing side of the building. The Winter Garden’s ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) roof offers a highly transparent, lightweight and sustainable façade, bringing natural light into the heart of the building, while offering impressive views back out over Birmingham and the surrounding countryside.
To optimise future flexibility, the hospital design is based on a single structural planning grid. This accommodates a wide range of clinical and functional spaces and can be easily adapted to support the delivery of new service models and working practices, as medical technology and acute healthcare needs evolve. Individual patient rooms and bays can also be easily adjusted to accommodate different isolation requirements, improving infection control at the same time as maintaining ease of access and visibility for staff.
Sustainability is at the heart of the building design. The Winter Garden is south-facing and passively ventilated, and the hospital also incorporates intelligent lighting, Solar PV panels and water conservation measures. The building design includes a unitised façade system, and components, including the Winter Garden roof and bridge links, have been prefabricated off-site, making it an exemplar in the use of modern methods of construction. MMUH has been awarded BREEAM 'Very Good’ and falls within the top 10 per cent of non-domestic UK buildings in terms of its sustainability performance.
Learning Objectives
- Innovation in healthcare design
- Patient-centred design
- Future flexibility
12.05Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networkingLunchtime workshops14.00 - 15.30Session 20- Cancer care by design
Richard Mann
Healthcare and Science Leader, UK and IrelandRichard has 25 years experience gained while working for client organisations, contractors and design consultants. During this time he has worked in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US, delivering a number of high profile projects across a variety of sectors. He is passionate about good building design. Richard brings the knowledge from the diverse projects he has delivered to ensure process improvement; quality and value driven efficiency in design are at the core of the projects he supports.14.00Embreathment, embodiment, environmental enrichment and improved oncology outcomes in Israel’s newest cancer centre
Tye Farrow
Founding partner, Farrow Partners, CanadaWorking at the intersection of architecture and neuroscience, Tye Farrow is a world-recognized pioneer tackling how what we create either gives or cause health. With award-winning projects around the globe that enact salutogenic design - design that actively incites health - he is the first Canadian architect to have earned a Master of Neuroscience Applied to Architecture (University of Venice Iuav), and has a Master of Architecture in Urban Design (Harvard University), and a Bachelor of Architecture degree (University of Toronto). Tye is a sought-after speaker who has presented to respected organizations and universities in over forty-five cities on six continents, including the Salk Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Stanford University Medical School, The Mayo Clinic, and The Cleveland Clinic, and has been called a global leader making “a significant contribution to health and humanity through the medium of architecture.” His bestselling book, Constructing Health: How the Built Environment Enhances Your Mind’s Health, explores how our mind, and its various sensory systems, interacts with our built environment to create the conditions of which we can thrive and prosper, bridges the gap in knowledge between the therapeutic medical world, the design community, and public, to reveal how the intentional shaping of our environment can support our physical and neurological well-being. Acclaimed by both professional and public critics, the book has been described as “a landmark work that will undoubtedly influence the future of architectural design.”Embreathment, embodiment, environmental enrichment and improved oncology outcomes in Israel’s newest cancer centre
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Today's medical spaces need to be designed to surpass mere technical medical treatments, to enhance the entire human experience. The Shaare Zedek Medical Center’s (SZMC) flagship cancer centre for Israel, combines several fields of knowledge in creating an "enhanced, enriched healthcare environment" by leveraging scientifically-grounded, multisensory, neuro-wellness interventions, to increase the full clinical human experience.
One's physical environment impacts mental and physical wellbeing, referred to as 'environmental enrichment' (EE). Rosenzweig ,Bennett and Diamond showed that immersive physical environments can alter the biochemical milieu and neuroanatomical structure of the brain (#Rosenzweig). Furthermore, 'embreathment', a relatively new concept in embodied cognition, is the representation of one’s physiological breath, in immersive experiences, used to enhance presence and body awareness – examples include body scan meditation and progressive muscle relaxation.
Embreathment can be used to reduce claustrophobia and associated negative cognitions, including feelings of restriction and suffocation, by enhancing agency, sustained hopefulness and interoception, where one’s ability to act is restricted.
In cancer centres, claustrophobia in MRI suites presents a significant psychological challenge in delivering optimal medical treatments. However, using the representation of one's breath to increase the sense of control has been shown to decrease one's sense of claustrophobia.
A unique aspect of the SZMC cancer centre builds on these principles, with scientifically-grounded, neuro-wellness interventions based on pioneering research in multisensory integration. Recent neuroscientific breakthroughs have uncovered new insights into the senses and the bidirectional effect of the mind on the body (top-down) and vice versa (bottom-up), such as one's perception of pain. Historically, pain triggered physicians to prescribe analgesics; yet chronic and acute pain are known to be complex phenomena, with a subjective veneer. Different people can experience the same physical nociceptive stimulus, yet report differing levels of pain. Moreover, it is known that the senses influence our pain perception.
For example, the use of external visual and auditory multisensory feedback immersive systems that react to one's breath in real time, through a process known as embreathment, have been shown to induce mind-body sensory substitution, which modifies one's internal awareness.
This presentation will outline: how to develop multisensory neuro-wellness design strategies; and how enriched environments can promote vitality and instill hopefulness, improve brain immune system interactions and synaptic connectivity, and enhance health towards longer, healthier ageing – how a clinically and scientifically backed integrative approach can enhance the entire medical human experience.
Learning Objectives
- Embreathment
- Environmental enrichments
- Embodiment
14.20Weaving the threads: Embracing cancer care through humanistic interior design
Nancy Logan
Associate, DIALOG, CanadaA DIALOG Associate and Certified Healthcare Interior Designer with the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers, Nancy Logan has the unique gift of transforming complex, highly technical interiors spaces into environments that foster a sense of wellbeing and delight. With over 17 years of experience, she has contributed to the design of a variety of large-scale healthcare facilities and smaller medical centers across Canada. Nancy is dedicated to empowering the healthcare design community by fostering knowledge sharing and connections among passionate designers. Her focus on infection prevention, accessibility, detailing, and creating healing environments is evident in every project. A central figure of the DIALOG healthcare team, she is a collaborative and supportive leader and mentor who inspires those around her with her meticulous nature and dedication to craft, embodying a commitment to community wellbeing and design excellence.
Nick Kennedy
Associate, DIALOG, CanadaNick Kennedy is an Associate and Senior Interior Designer at DIALOG with a focus on inclusive and equitable design, creating spaces that beautifully respond to the diverse needs of the communities they serve. Specializing in complex healthcare, institutional, and cultural projects, Nick combines technical expertise with a passion for conceptual thinking to craft thoughtful and purposeful healing environments across a variety of scales and clinical functions. His healthcare portfolio includes over 11 years of experience and spans facilities across Canada. As a Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certified (RHFAC) professional, he serves as the Chair of enableDIALOG, a practice-wide initiative focused on accessibility and universal design strategies across all DIALOG studios. Through his commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement, Nick fosters innovation to craft purposeful, functional spaces that are accessible and support community wellbeing.
Nancy Maerz
Senior associate, Stantec, CanadaNancy Maerz is an NCIDQ-accredited Senior Interior Designer and Senior Associate at Stantec. With a passion for creating simple and beautiful spaces that positively enhance the patient experience, Nancy has dedicated over three decades to excellence in design, project execution, and relationship building in the healthcare, science, and technology fields. Her extensive background as an interior designer and project manager has equipped her with a profound understanding of how to realize a client’s vision through an integrated design process, both inside and out. Her commitment to creating healing environments is evident in her thoughtful approach. Notable projects include the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Canadian Blood Services, Nanaimo Cancer Center, and Laboratories Canada. Her passion for managing complex projects and building strong client relationships shines through in her work, consistently enhancing the end-user experience with beautifully designed spaces.Weaving the threads: Embracing cancer care through humanistic interior design
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As cancer treatment technologies are rapidly accelerating, a constant challenge remains designing facilities that support patients’ need for a supportive and human-scaled environment, and clinicians’ need for a facility that supports workflows, collaboration and staff wellness. As cancer centres grow larger with the integration of research, education, survivorship and child-minding programmes, how can architects and interior designers create humanistic environments that reduce patient anxiety, empower wellness and support adaptability?
The Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre (AJECCCC) is the largest cancer treatment and research facility in Canada, and the second largest in North America. At over 109,000 square metres, AJECCCC centralises screening, research, education, treatment and patient- and family-centered care for the most complex cases, while supporting a wider network of community treatment facilities. This session examines how the interior design of the AJECCCC approached the scale and complexity of this integrated cancer care facility to address the holistic needs of patients, families and staff through the lens of engagement and empowerment, including the following application and outcomes.
Engagement
- Following extensive engagement with clinicians, researchers and a patient and family advisory committee, the team developed interior design strategies that responded to user-identified needs through materiality, biophilia and regional context.
- Designing the facility from the inside out, the integrated team of architects, interior designers and landscape architects created a central courtyard as the 'heart' of the building, which brought natural light to all levels including the below grade vaults, and upon which the design concept of “embracing care” formed.
- The collaborative process by which the design team, contractor and local health services integrated patient and staff-focused care throughout the entirety of the planning and construction of the building.
Empowerment
- Bringing the scale of the facility down to the human level with a palette of simple yet layered design strategies that wove together to create interior spaces that are comfortable, elegant and cohesive.
- Utilising colour and environmental graphics to respond to human needs of safety, belonging and identity while also supporting wayfinding, clinical functions and connections to community.
- Supporting the dignity and resiliency of cancer treatment and research through the integration of art, research and survivorship stories into the interior environment.
A robust interior design framework developed through extensive engagement and collaboration responded to the needs of patients, families and clinicians while empowering change and resiliency in the evolution of cancer services.Learning Objectives
- Humanistic
- Empowering
- Integration
14.40The Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital: Transforming the story of cancer
Julia Davies
Senior associate and project architect, NBBJ, United KingdomJulia is an expert in healthcare design, with a wealth of experience spanning both UK and international projects. Since joining NBBJ 12 years ago, she has worked on projects for Guys and St Thomas’ Trust, King’s College Hospital, Cambridge University Hospital Trust and Horton General Hospital. Currently, Julia is leading the design of the groundbreaking Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, a project poised to revolutionise cancer care and accelerate research breakthroughs. Julia is working closely with the Trust to ensure the design meets the New Hospital programme (NHP) criteria, delivering exceptional outcomes for patients, carers, staff and researchers.The Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital: Transforming the story of cancer
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The pairing of cutting-edge research with the highest quality of care has far-reaching implications for the way treatment is provided. The new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital aims to revolutionise cancer care in the first net-zero-carbon healthcare building in the UK, integrating clinical and research activities and transforming patient outcomes.
The new cancer hospital is being built on Europe’s leading life sciences campus, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, a partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals, the University of Cambridge, the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre and AstraZeneca. The hospital’s design leverages the advantages of co-locating research and clinical expertise, creating a world-class facility conceived in partnership with patients. By housing researchers and clinicians under one roof, the hospital will lead advancements in early diagnosis and precision treatments, driving breakthroughs that redefine how cancer is detected and treated, with far-reaching implications for patient outcomes locally, nationally and globally.
The seven-storey c.27,000 square metre building is set to be the first hospital delivered in the East of England as part of the Government’s New Hospital Programme. Design features include programme standardisation and delivery by Laing O’Rourke using modern methods of construction. The hospital also aims to be a champion in sustainability with a commitment to BREEAM Excellent and the NHS 2040 Net Zero Carbon Building Standards, a digital strategy and delivering excellent patient experience and outcomes.
Designed as a "home away from home" for patients while offering a supportive environment for staff and visitors, the research hospital will focus on early diagnosis and precision treatments, key components in helping the UK become a "testbed for oncology innovation". In collaboration with the Cambridge University Hospitals arts team, arts consultant and Patient Advisory Group, the design also integrates art into the hospital to enhance the patient experience and embeds principles of healing and wellbeing into the design.
Learning Objectives
- Integration of research and clinical care for transformative outcomes – understanding the benefits of co-locating research, diagnosis and treatment to foster collaboration and innovation
- Net-zero carbon goals, modern methods of construction (MMC) and digital design strategies to meet government criteria (NHP)
- Human-centered design for enhanced patient and staff experience – environments that prioritise patient comfort ("home away from home”), staff wellbeing and visitor support
15.00Panel discussion15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 21- Beyond borders: Global healthcare insights and challenges
Matthew Blair
Principal, BVN, United KingdomMatthew is an architect, technologist and Principal at BVN, acknowledged for his cross-sector expertise and his ability to apply current and novel technologies and future of work knowledge to redefine spaces across industries such as health, education, and science. With a career spanning Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, North America, and the UK, Matthew now leads BVN’s UK Studio, bringing a global perspective to his work. Passionate about driving change, Matthew also steers many of BVN’s transformational and innovation initiatives, collaborating with universities, start-ups, and other architectural practices to expand the boundaries of what architecture can achieve. His work reflects a deep understanding of how insights from workplace design can inform and enhance other sectors, from healthcare to life sciences, creating environments that foster collaboration, adaptability, and human connection.16.00Beyond borders: Global healthcare insights and challenges
Christine Chadwick
Managing director, Archus Canada, CanadaChristine has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare, including many executive and leadership roles. Christine brings system-wide expertise and skills, including strategy/visioning, health services planning, functional programming, lean thinking, digi-physical visioning, and stakeholder engagement of all levels and input into healthcare planning. Christine is Co-Chair of the CSA Z8005 Digital Infrastructure & digital technologies in healthcare facilities. She also sits as an Associate Member of the CSA Health Care Facilities Technical Committee (Z257 TC). Alongside her technical expertise, Christine is a passionate advocate for developing the next generation of healthcare leaders. She is a Mentor in Residence and a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine & Innovation, a mentor for the Women’s Infrastructure Network and Founding President of the Canadian Women’s Circle of Healthcare (CWCH).
Neil Logan
Principal, BVN, AustraliaNeil brings a breadth of large-project experience across the UK, Australia, and Asia to his role as Co-CEO and Principal at BVN. He is steadfast in his mission to embed regenerative practices into the core of BVN’s work across all sectors, delivering changes in how we work - his leadership ensures sustainability is not just a goal but an implicit part of the studio's approach. Neil is committed to driving innovation within the design process, collaborating with clients, communities, and stakeholders to uncover unique, forward-thinking solutions to longstanding challenges. Renowned for his expertise in design management, he has successfully delivered large-scale, technically complex hospital projects, inspiring confidence in his ability to align and elevate the contributions of diverse, multidisciplinary teams. Under Neil's joint-leadership, BVN strives to set benchmarks in health design and sustainability, shaping a more resilient future.
Clare White
Director, O’Connell Mahon Architects, IrelandClare is an experienced architect with more than 20 years of expertise in healthcare, transport, and education projects in both public and private sectors. A strategic leader and excellent communicator, she has led large-scale, complex projects with a focus on design, procurement, and contract administration. She joined O’Connell Mahon Architects in 2010, becoming a Director in 2014. Clare leads OCMA’s work on the €900m New Children’s Hospital in Dublin and previously directed award-winning projects like the Mercers Institute for Successful Aging and the North-West Cancer Centre. A former RIAI Vice President (2018–2019), Clare remains active in architectural governance, contributing to procurement, registration, and education initiatives.
Claire Colgan
Director, Turner & Townsend, UKClaire is the leader of the UK Real Estate Advisory business at Turner and Townsend and serves on the UK Real Estate Project Management Board. Claire’s team specialises in providing comprehensive advisory services to the health sector, including business case authoring, estate strategy development, estate transformation program setup and management, operational and compliance audits, FM procurement, and FM transformation. Claire is known for her ability to ensure seamless alignment between corporate and clinical priorities with on-the-ground estate management and project delivery. She brings a wealth of experience in developing major estate optimisation programmes across healthcare, central government, and local government sectors.Beyond borders: Global healthcare insights and challenges
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This panel discussion will offer a comprehensive, global perspective on the current healthcare landscape, bringing together experts from countries such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia across design, planning and policy, to share their unique insights, challenges and strategies. With healthcare systems worldwide facing complex and interconnected issues, this discussion aims to highlight both the commonalities and the differences between systems and explore how lessons from one region can be applied to another.
Chaired by BVN Principal, Matthew Blair, each panellist will be invited to present a brief five-minute overview of key healthcare trends, focusing on emerging issues such as the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in hospital design, funding models, population health management, government policies and hospital standardisation. These topics will provide a lens through which to examine the strengths and weaknesses of various healthcare models.
Panellists will discuss strategies that could be adapted to other local contexts, such as innovative funding models, policy reforms or technological advancements, in order to address these issues and promote a more efficient and equitable healthcare system. They will share examples of how different countries have reimagined healthcare facility design to improve resilience, infection control and patient flow during health crises, while also considering long-term sustainability.
Audience engagement will encourage an open discussion on the commonalities between healthcare systems, focusing on how global collaboration in hospital and healthcare environment design can improve patient outcomes. Participants will explore cross-border solutions for optimising healthcare environments, from creating more efficient, flexible hospital designs to integrating advanced technologies like telemedicine and robotics into building infrastructure. The session will also examine how design can contribute to preventative health, creating spaces that promote wellbeing, not just for patients but also for healthcare workers and the wider community.
This session aims to foster a collaborative dialogue around the future of healthcare architecture, exploring how global insights can influence the design and construction of healthcare facilities that are not only functional but also responsive to the evolving needs of patients, providers and communities worldwide.Learning Objectives
- Discover how successful strategies and design innovations from one region can be adapted to address challenges in other local healthcare systems
- Learn how artificial intelligence, telemedicine and robotics are shaping hospital design and healthcare delivery worldwide
- Examine case studies of innovative funding models, policy reforms and design strategies that have improved healthcare efficiency, equity and resilience
End of Art and architecture stream -
Science, technology and digital transformation
Seligman Theatre
Supported by
08.45 - 10.15Session 23- Digital design and decarbonisation
Göran Lindahl PhD
Professor, Chalmers University of Technology; Director, Center of Healthcare Architecture, SwedenGöran Lindahl is an architect and Professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Goteborg, Sweden, Adjunct Associate Professor of Tampere University of Technology in Tampere, Finland and visiting professor at Politecnico di Milano. He has 35 years’ experience working across academia and the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) sector, among this e.g. 8 years with the City of Gothenburg facilities planning department. Dr Lindahl is Director of the Center for Healthcare Architecture (CVA) where he focuses on the planning of hospitals and other healthcare facilities through his understanding of health care processes and the strategies of the facility providers. Integrating approaches and trans disciplinary research is a strong aspect of his work. Previous projects include evaluations of usability of hospital in Sweden and abroad, and educational aspects of clinical and non-clinical environments. He is currently involved with projects concerning design dialogues, maternity wards, health promotion in hospitals, real estate issues related to demographic changes, housing for elderly and information management in healthcare construction projects. Dr Lindahl author of 150+ publications, a keen reviewer and engaged in development of knowledge and evidence relevant to practice.08.45Use of digital twins in the decarbonisation of healthcare infrastructure
Abhi Shekar
Digital health lead, Mott MacDonald, United KingdomAn experienced digital health leader, Abhi is passionate about using digital, data and technology to transform healthcare service delivery. His expertise includes digital strategy development & implementation, operating model definition, business case development, implementation planning & delivery, and systems implementation in the healthcare sector. Abhi has advised the departments of health in the UK and Australia on designing, developing and implementing national-level strategies and policies for digitalising healthcare delivery.Use of digital twins in the decarbonisation of healthcare infrastructure
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Mott MacDonald is collaborating with an NHS trust to apply digital twin technology in support of its decarbonisation ambitions. The project aims to develop a digital twin proof of concept (PoC) for the Trust’s existing assets, focusing on real-time operational energy usage and carbon monitoring.
The primary objective of this initiative is to identify quick-win energy savings and efficiency improvements that contribute to the Trust's net zero and carbon reduction goals. The digital twin will provide enhanced visibility of energy consumption through additional sensors and a digital platform that consolidates energy, asset and carbon data. This platform will enable behind-the-meter optimisation and demand-side flexibility, reducing both operational energy costs and capital costs of electrical infrastructure.
Key deliverables of the PoC include actionable insights, benchmark analysis and an operational carbon accounting dashboard for automated monthly reporting and abatement tracking. The project also involves installing IoT devices to improve data collection and analysis, ensuring timely and accurate data from sources such as building management systems (BMS) and meters.
The collaboration emphasises the importance of visualisation deliverables, such as energy, water and occupancy profiles, to help stakeholders view data in various ways depending on the prioritised use case. The ultimate goal is to create a scalable approach that can be applied across the Trust's assets, supporting ongoing decarbonisation efforts.
In summary, this joint effort between Mott MacDonald and the Trust aims to harness the power of digital twin technology to provide detailed insights into energy usage and carbon emissions, thereby identifying opportunities for efficiency improvements and cost savings. This initiative is a significant step towards achieving the Trust's decarbonisation ambitions and net zero goals.
Learning Objectives
- Focus on real-time operational energy usage and carbon monitoring
- Quick-win energy savings and efficiency improvements
- Support in meeting NHS net zero goals and decarbonisation ambitions
09.05Transforming hospital management with digital twins and connected platforms
Spencer ten Brink
Business development executive, Autodesk, GermanyWith over 21 years of professional experience, Spencer ten Brink is the global lead for Business Development in Corporate Real Estate Management at Autodesk. He holds a diploma in Business and Economics from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Matthias Wasem
CEO, BIM Facility, SwitzerlandWith over 23 years of professional experience, Matthias Wasem is the CEO of BIM Facility AG and an expert in BIM and Digital Twin technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland.Transforming hospital management with digital twins and connected platforms
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The healthcare sector is undergoing a profound digital transformation to meet the growing demand for efficient processes and improved patient care. Large hospitals and specialised clinics, characterised by their complex infrastructure, face unique challenges in managing their facilities. This session explores the integration of advanced technologies, such as digital twins and connected data platforms, in hospital buildings and clinics. It outlines the business case, lifecycle perspective and practical applications, demonstrating their value in enhancing performance, streamlining operations and improving patient outcomes.
Key challenges include the complexity of integrating diverse systems across the building lifecycle, a lack of in-house data management expertise and discrepancies between planned and actual building performance. These issues result in operational inefficiencies, increased costs and suboptimal resource utilisation. Digital twins and connected data platforms address these challenges by establishing a continuous digital thread that enables real-time data access, proactive facility management and performance monitoring.
The presentation highlights practical examples of successful implementations, including developing internal data management competence, achieving operational excellence through digital twins exemplified by optimised cleaning processes using real-time occupancy data, and asset tracking to improve patient flow. These cases demonstrate tangible benefits, such as cost savings, reduced downtime and enhanced patient and staff satisfaction. Another notable example showcases how a hospital used digital twins to reduce project timelines for infrastructure planning from one year to three weeks, highlighting the potential for transformative efficiency gains.
To ensure success, we emphasise the importance of building internal expertise, integrating planning and operations, leveraging modern technologies like the internet of things (IoT) and AI, setting the right incentives for work and establishing feedback loops for continuous improvement. These strategies enable hospitals to systematically capture lessons learned, avoid planning errors, and enhance the functionality and efficiency of future projects.
This session aligns with the Congress theme 'Science, technology and digital transformation' by demonstrating how whole-system adoption of digital technologies can revolutionise hospital buildings and clinics. By addressing critical business and operational considerations, it provides a roadmap for leveraging digital twins and connected platforms to optimise hospital management, enhance patient care and prepare for the future of smart healthcare facilities.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the role of digital twins in hospital management
- Explore practical applications of digital technologies in healthcare facilities
- Develop strategies for successful digital transformation in healthcare
09.25Decarbonising healthcare estates through technology
Emily Scoones
Head of digital and innovation, Ramboll UK, United KingdomEmily is the Head of Digital and Innovation for Ramboll Buildings UK. She has over 9 years of experience of leveraging her digital expertise and computational design skills on traditional buildings projects. She is passionate about applying innovative approaches and technology to create better outcomes for projects, clients and society.Stuart A McArthur, Senior smart building ICT smart technology consultant, Ramboll UK, United Kingdom
Stuart A McArthur
Senior smart building ICT smart technology consultant, Ramboll UK, United KingdomAn energetic Consultant with over 25 years success in managing and motivating teams; a track record in diverse projects and technologies; a proven ability to assimilate - and ultimately exceed - client demands A DNA moralistic approach to Project management and delivery of Smart strategy Solutions.Decarbonising healthcare estates through technology
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Technology is changing the way we address the demands of healthcare provision within the constraints of environmental sustainability. It is facilitating the ability to create more sustainable designs and maximise the existing assets through digital design tools and workflows, as well leveraging SMART hospital technologies. The implementation of SMART hospitals draws upon advancements in internet of things (IoT) devices, artificial intelligence and data analytics to create hospitals that are not only environmentally sustainable but also operationally efficient and patient-centric. To enable the deployment of these systems, it is critical that hospitals have a robust, adaptable and secure infrastructure to host them, and that this is considered during the design process.
Ramboll presents how digital technology and processes can be used in design to help decarbonise hospital estates, and how SMART technologies can be used to create an adaptable but holistic focus to medical treatment. One example will showcase how our team has used and created digital workflows within our design processes to support clients at a strategic level and influence design at an asset level through our decarbonisation tool, which can be applied at both estate and building scales. Additionally, Ramboll continues to lead innovation in SMART technologies, and meet clients' global energy needs, with a practical software control platform. We will present how our collaborative approach with clients, design teams and stakeholders enables the strategic application of technology to enhance resilience, optimise operations and deliver exceptional healthcare outcomes.
To continue to innovate and improve our existing hospital assets and influence the design of new developments, we must prioritise investment in scalable SMART solutions and foster a culture of innovation and continuous learning in the design process by creating multi-scale design feedback loops. The benefits of this digital transformation should be seen through reduced environmental impacts, advanced healthcare delivery and a robust model for future developments in sustainable healthcare infrastructure.Learning Objectives
- The climate crisis is a health crisis
- Examine the proposed framework and how it can be implemented
- Collaborative approach to deliver resilient societies and health systems
09.45Panel discussion10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking10.45 - 12.30Session 24- Masterplanning technology transformation
Brenda Bush-Moline
Vice President, Buildings, Global Health Sector Leader, Stantec, USABrenda Bush-Moline, AIA, ACHA, LEED AP BD+C, EDAC, is a distinguished leader with over 30 years of experience in healthcare design. Brenda has been instrumental in creating healing and wellness spaces by integrating health design with related markets such as workplace, hospitality, retail, and education. Her extensive project experience includes master planning for renowned institutions like Northwestern Memorial Healthcare, Geisinger, and Nemours Children's Hospital. Brenda's expertise is further highlighted by her certifications from the American Institute of Architects and the American College of Healthcare Architects, as well as her LEED AP accreditation. She has a proven track record of translating design and planning intentions into spaces that reflect the mission and vision of her clients. In addition to her design prowess, Brenda is a prolific speaker and author. She has moderated and presented at numerous conferences, including the Healthcare Facilities Symposium and the European Healthcare Design Congress. Her publications in Healthcare Design Magazine and other industry journals showcase her thought leadership in reimagining healthcare environments. Brenda's commitment to advancing healthcare design is also evident in her roles as an advisory board member for the Healthcare Facilities Symposium & Expo and a juror for the European Healthcare Design Awards. Her holistic approach to design and her dedication to continuous improvement make her a respected leader in and outside of the health field.10.45Advancing healthcare design: Technology transformations shaping the future
Bruce Crook
Principal, Architectus Conrad Gargett, AustraliaBruce has a firm grasp of current and emerging trends in health facility design and service delivery – and he translates that unique insight into architecture and design that balances form and function within a safe, healing environment for patients, carers and staff. He has more than three decades of experience in the sector, with a career stretching across Australia, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, India and North America. In a variety of senior roles, Bruce has honed his skills across the project continuum, from business case development, feasibility studies and master planning through to design documentation and delivery, completion and commissioning. A frequent presenter at national and international health conferences, Bruce joined Architectus Conrad Gargett from HDR, where he served as Director – Health after holding senior roles at Silver Thomas Hanley and Hassell. His Australian portfolio includes Monash Children’s Hospital and Werribee Mercy Hospital Stage 2 Redevelopment Precinct Master Plan – bAdvancing healthcare design: Technology transformations shaping the future
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This presentation will explore how emerging technologies are reshaping clinical care and healthcare design, both within hospitals and beyond, into homes and communities. The research delves into five pivotal technological transformations driving the evolution of healthcare design.
1. Digital innovation
Virtual care and telemedicine are redefining patient care, supported by wearables, remote monitoring and predictive analytics. These advancements alleviate pressure on acute care facilities while fostering more efficient healthcare systems. Designers are tasked with integrating these technologies into flexible, future-ready environments.
2. Sustainability and technology
Sustainability and digital innovation go hand-in-hand. The integration of modular designs, smart building systems and tools like BIM and digital twins support environmentally conscious facilities, exemplified by Sweden's new Karolinska Hospital and Australia's 6 Star Green Star Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
3. Virtual care
Catalysed by the pandemic, remote healthcare delivery has surged, offering equitable, efficient solutions for follow-up consultations and chronic care management. Denmark exemplifies this shift, incorporating telemedicine into national health strategies. Australian facilities must now adapt spaces to accommodate these emerging models.
4. Command centres
Centralised command centres powered by AI and predictive analytics act as healthcare’s 'control towers', optimising resource allocation and care delivery. Design considerations must include real-time monitoring spaces and robust data infrastructure to handle vast streams of health information.
5. Robotics in healthcare
Robots are revolutionising surgery, rehabilitation and hospital logistics, enhancing precision and reducing human error. Design solutions, such as shared corridors for autonomous mobile robots, will facilitate their seamless integration into healthcare facilities.
These insights, informed by visits to pioneering facilities in Europe, North America and Asia, underscore the necessity for healthcare designers to stay ahead of rapid technological change. The discussion highlights examples like the New North Zealand Hospital in Denmark and Singapore’s C3 Command Centre, illustrating how technology can elevate care delivery while addressing sustainability imperatives.
This presentation offers a forward-looking exploration of how technological advancements are transforming healthcare design, emphasising the critical role of architects and designers in crafting spaces that enable innovation, sustainability and equity in health services.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the Intersection of technology and design in healthcare
- Apply sustainable design principles enhanced by digital tools
- Design for future-ready healthcare systems
11.05Progressive adoption of automation in large-scale acute hospitals: A planning strategy for nimble phygital health campuses
Sumandeep Singh
Vice president, senior medical planner and studio practice leader for health, HKS, SingaporeSumandeep is Vice President, Senior Medical Planner and Studio practice leader for Health at HKS, a global architecture firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from GGSIP University, New Delhi, India and is licensed by the Council of Architecture, India. He holds accreditation as an EDAC professional from the Centre for Health Design, California. He has designed large healthcare and life sciences projects globally. His expertise extends to winning international hospital design competitions such as the Shenzhen Children’s Hospital in China which was widely covered globally for its unique approach to Pediatric facility design merging with Research facilities in a large 600 bed hospital complex. He has been recently certified in 'AI for Healthcare' from the National University of Singapore, he works at an intersection of Planning, BIM, AI, Automation and Technology in healthcare design. Currently Based in HKS's Singapore Studio, he holds over 18 years of experience in planning large scale healthcare and life sciences projects across India, USA, Singapore, China and more.
Lawrence Kam
Associate, medical planner, HKS, AustraliaA Project Designer at HKS Singapore, Lawrence Kam is a multifaceted professional who excels in the fields of architectural design, medical planning and design thinking. With a passion for innovation and a deep understanding of user-centric design principles, Lawrence has a track record of creating impactful and intuitive designs that enhance the user experience and drive positive outcomes. From the early stages of concept development to project completion, Lawrence has been instrumental in various aspects of design, planning, user engagements, and project management. Going beyond the realm of architecture, he has actively participated in numerous research initiatives and community projects.Progressive adoption of automation in large-scale acute hospitals: A planning strategy for nimble phygital health campuses
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This presentation focuses on the challenges of adopting automated and data-backed solutions in health campuses that face staff shortages and high patient throughput due to ageing populations. HKS was commissioned to plan a 1,500-bed, 300,000 square metre acute and community hospital campus in Singapore. With early stakeholder engagement and the additional scope of writing the functional brief and space program for the project, it presented a valuable opportunity to make a difference in how health campuses are planned in Singapore. Emphasis was placed on addressing the widespread healthcare staff shortage, coupled with the ageing population. Technology, including automation of various logistics and clinical operations, and data-backed decision making, was a key focus area for the campus.
The project planning team carried out extensive research to identify key areas or departments in the facility that would rely extensively on automation, including robotics. Since Singapore was an early adopter of automation in hospitals using automated guided vehicles, automated drug dispensing and laboratory automation, it was an opportunity to explore the next chapter of these solutions. The team found various gaps in exploring the full potential of these technologies. These were then listed under various categories for solutioning, with the key ones being:
- planning or layout-related concerns;
- technology-related concerns;
- cybersecurity-related challenges;
- ethical frameworks-related aspects;
- learning curve to adopt certain solutions;
- related medical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) service backbone requirements and related issues;
- monopolised technologies and bridging-related issues.
Upon conclusion of the discovery process, a roadmap was created to address these issues, starting with medical planning and design, followed by co-ordination with various stakeholders, consultants and industry partners. While it was clearly understood that all issues would not be addressed in a single project, there was a consensus on the progressive adoption of technologies, artificial intelligence and data-based decision making, with a step-by-step strategy to transition manual tasks to automated ones in a phased manner. Futureproofing was implemented in the design and planning, while maintaining a rigorous check on the project budget and timeline.
The project is under construction and on course to be the latest large acute hospital in Singapore, touted as the first phygital campus where the hospital will begin serving patients using technology even before it is fully completed as a building.Learning Objectives
- To learn about global best practice in the current health planning landscape
- Learning about new procurement strategies like public-private partnership (PPP), design-build, etc.
- Learning about latest technology and AI, data-backed solutions for healthcare
11.25Empowering our SMART healthcare future: The data centre opportunity
Kevin Cassidy
National market lead - healthcare and science, WSP Canada, CanadaAs the National Head of Healthcare for WSP Canada and chair of WSP’s global healthcare team, Kevin has over 20 years of healthcare facility design under his belt. With experience in acute care, pediatric, outpatient and long-term care facilities, Kevin has a passion for helping his clients design buildings and systems that support the best care practices for their patients. Kevin’s experience spans all aspects of the healthcare design process including strategic planning, compliance consulting, master planning, and design and construction management. Working with national and global healthcare clients, Kevin has successfully delivered projects using a variety of procurement models, including Design-Bid-Build, Alternative Financial Procurement, and Integrated Project Delivery. Along with the rest of the WSP team, he works with his clients, partners and industry to provide innovative solutions and environments, addressing the unique obstacles that impact the development of a healthier society .Empowering our SMART healthcare future: The data centre opportunity
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Advances in medical technology, artificial intelligence and clinical care approaches offer an unprecedented opportunity to provide patients with better care and medical outcomes than ever before. However, implementing the infrastructure to enable these changing approaches to healthcare has never been more challenging. From the rising costs of hospital construction and imperatives to decarbonise buildings and operations, to the challenge that the data infrastructure is not yet ready to enable the full promise of AI-enabled healthcare, it’s time for a rethink on how we develop healthcare facilities. Could stepping back and considering a completely different approach inspired by another sector be the way forward?
In this presentation, we will explore opportunities for collaboration between the healthcare and data centre industries. We will explore a 'what if' scenario where business models, infrastructure needs and the race to decarbonise collide. Could combining the energy-intense complexities of large-scale data centres with the energy-hungry needs of modern healthcare facilities enable the technologies of the future faster, while addressing the financial and social challenges that healthcare is facing around the world?
We will look at:
• the financial, technological, and social challenges facing modern hospital construction projects;
• how AI-enabled healthcare may be able to address future clinical challenges;
• the data centre infrastructure gap that must be overcome to enable AI-enabled healthcare;
• opportunities to collaborate with industry partners to identify novel methods of using energy and decarbonise operations.
Delving into specific case studies where such interdisciplinary collaborations have already shown promising results for other building types, we will examine how hospitals can integrate data centre technologies to optimise their energy consumption and reduce operational costs. Additionally, we will discuss the potential for innovative financing models that leverage the strengths of both sectors to fund the development of next-generation healthcare facilities. Moreover, we will highlight the importance of regulatory frameworks and policy support in facilitating these collaborations. By understanding the regulatory landscape and advocating for policies that promote sustainable and integrated infrastructure development, we can pave the way for more resilient and adaptable healthcare systems. Building on the collaborative opportunities that exist with the data centre industry, we will also look at how healthcare design, construction and operations could be improved through greater collaboration with other industries. Using 'outside the project' thinking, we will explore these what-if scenarios, encouraging attendees to identify opportunities to improve clinical and facility operations, create alternative revenue streams and enhance patient outcomes.
Learning Objectives
- Recognise infrastructure challenges to implementing AI-enabled healthcare technologies
- Review the development status of other industry sectors that compliment the healthcare facility redevelopment process
- Identify collaborative partnering opportunities that enhance healthcare redevelopment opportunities
11.45Integrative digital transformation in healthcare: Technology master planning for a resilient health ecosystem
Con McGarry
Senior consultant, digital healthcare, Arcadis, United KingdomA qualified biomedical scientist and experienced healthcare professional with a focus on technology, Con specialises in transforming healthcare environments by integrating innovative technology solutions with human centric design that results in tangible improvements to patient outcomes and operational efficiency. His expertise lies in envisioning a cohesive pathway to deliver health and well-being solutions beyond traditional boundaries, spanning hospitals, homes, communities, and digital spaces. Con has significant exposure and a proven track record of delivery in complex, multi-stakeholder public and private markets across multiple industries. He has the proven ability to build, lead and inspire high performance teams and motivate individuals to achieve results. A proven problem solver, delivering digital solutions that drive positive customer experiences and continuous performance improvements in forward thinking public and private sector environments.Integrative digital transformation in healthcare: Technology master planning for a resilient health ecosystem
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Healthcare systems are increasingly pressured to adapt to rising demands for personalised, predictive and responsive care. As facilities struggle to integrate technology, there is an urgent need for a structured approach to healthcare technology, encompassing novel technologies such as AI, the internet of things (IoT), data analytics, telemedicine and robotics. Through projects such as the Cleveland Clinic Technology Masterplan and the new St. Paul’s Hospital redevelopment, we have developed a framework that leverages these technologies to build resilient, digitally-enabled healthcare ecosystems that prioritise patient-centred care and efficient resource management.
Drawing from recent healthcare technology implementations, specifically exploring how integrated ICT systems and smart hospital infrastructures contribute to digital health transformation, a comprehensive theoretical framework for whole-system digital transformation in healthcare can be conceived. Projects, such as the Cleveland Clinic Technology Masterplan and the new St. Paul’s Hospital redevelopment, demonstrate strategic approaches to incorporating digital informatics and adaptable, data-centric infrastructures that support personalised medicine and holistic patient care.
The proposed methodology for achieving whole-system digital transformation in healthcare follows five phases, as demonstrated by the Cleveland Clinic Technology Masterplan. The process begins with 'discovery', where visioning workshops identify how novel and emerging technologies can align with healthcare delivery goals. Stakeholders collaborate to create a shared vision that links technology with clinical and operational objectives. 'Research' explores available technologies, trends and best practices, with a focus on understanding the maturity and applicability of technologies in healthcare contexts.
'Analysis' takes findings from discovery and research to identify strategic opportunities for digital transformation, leading to actionable recommendations. 'Solution development' then translates these insights into conceptual use cases and technology designs that fit within existing healthcare infrastructure, emphasising adaptability and interoperability. Finally, the 'plan and report' phase synthesises these efforts into a comprehensive technology master plan, offering a structured roadmap for technology integration, performance metrics and long-term transformation.
Our projects demonstrate the potential of a whole-system digital transformation approach, paving the way for a new model of healthcare that prioritises technology and patient-centred design. This methodology offers a framework for adopting a holistic digital health ecosystem, preparing healthcare facilities to meet future demands with a robust, flexible digital infrastructure. Further study will focus on the measurable impacts of these technologies across performance metrics to optimise the model for broader application in the health sector.
Learning Objectives
- Smart hospital innovations
- Whole system-level adoption of digital health
- Personalised medical care
12.05Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networking14.00 - 15.30Session 25- Digital transformation of care and workflows
Harry van Goor MD, PhD
Professor of surgical education, Radboudumc, NetherlandsHarry van Goor, MD, PhD, FRCS is a Professor of Surgical Education and Innovator at the Radboud university medical center. He is leading several technology tracks in the ‘less bricks, more bytes, different behaviour’ programme to improve care and wellbeing of patients, and healthcare workers in- and outside the hospital, including intuitive personalised wayfinding, continuous monitoring with wearable devices and predictive analytics, VR therapy and VR education, Ambient Intelligence and personalised healing environments in the hospital and at home. He runs a project of home-facilitated VR (p)rehabilitation (e.g. long-COVID rehab) and VR4Pain management in a virtually connected care solution. Harry has published over 400 peer-reviewed papers in a broad field of surgical care, medical device development and digital technology supported care innovation. He coaches several start-ups companies in the field of digital technology supported healthcare and design in a ‘Learning by Doing’ and ‘Digital by Design’ way. Harry was awarded Digital Innovator of the Year 2022 in the Netherlands. He is a Frank Lloyd Wright connoisseur, living with his wife in a FLW designed Usonian house.14.00The inpatient room as a microcosm of care transformation: Designing for the digital-physical future
David Nicolson
Managing director UKMENA, Tektology, United KingdomDavid is the Managing Director of Tektology for the UK, Middle East, and North America, a consultancy focused on health system design, digital innovation, and organisational transformation. With over 20 years of experience, his career spans roles in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, and the UK, where he has worked on complex healthcare challenges across diverse settings. David has led significant initiatives in service redesign, digital integration, and the development of innovative care models. His work includes projects with NHS trusts and NHS England, as well as health systems in Australia and New Zealand, where he has contributed to strategic digital transformations and the creation of patient-centred care pathways. In Canada and India, he has supported large-scale health improvement projects, aligning policy and technology to improve health outcomes. A former State President of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA), David was valedictorian of the Executive Master of Public Administration program at The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). In 2016, he received the IPAA National Young Public Sector Leader Award, recognising his contributions to public administration and leadershipChristine Chadwick
Managing director, Archus Canada, CanadaChristine has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare, including many executive and leadership roles. Christine brings system-wide expertise and skills, including strategy/visioning, health services planning, functional programming, lean thinking, digi-physical visioning, and stakeholder engagement of all levels and input into healthcare planning. Christine is Co-Chair of the CSA Z8005 Digital Infrastructure & digital technologies in healthcare facilities. She also sits as an Associate Member of the CSA Health Care Facilities Technical Committee (Z257 TC). Alongside her technical expertise, Christine is a passionate advocate for developing the next generation of healthcare leaders. She is a Mentor in Residence and a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine & Innovation, a mentor for the Women’s Infrastructure Network and Founding President of the Canadian Women’s Circle of Healthcare (CWCH).The inpatient room as a microcosm of care transformation: Designing for the digital-physical future
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The inpatient room, traditionally seen as the foundation of hospital-based care, is evolving into a dynamic nexus of digital-physical integration, driving care delivery both within and beyond hospital walls. As healthcare systems innovate, the room must not only address immediate patient and clinician needs but also act as a bridge to remote monitoring, home-based treatments and integrated care networks.
This session positions the inpatient room as a microcosm of care transformation. Drawing on case studies from Australia, Canada and the UK’s New Hospital Programme (NHP), we will explore how technologies like the internet of things (IoT), AI and sensors are embedded into room- and ward-level designs to enable seamless transitions between hospital- and community-based care. The discussion will also address how these innovations impact patient outcomes, clinician workflows and system-wide interoperability.
Key themes include:
1. Reimagining the inpatient room: Designing spaces to integrate technology, enhance adaptability and provide a platform for digital-physical care models
2. Extending care beyond the hospital: Leveraging room-based innovations like remote monitoring to support continuity of care in home and community settings
3. Data integration and interoperability: Connecting room-level technologies with broader hospital and community care networks for seamless transitions
4. Ward-level impacts: Examining how single-room advancements reshape care team workflows, data use and patient outcomes
5. Future-ready design: Addressing challenges in creating rooms and wards that remain adaptable to evolving technologies and care delivery models
By examining the inpatient room as a key enabler of digital-physical convergence, this presentation provides actionable insights into designing spaces that drive transformative care delivery. Attendees will learn how to balance cutting-edge technologies with patient-centred design to reimagine care from hospital to home.
Learning Objectives
- Develop strategies for designing inpatient rooms that serve as platforms for integrated digital-physical care delivery
- Understand how room-level innovations impact broader ward and system operations, enabling smoother transitions to community-based care
- Explore international case studies demonstrating the role of technology in bridging hospital and home care through integrated design
14.20Digital transformation of clinical workflows in hospitals
Kevin Higgins
Vice president of product, Austco Healthcare (Global), United StatesA global product manager for 10 years, Kevin came to the healthcare industry as a user experience and product usability expert. He is responsible for making sure Austco Healthcare’s products meet the diverse needs of customers worldwide. Kevin facilitates usability workshops with customers to uncover pain points and opportunities, and frequently presents product strategy to customers, investors, and distributors globally. Kevin is passionate about using the latest technologies to solve problems for healthcare customers. Especially those challenges that, when overcome, improve the standard of care for a measurable effect on peoples’ lives and health.
Peter Ball
Business manager, Austco Healthcare (Europe), United KingdomPeter has 40+ years’ experience working with client teams throughout Europe, Middle East, Far East and the UK in the design and delivery of advanced hospital communications systems for acute hospitals.Digital transformation of clinical workflows in hospitals
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The optimisation of hospital processes saves time and cost of scarce resources, and drives real gains in patient experience and staff wellbeing. To advance digital transformation and lighten the burden on healthcare staff, hospitals are encouraged to embrace a new generation of communications technologies. Optimised clinical workflow represents a digital twin for healthcare’s myriad processes – for example, the steps to admit an emergency room patient, management of the patient care pathway, co-ordination of room cleaning and maintenance, and the several sign-offs required to discharge a patient.
Nurse call systems have evolved to stand at the nexus of several data systems and are uniquely able to provide digital workflow solutions. Benefits include:
• ensuring all staff roles are represented – not just nurses – with communications going directly to the right person, department or team;
• exposing where there are inefficiencies in a process. Reducing each patient discharge timeline by just 15 minutes, for example, represents a significant amount of money saved over time, and provides the opportunity to increase throughput;
• supporting care initiatives and enforcing protocols – for example, setting a goal to spend 15 minutes more per day with each patient, or ensuring that each patient is observed by a nurse at least once every hour;
• combatting alarm fatigue and improving the healing environment by annunciating only high-priority alarms and calls, while directing others to their recipient silently;
• bridging siloed data systems by displaying the right data in the right context. Does this patient have a food allergy? When were they last seen by a nurse and how long was the visit? What specialists must see them before they may be discharged? Is this room waiting to be cleaned before another patient may be admitted?
Because each hospital has its own way of accomplishing a given task, the solution must be flexible enough to respect preferences while also contributing a best-practice framework. Optimised workflow requires planning: processes documented, relevant metrics chosen, technology options considered and, finally, effectiveness measured in ways that tie efforts back to key performance outcomes.
The future of optimised workflow lies in automating functions based on real-time data, using machine learning to make predictions about staffing and patient needs, and automatically assigning tasks. Digital workflow simply brings a modern efficiency to processes that have always existed. We’re finding bottlenecks, introducing time savings, measuring what was previously unmeasured. Advanced digital workflow is the connective tissue between staff, their tasks, their patients and technology.Learning Objectives
- An understanding of the emerging technologies and integrations that enable digital workflows, and their effective application in hospitals
- Selecting the metrics that yield greatest insight to hospital processes, and the greatest opportunity for improvement
- Planning and infrastructure considerations for digital workflows, as well as the successful deployment and testing of bespoke solutions
14.40SMART operating theatres
Richard McAuley
National specification manager, Brandon Medical (Member of Reinsberg Group), United KingdomRichard McAuley is a highly experienced professional with a diverse background in technology and audio-visual systems. Beginning his career in Instrumentation and Control Systems, Richard advanced to developing SCADA control and predictive failure analysis solutions. He later transitioned into video production, live events, and Audio Visual systems, where he has excelled for over 25 years. Richard specialises in designing, specifying, and delivering innovative AV, broadcast, and control solutions for military, education, and healthcare environments globally. His healthcare portfolio includes cutting-edge projects such as surgical skills labs, integrated operating theatres, MDT facilities, endoscopy suites, and mortuaries across the UK. Notable collaborations include WMSTC, Newcastle Freeman Hospital, Keele University, and Leeds St James’s Hospital. At Brandon Medical, Richard authors master specifications that seamlessly integrate advanced technologies with the needs of healthcare professionals, estate owners, and end users, ensuring optimal outcomes for modern healthcare design.SMART operating theatres
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The healthcare industry is undergoing a transformative shift with the integration of digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and personalised medicine. One of the key enablers of this shift is the application of intelligent medical devices within the operating theatre, which can facilitate improved decision making, patient outcomes and operational efficiency. As a manufacturer of cutting-edge medical devices, such as operating lights with integrated camera systems, digital connectivity for medical equipment and unified communication systems, we have developed an ecosystem that fosters seamless data exchange across multiple systems within the operating room. These innovations are designed to capture and analyse both patient and environmental data in real time, providing valuable insights for AI applications.
This presentation aims to explore the potential of AI-driven analysis in operating theatres by using real-time vision, patient and environmental data. Specifically, it highlights the capabilities of our intelligent systems, which integrate medical devices, control panels and building management systems to enable a flexible, adaptive approach to healthcare delivery.
We employed a systems integration approach to evaluate the performance of our digital health ecosystem, focusing on the integration of vision systems, medical devices and environmental data. We examined how these systems interact with AI algorithms to provide actionable insights for surgeons, improving precision, reducing errors and enhancing patient safety. Experience from hospitals and operating theatres using our technologies were analysed to assess real-world applications and user feedback. The research also explored the adaptability and reconfigurability of the system to meet changing client and patient needs.
Our findings demonstrate that the integration of AI with medical devices in the operating theatre significantly enhances clinical workflows. Surgeons can share procedures in real time through unified communication systems, improving collaboration and knowledge sharing. Additionally, the ability to dynamically modify the system based on specific patient or procedural requirements ensures that care can be personalised and optimised. The system’s flexibility in data processing and system reconfiguration allows hospitals to remain agile, adapting quickly to evolving technologies and patient care protocols.
The adoption of AI and digital health solutions in operating theatres represents a significant advancement in healthcare delivery. By leveraging integrated data systems, medical devices and building management technologies, healthcare providers can enhance clinical precision, patient outcomes and operational flexibility. The ability to update and reconfigure systems in real time allows hospitals to keep pace with changing patient needs and technological advancements.
Learning Objectives
- Integration of AI systems to the operating room
- Flexibility in the design of operating room information pathways
- SMART methodology: Standardisation, Modularity, Adaptability, Reliability and Technology integration
15.00Panel discussion15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 26- Designing for virtual care
Jonathan Erskine
Director, European Health Property Network, UKJonathan Erskine is the executive director of the European Health Property Network (www.euhpn.eu) and a researcher at the Centre for Public Policy and Health (CPPH), School for Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, UK. His research interests are in the areas of health service reform, the boundaries between primary and secondary care, and the relationship between the design of health service systems and the built healthcare environment. Jonathan has had a long association with the European Health Property Network and, until recently, was also a non-executive director with NHS Stockton Primary Care Trust, and vice-chair of the Board. He has co-authored chapters in two books, ‘Investing in Hospitals of the Future’, and ‘Capital Investment for Health: case studies from Europe’, produced in collaboration with the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. His research at the CPPH, Durham University, has recently focused on the use of Lean in healthcare systems, particularly in relation to the ‘North East Transformation System’ – a region-wide quality improvement programme, which encompasses commissioning and provider NHS organisations. The report on this research was published in December 2014.16.00Building trust: Designing for remote care – insights from an international multidisciplinary symposium
Deane Harder
Research professor for corporate development, strategy, sustainability, and system dynamics, Bern University of Applied Sciences, SwitzerlandDeane Harder is a lecturer at the business school of the Bern University of Applied Sciences, where his work bridges the worlds of management, innovation, and human-centered design. With a professional background as a management consultant, Deane Harder has advised organizations across sectors on strategic transformation, cultivating a nuanced understanding of how businesses navigate the complexities of change, and developing new marketable solutions. His academic research focuses on the intersection of innovation, customer empathy, and behavioral economics, exploring how organizations can design better experiences by addressing resistance to change and innovation and understanding the underlying drivers of human behavior.
Emma Nadol
Project lead service design, Swiss Center for Design and Health, SwitzerlandEmma Nadol works as a Project Lead for Service Design at the Swiss Center for Design and Health (SCDH), where her work focuses on advancing care services, hospital-at-home models, and evidence-based innovations in healthcare systems. She holds a Master’s degree in Service Design from the Royal College of Art, London, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Design. Her professional journey includes consulting experience with Deloitte in Munich and specialized training in project management and entrepreneurial studies from London Business School and Imperial College Business School. Emma’s interdisciplinary expertise integrates design, research, and strategy, underpinned by a background in mechanical engineering. This diverse foundation equips her to address the systemic complexities of healthcare delivery through service design methodologies, emphasizing accessibility, inclusivity, and sustainability. Her work is characterized by a commitment to co-creation and the practical application of evidence-based practices to improve patient-centered care while navigating the unique constraints of healthcare systems. Emma’s focus lies in bridging academic research with actionable strategies to create meaningful, impactful, and sustainable healthcare solutions.
David Wollschlegel
Interaction designer, Swiss Center for Design and Health, SwitzerlandDavid Wollschlegel is an Interaction Designer at the Swiss Center for Design and Health (SCDH) and is responsible for the conception, development and operation of the technical infrastructure in the Living Lab. Furthermore, he brings in technological and digital expertise into a broad range of projects. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Interaction Design from the Zurich University of the Arts and has a background in computer science, specifically web-development. His passion is the healthcare sector because he likes working closely with and for humans, as well as the technical complexity of this system.
Minou Afzali
Head of research, Swiss Center for Design and Health, SwitzerlandMinou Afzali is Head of Research at the Swiss Centre for Design and Health — Switzerland’s national Competence Centre at the interface between People, Healthcare, Design and Architecture. Prior to that, she was Deputy Head of the Institute of Design Research and Professor of Social Design at Bern Academy of Applied Sciences. She was also the coordinator of an interdisciplinary research group at the Bern University of Applied Sciences including experts from the fields of design, architecture, nursing, medical informatics and economics. Minou is a trained product designer and holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Bern where she wrote her dissertation on the role of design in culture-specific nursing homes in Switzerland.
Rahel Inauen
Project lead design research, Swiss Center for Design and Health, SwitzerlandRahel works as a Project Lead for Design Research Projects at the Swiss Center for Design and Health (SCDH), in this role she coordinates and contributes to various projects on the intersection of design and health. Rahel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the Academy of Art and Design, Basel and a Master’s Degree in Social Design from the Bern Academy of the Arts (HKB). After several years of working for various studios and clients in the Netherlands and Switzerland in the fields of product, communication and social design, Rahel was employed at the Hochschule der Künste Bern in various functions, including assisting and teaching in the MA Design and managing the Academy's internal continuing education programme. In 2019, Rahel became a member of the Health Care Communication Design research group, which brings together researchers from the fields of design, architecture, nursing, medical informatics and economics, in 2022 Rahel joined the SCDH. Rahel's expertise integrates design, applied research and aspects of education and didactics and is supported by a strong interest in interdisciplinary processes, tackling complex challenges and methods such as co-design, participatory design, user-centred processes, prototyping and simulation.
Rahul Chodhari
Consultant paediatrician, The Royal Free London Foundation Trust, United KingdomDr. Rahul Chodhari is a Consultant Paediatrician at The Royal Free London Foundation Trust, boasting over two decades of frontline acute hospital expertise. He has seamlessly integrated multisite clinical services and successfully navigated his teams through Trust mergers. With expertise in change management related to service transfers and the implementation of electronic patient records, Dr. Chodhari excels in supporting clinical teams through transformative periods. As the Medical Productivity Lead, collaborating with finance and operations colleagues, he serves as an expert on clinical demand/capacity modelling, team-based service/job planning, and annualised/flexible rostering. As a pivotal member of the clinical workforce team at NHSE, Dr. Chodhari has cultivated relationships with NHS employers, NHS Providers, Royal Colleges, AoMRC, and BMA. Notably, in his role as the Associate Medical Director of Innovation, he plays a key role in advancing the ambitions of the New Hospital Program with transformative ideas.
Nirit Pilosof PhD
Head of research in innovation and transformation, Sheba Medical Center; Faculty member, Tel Aviv University, IsraelDr Nirit Pilosof is an architect and researcher exploring the intersection of Healthcare, Technology, and Architecture. She is a Faculty Member at the Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University, and an Associate of Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS) at the University of Cambridge in the UK. She is also Head of Research in Healthcare Transformation at Sheba Medical Centre, a Fellow of Cambridge Digital Innovation (CDI) at the University of Cambridge, and the Executive Member of Israel at the International Union of Architects (UIA) Public Health Group. Dr Pilosof holds a PhD from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, a Post-Professional M.Arch from McGill University, and an Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) from the Center for Health Design in the USA. She gained experience in the design process of major medical facilities as a project manager at leading architecture firms in Israel and Canada and won international awards, including the prestige's American Institute of Architects (AIA) Academy of Architects for Health award, the American Hospital Association (AHA) graduate fellowship, The McGill Graduate fellowship, and the Azrieli Foundation fellowship.Building trust: Designing for remote care – insights from an international multidisciplinary symposium
Abstract Copy
Remote care and the use of telemedicine technologies are transforming healthcare services, yet little is known about the critical interplay of remote technologies, the built environment and human factors. This triad shapes how care is delivered and experienced, requiring thoughtful design to support both functional and emotional dimensions of care and cultivate trust as a foundational element in the success of remote healthcare.
To investigate these intersections, the Swiss Center for Design and Health (SCDH) convened international experts from various disciplines for a symposium on 'Building trust: Designing for remote care' in July 2024. The symposium centred on a two-day simulation workshop with full-scale physical mock-ups using remote technologies in a living lab. Participants explored four scenarios that represented diverse cases of remote care delivery in hospital and home environments:
1. post-operative discharge involving a remote care robot in a single-patient hospital room;
2. shared surgical decision making through remote consultation, including a specialist, a family physician and relatives, in a semi-private hospital room;
3. remote cardiac care of an elderly patient in home hospitalisation;
4. telepsychiatry session for a young adult within the family home environment.
To capture the complexity of these care scenarios, participants observed each scenario from dual perspectives – once from the perspective of patients and family members and a second time from the perspective of the remote medical staff. Insights were gleaned through subsequent debriefing sessions and a structured plenary discussion. The simulations revealed that both technical and human factors significantly influence trust-building.
Physical variables, such as the quality of audio, video or lighting, proved essential to establishing effective remote connections and care. Critical were challenges around privacy and empathy. Multi-bed hospital rooms, for instance, posed risks to conversational confidentiality during video consultations. Additionally, the virtual nature of these interactions highlighted the role of non-verbal cues that typically are necessary to build rapport in traditional face-to-face care. Subsequently, the role of on-site healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, proved essential as mediators between patients and remote physicians. These professionals not only facilitate the technical aspects of remote communication but also help to preserve the human dimension of care in virtual interactions.
The insights from the symposium are currently being analysed to develop recommendations and guidelines to inform decision makers, healthcare managers, architects, designers, developers of new technologies, educators and medical staff, enabling them to realise the full potential of remote care models while maintaining high standards of patient care and trust.
Learning Objectives
- Investigation of the intersection of remote technologies, built environments and human experience in healthcare delivery
- Integration of telemedicine technologies in hospital and home environments through simulation testing
- Development of preliminary design recommendations for trust-building in remote care models
16.20VRCONNECT: A VRx-centred remote care system ticking all the boxes of healthcare challengesHarry van Goor MD, PhD
Professor of surgical education, Radboudumc, NetherlandsHarry van Goor, MD, PhD, FRCS is a Professor of Surgical Education and Innovator at the Radboud university medical center. He is leading several technology tracks in the ‘less bricks, more bytes, different behaviour’ programme to improve care and wellbeing of patients, and healthcare workers in- and outside the hospital, including intuitive personalised wayfinding, continuous monitoring with wearable devices and predictive analytics, VR therapy and VR education, Ambient Intelligence and personalised healing environments in the hospital and at home. He runs a project of home-facilitated VR (p)rehabilitation (e.g. long-COVID rehab) and VR4Pain management in a virtually connected care solution. Harry has published over 400 peer-reviewed papers in a broad field of surgical care, medical device development and digital technology supported care innovation. He coaches several start-ups companies in the field of digital technology supported healthcare and design in a ‘Learning by Doing’ and ‘Digital by Design’ way. Harry was awarded Digital Innovator of the Year 2022 in the Netherlands. He is a Frank Lloyd Wright connoisseur, living with his wife in a FLW designed Usonian house.VRCONNECT: A VRx-centred remote care system ticking all the boxes of healthcare challenges
Abstract Copy
Healthcare continues to be confronted with critical challenges, including rising costs, suboptimal patient experiences, healthcare equity issues, workforce shortages and a planetary health emergency. Digital technology holds the promise to address these challenges. However, current solutions lack integration and insufficiently transform the siloed healthcare system into a ‘blurred boundaries’ system.
We are proposing a new ecosystem of ‘digital-by-design connected health and care’ where people manage themselves at home using virtual reality therapeutics (VRx), monitored and supported at a distance by AI virtual agents, backed up by digital nurse (assistant) specialists and on demand by primary care and hospital caregivers collaborating in the 'MediVeRse', with the possibility of referral to a physical infrastructure that is equipped for this ‘virtuality first to reality second’ approach. The ecosystem is personalised and value-based by design, enables preventive measures and behaviour, and leads to rethinking healthcare spaces. It challenges the standard physical, social, technical cultural, financial and medico-legal interactions between patients, providers and payers.
We built this new ecosystem step by step in practice-oriented research settings, gradually introducing more digital technology for the use case of pre- and rehabilitation in elective surgery. The first step was IMNEAR-1, where volunteers were performing multiple VR exercises according to a fit4surgery protocol, remotely monitored and supported by caregivers of an independent medical service centre 24/7, with seamless consultation of community and hospital caregivers by video. In IMNEAR-1, the (data)-interconnectivity and integration of a wearable consumer device, a VR headset and an analytic and operational platform was tested for feasibility and initial effectiveness.
In IMNEAR-2, patients who were physical and mentally preparing for colorectal and joint replacement surgery were included, validating this new approach for cost-effectiveness. A proof-of-concept study was performed with an AI virtual agent as the first line of on demand support. Further a virtual ‘campus’ was built to serve as a digital space to encounter professionals, engage in preventive health activities and individually manage the expectations and uncertainties of the surgery and hospital stay.
We will present the results of IMNEAR-1 and -2 and demonstrate the benefits of VRCONNECT in promoting patient self-management, therapy adherence, satisfaction and functioning, relieving the burden of community and hospital caregivers, reducing costs of fit4surgery by half, and improving accessibility and inclusivity. The results are put in perspective of existing literature on digital healthcare transformation. We will consider the consequences for both hospital and community practice design and operations of this ‘reality to virtuality’ approach.
Learning Objectives
- To understand the concept of the digital-by-design VR-connected care ecosystem with its challenges in replacing standard care
- To know the power of practice-oriented research on step-by-step digital transforming healthcare
- To hypothesise on the main consequences of care in the MediVeRse on hospital and community practice design and services
16.40Integration of immersive virtual environments in healthcare research and design
Michelle Pearson
Associate professor, interior design program director, Texas Tech University, United StatesDr. Michelle Pearson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Design at Texas Tech University. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Design and a Doctor of Philosophy in Interior Environmental Design, both from Texas Tech University. Dr. Pearson’s research focuses on designing for health and wellness, particularly for children, with an emphasis on integrating natural elements into interior spaces. Her research explores diverse topics, including the impact of art and window murals in healthcare environments, the application of Virtual Reality (VR) and Immersive Virtual Realities (IVR) in healthcare design, and the design of a Malawian Early Childhood Development Center. She is also the co-author of Designing for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Dr. Pearson's scholarship has earned recognition through numerous prestigious awards, including the IDEC Engaged Scholarship Award, the ASID Joel Polsky Prize, and the IIDA Design Excellence Award in Research – Book Award, among others.
Nishan Khatiwada
Research assistant, Texas Tech University, United StatesNishan Khatiwada, a first-generation student from Nepal, is currently pursuing a PhD in Interior and Environmental Design at the Department of Design at Texas Tech University. His academic journey, fueled by a deep curiosity and passion for design, has led him to focus on creating spaces that positively impact lives, particularly children, with a Bachelor's degree in Architecture and a Master's in Environmental Design. Nishan's research interests include healing space designs, sensory design, child-centered design, and sustainability. He particularly emphasizes the unique needs of children on the autism spectrum. He aims to develop environments that foster well-being, support learning, and provide comfort and healing. Driven by a deep-seated desire to contribute to a more inclusive, sustainable world, Nishan's work is firmly rooted in the belief that design can be a potent tool for social change. His research aims to bridge the gap between aesthetics and functionality, using design to create spaces that nurture physical, mental, and emotional health. Nishan's work is driven by the conviction that well-designed spaces can transform lives, enhance well-being, and positively impact communities. He hopes to use his knowledge and research to advocate for designs that improve the quality of life for all individuals, especially children.Integration of immersive virtual environments in healthcare research and design
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Immersive virtual environments (IVEs) are advanced virtual reality (VR) environments that provide fully interactive, multisensory experiences, distinguishing themselves from traditional 3D models through heightened realism and engagement (Baritome, 2023). Their versatility makes them a transformative tool in healthcare research, addressing key challenges such as the ethical complexities of working with vulnerable populations, maintaining confidentiality and managing high implementation costs (Goncalves et al., 2012).
While VR has historically been employed as a distraction tool to alleviate pain and anxiety in medical settings (Richey et al., 2022), its standard applications often lack the immersive depth needed to replicate real-world conditions accurately (Rahim et al., 2024). IVEs, by contrast, immerse participants in lifelike, sensory-rich environments through a fusion of visual, auditory and tactile stimuli, enabling researchers to collect nuanced, real-time data (Smith, 2015; Joseph et al., 2020). This heightened level of realism makes IVEs particularly well suited for investigating the complex interplay between environmental design and patient wellbeing. By simulating real-world healthcare settings, IVEs also allow researchers to safely test interventions, optimise designs and explore patient-centric solutions in a controlled and cost-effective manner. Despite their potential, IVEs remain underutilised in healthcare design research (Joseph et al., 2020).
This research explores the integration of IVEs as a methodology in healthcare design research. A systematic literature review was conducted using Google Scholar and CINAHL Complete, focusing on empirical studies published since 2012 that employed IVEs in the context of healthcare and architectural design. Analysis identified several key applications for IVEs in healthcare settings, including:
1. navigation and spatial cognition research;
2. studying the relationship between the built environment and human behaviour;
3. design evaluations (pre-occupancy and post-occupancy);
4. supporting decision making in space planning, layout testing and perception studies;
5. testing environmental variables such as colour preferences, acoustics, lighting and window views.
By integrating IVE technology into the design process, researchers can adopt a scalable, patient-centred approach to evaluating and implementing design solutions in healthcare environments. This methodology bridges art, technology and architectural design, enabling more rigorous, empathetic and efficient explorations of healthcare spaces. IVEs represent a transformative opportunity to innovate healthcare design research, offering new pathways for enhancing patient outcomes and environmental efficacy.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the role of IVEs in healthcare research
- Analyse applications of IVEs in design evaluation
- Evaluate the impact of IVEs on patient outcomes
17.00Panel discussionEnd of Science, technology and digital transformation stream -
Tertiary care
Council Chamber
08.45 - 10.15Session 27- Design research and the patient experience
David Allison FAIA, FACHA
Alumni distinguished professor; Director of architecture + health, Clemson University, USADavid Allison FAIA, FACHA is an Alumni Distinguished Professor and has served as the Director of Graduate Studies in Architecture + Health [A+H] at Clemson University since 1990. His teaching, research and scholarship involve the study of relationships between health, healthcare and the built environment. The A+H program at Clemson is nationally recognized for its focused curriculum and emphasis on design excellence within the discipline of healthcare architecture. It is committed to the integration of innovative design with academic scholarship and research in healthcare environments and healthy community planning and design, and it has won numerous national and international program and student awards for its work under Professor Allison’s direction. Professor Allison is also a Licensed Architect in South and North Carolina as well as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He is also a board certified, founding member and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Architects [ACHA], currently serves on the ACHA Board of Regents, and received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. He is the founder of the Architecture for Health Educators Summit held annually as part of the joint AIA/AAH and ACHA Summer Leadership Summit. He is also a cofounder of an annual AIA Academy of Architecture for Health South Atlantic Regional Conference. He was selected in 2007 as one of “Twenty Making a Difference” nationally by Healthcare Design Magazine and identified again in 2009, 2010 and 2012 by a national poll conducted by the magazine as “one of the most influential people in healthcare design.” Design Intelligence Magazine named him one of the nation's 30 Most Admired Design Educators in 2013-14 and again in 2019. He was also recognized by the Center for Health Design as its 2019 Changemaker.08.45The therapeutic power of the Maggie’s Centre: Experience, design and wellbeing – where architecture meets neuroscience
Caterina Frisone
Scientific director, University Iuav of Venice, ItalyCaterina Frisone is the founder and scientific director of the Master in Architecture and Health, a course that she designed after five years of experience (2017-2022) in the healthcare sector in England. PhD in Architecture of Care at Oxford Brookes University, she tested the hypotheses of her research by visiting hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country and living for four months in three different Maggie's Centres (cancer care centres) where she carried out her fieldwork, personally testing the therapeutic role that high-quality architecture has on people. Exploring this theme and investigating the interdisciplinarity between architecture and neuroscience, her book "The Therapeutic Power of Maggie's Centre" (Routledge, 2024) aims to inspire architects, doctors, students and all those who research the relationship between architecture and health.The therapeutic power of the Maggie’s Centre: Experience, design and wellbeing – where architecture meets neuroscience
Abstract Copy
In my book, based on my PhD thesis, I investigated the postulate of Maggie's Lead psychologist, Lesley Howells, who maintains that "the synergy between people and place allows psychological flexibility" – that is, a state of mind so flexible in its users that it constitutes a therapeutic environment. In this seemingly calm environment, however, other emotional phenomena that lead people to say, often in tears: "I don't know what this is", "I can't explain it" occur. To find out "what is exactly in a Maggie's Centre that generates a therapeutic power", I decided to explore neuroscience.
By bringing to the reader’s attention people’s behaviours from a biological point of view in response to Maggie’s unconventional architecture, this book explains the ability of the Maggie’s Centre to generate emotional phenomena and, therefore, why we can talk about its therapeutic power. In this, the book critically evaluates Maggie's as a model to be applied to other facilities. The ultimate purpose of the book is to raise awareness in the reader of what a therapeutic environment is, in order to be able to recognise it in any architecture that makes one feel well.
Wanting to deepen my understanding of the impact that the therapeutic environment has on Maggie’s users and how they respond to it biologically, in writing this book I turned to neuroscience primarily for two aspects: that of ‘perception’ (i.e. the experience triggered by movement and in which the brain serves to “predict the future, to anticipate the consequences of action” – scientifically demonstrated by the discovery of mirror neurons) and that of ‘emotions and feelings’ in the experiential process of which, again thanks to movement, the related brain structures are “those necessary for reasoning and to culminate in decision making”.
Although comfort and atmosphere are essential, they are not enough to define Maggie's therapeutic environment. It is only by looking at neuroscience, which can scientifically explain feelings and emotions, and by considering the space neither neutral nor empty, but full of forces that envelop people in an 'embodied experience', that we can understand what generates wellbeing at Maggie's. Aware that I have just begun to delve into neuroscience, in this book I only opened a door to its vast knowledge. However, since other perspectives are needed, this book is an even broader invitation to delve into the subject.
Learning Objectives
- Explain how the built environment influences our visual perception and our behaviour
- Facilitate the reader, layperson or not in neuroscience, in understanding the relationship between the two disciplines, highlighting the advantages that this mixture would bring and encouraging greater consideration in future projects
- Understand what the 'embodied experience' is
09.05Chemotherapy day units: A pilot study to understand the operational impacts of patient-centred design
Rebecca McLaughlan
Senior lecturer, University of Sydney , AustraliaRebecca is a researcher and educator at the University of Sydney; a recent Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow; and a Registered Architect. While she has been engaged in the research of healthcare environments for more than a decade, her current project, funded by a University of Sydney Thomson Prize, undertakes an ethnographic study of architectural practice to explore the ways that architecture embodies care; examining lived experiences and perceptions of care environments, and the processes through which architects navigate procurement obstacles to ensure built environments that extend care.
Tonya Hinde
Principal , Billard Leece Partnership, AustraliaTonya’s award winning interiors are typified by fresh palettes and a sense of warm, casual style. An interior designer with 30 years’ experience on a wide variety of projects with a personal aim to ‘humanize’ spaces, big or small, Tonya regularly designs for smaller detailed projects, such as individual residences and restaurants, alongside large scale multimillion dollar developments. This results in a personal sense of scale evident across all her projects, regardless of size, sector or typology. Tonya loves drawing, but her favourite thing is to see designs realised – to see people experiencing and interacting in these spaces.
Sharon Sullivan
Senior associate , Billard Leece Partnership, AustraliaSharon Sullivan, based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, is currently a Clinical Health Planner at Billard Leece Partnership Architects & Urban Planners. Sharon Sullivan brings experience from previous roles at Hspc, Sydney, Healthspace and Alfred Health. Sharon Sullivan holds a 1997 - 1997 La Trobe University. With a robust skill set that includes Research, Healthcare Information Technology, Healthcare, Project Management, Healthcare Management and more. Sharon Sullivan has 2 emails on RocketReach.
Ryan Graul
Associate, Billard Leece Partnership , AustraliaSince joining BLP in 2014, I've worked across all design stages on some of our major large scale complex health projects, such as the Campbeltown Hospital Redevelopment and Sydney Children’s Hospital Network Redevelopment in Westmead and Randwick. My portfolio extends across various sectors, with an emphasis on health, sciences + technology and multi-residential projects. My strength lies in the beginning stages of a project where i have developed strong design, presentation, clinical planning and consultant co-ordination skills. This has given me an excellent foundation in the design for health and wellbeing. I’m passionate about using scale, aesthetic, volume, and light to craft socially aware healing environments. I pride myself on having a good eye for detail in both design and documentation with advanced skills in Revit, Lumion, Enscape, AutoCAD, Adobe Suite, and Sketchup. I am proficient in creating 3D visual experiences, including renders, animated fly-throughs, and Virtual Reality.Since joining BLP in 2014, I've worked across all design stages on some of our major large scale complex health projects, such as the Campbeltown Hospital Redevelopment and Sydney Children’s Hospital Network Redevelopment in Westmead and Randwick. My portfolio extends across various sectors, with an emphasis on health, sciences + technology and multi-residential projects. My strength lies in the beginning stages of a project where i have developed strong design, presentation, clinical planning and consultant co-ordination skills. This has given me an excellent foundation in the design for health and wellbeing. I’m passionate about using scale, aesthetic, volume, and light to craft socially aware healing environments. I pride myself on having a good eye for detail in both design and documentation with advanced skills in Revit, Lumion, Enscape, AutoCAD, Adobe Suite, and Sketchup. I am proficient in creating 3D visual experiences, including renders, animated fly-throughs, and Virtual Reality.
Allison Jessup
Associate, Billard Leece Partnership , Australia
Azadeh Kazeranizadeh
Project coordinator, Billard Leece Partnership , AustraliaAzadeh Kazeranizadeh is based out of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and works at Billard Leece Partnership as Graduate of Architecture.
Dianne Greenwood
Associate , Billard Leece Partnership, AustraliaChemotherapy day units: A pilot study to understand the operational impacts of patient-centred design
Abstract Copy
While research confirms the role of the built environment in supporting more positive experiences of cancer care, little research has been conducted regarding the operational implications of increasingly patient-centred design approaches. Further, much of the knowledge accessible to architects and stakeholders about what patients prefer within chemotherapy treatment environments is anecdotal. This can lead to marked variances in the briefing of new oncology facilities, even where these are being procured in the same city, at the same time – sometimes even by the same architect. This presentation presents pilot findings from an innovative research study that aims to understand the advantages and disadvantages of different design approaches to chemotherapy day units, relative to balancing a patient-centred environment, while supporting staff to deliver safe and efficient care.
The study is an analysis of the architectural designs of five chemotherapy day units within Australia, where all were selected for their distinct (and varied) approaches to architectural design. The study interrogates how well the space is designed relative to visibility of patients; ease of movement around the unit; ease of access to equipment and supplies; and overall ambiance. It includes two days of spatial use observations conducted at each of the five sites, complemented by a short online survey engaging 12–18 patients at each site to deliver a comprehensive understanding of the advantages / disadvantages of each design approach. This study is the result of an industry-defined need, arising from an innovative methodological approach taken to collaboration between an academic researcher and a leading healthcare practice.
Pilot findings reiterate the challenge of balancing privacy for patients with clear sight lines for nursing care, validating the intent of the broader study to examine a range of architectural strategies that aspire to strike this balance in different ways.
In presenting the pilot findings, this presentation will take the opportunity of evaluating the usefulness of an innovative research method in progress. The method, custom developed for this study, brings together methods and expertise, not often combined within evidence-based design, and practice-based research methods, with those from academia to obtain a more tangible and comprehensive understanding of the design of chemotherapy day units. As the method was designed to suit the constraints of practice relative to efficiencies of time and resources, it presents a valuable approach for healthcare design professionals more broadly.Learning Objectives
- Proposing a methodological approach for understanding the built environment's contribution to healthcare more comprehensively
- Proposing research methods better studied to the constraints of practice
- Promoting the benefits of academic researchers working more closely with practice
09.25Reactivating Hospital: Active patients through spatial design
Femke Feenstra
Architect, Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects, The NetherlandsFemke Feenstra is board architect, interior architect and partner in architectural firm Gortemaker Algra Feenstra (G.A.F). The firm is building a bridge between innovation and tradition. Between knowledge accumulated over many years, and young, fresh ideas. The G.A.F office often works on assignments in healthcare and well-being. Additionally, the firm is specialised in doing research and development. Feenstra received her education at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design. She thinks it’s important for designers to look outside of their own fields of expertise. How can designers contribute to the future of the living environment. Presently, Feenstra is working on various researches and projects in close co-operation with clients and users.Reactivating Hospital: Active patients through spatial design
Abstract Copy
In our mindset, hospitals are very much focused on sickness, waiting and beds, which results in a passive attitude from the visitor in this medical bastion. Why are we treating our patients so passively?
Especially for vulnerable patients, spending time in hospital has a strong negative influence on the human body and surgery worsens this influence. The overall physical state of patients worsens and their wellbeing and autonomy decreases. However, when patients stay active during their stay in hospital, on the other hand, fewer negative effects occur. The risk of complications reduces, and patients recover better and more quickly. Studies have shown that only 15 per cent of patients should actually stay in bed during their hospitalisation. To address these challenges, Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects developed the concept of the 'Reactivating Hospital', transforming hospitals into spaces that promote activity and wellbeing.
The Reactivating Hospital aims to encourage more active hospital stays by redesigning the spatial environment, particularly in inpatient wards. The goal is to foster healthier behaviours and improve recovery outcomes during and after hospitalisation.
The concept reimagines hospital routines by incorporating a rhythm of eight hours of activation, eight hours of relaxation and eight hours of sleep. Spatial interventions are designed to encourage movement, inviting patients to transition from bed to room, corridor, ward and beyond. Key features include:
• redesigning patient rooms with living spaces to reduce bed usage;
• introducing corridor niches themed around 'Seeing', 'Hearing', 'Writing', and 'Exercising';
• creating communal areas for activities and relaxation.
The research, conducted at Diakonessenhuis in collaboration with TNO, employed qualitative and exploratory methods, including focus groups, patient observations and structured questionnaires.
Initial findings from the 'Reactiverend Rijnstate' project at Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem show that patients (geriatrics and oncology) responded positively to the interventions. Patients spent more time out of bed, participated in activities and reported improved mental and physical wellbeing. Staff saw increased motivation in patients and felt supported by the tools provided to facilitate activation. Interventions such as thematic niches, lounges, outdoor space, exercise routes and redesigned room layouts improved patient safety and self-confidence and encouraged movement and social interaction.
In addition to the existing research, we have recently worked on the evaluation and validation of the concept in the built setting, such as at Rijnstate Hospital. Future research will focus on scaling up the concept and improving even more quantitative data collection.
09.45Panel discussion10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking10.45 - 12.30Session 28- Inclusive mental health design
Liane Knotts
Director, Medical Architecture, UKLianne has over 17 years of experience in healthcare design. Her wide-ranging expertise in the sector covers mental and acute health facilities, with work focusing on the needs of both adults and children. She was Lead Architect for the award-winning Ferndene, a Children and Young People’s Centre in Northumberland, and Rose Lodge Assessment and Treatment Centre, winner of “Best Social Care Design” at the Building Better Healthcare Awards. Lianne is a Director, leading our Newcastle Studio alongside Paul Yeomans. Her strengths lie in early project stages, particularly leading stakeholder engagement and clinical planning, which has led Lianne to work collaboratively worldwide with local architect and clinical teams. A passionate advocate for designing high-quality, therapeutic inpatient environments, Lianne is a Trustee of the Design in Mental Health Network. With her past experience as a Professional Examiner for RIBA Part 3 at Newcastle University, she leads the mentoring of our recent graduates and is responsible for ensuring the wellbeing of our team as well as being a Careers Enterprise Advisor with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership. As well as working on a number of UK projects, Lianne continues to lead our overseas collaborations, currently working on projects in Toronto, Canada, and with Health Prince Edward Island in a Technical Advisory role.10.45Transforming mental healthcare: Innovative design, planning and community collaboration at Montfort Hospital’s Mental Health Emergency Zone
Cedric du Montier
Associate, Parkin Architects, CanadaCédric du Montier, a Project Architect, brings over 15 years of experience and specializes in healthcare projects of varying scales and complexities. Fluently bilingual, Cédric has been involved in all phases of project development, from initial design to completion, and plays a key role in contract administration. His extensive experience provides him with a profound understanding of institutional client needs and the intricacies of large-scale facility operations. Cédric’s expertise ensures that projects are executed with precision and efficiency, addressing both functional and operational requirements with exceptional skill.
Kimberley Kennedy
Principal, Parkin Architects, CanadaKimberley Kennedy, Senior Project Architect, brings over 20 years of experience in healthcare architecture and project management to her role. With a focus on client satisfaction, she excels at understanding clients’ needs and exceeding their expectations through evidence-based planning, phasing strategies, and the latest technological advancements. Kimberley’s expertise in programming, architectural and interior design, and project management enables her to work effectively both individually and collaboratively with teams. Her dedication to delivering high-quality results has made her a trusted partner in the industry.Transforming mental healthcare: Innovative design, planning and community collaboration at Montfort Hospital’s Mental Health Emergency Zone
Abstract Copy
The presentation will explore the intersection of design, clinical care and the creation of healing environments, focusing on three key themes critical to advancing mental health care: population health, the intersection of design and clinical medicine, and the role of interior design and architecture in promoting wellbeing. Drawing on the principles of Empath Units, the presentation will highlight how architectural interventions have transformed the care experience for patients and staff, with a particular focus on Montfort Hospital’s new Mental Health Emergency Zone.
Initially, the presentation will examine the shift from a traditional, sickness-oriented care model to one that fosters wellness through integrated, holistic care. Empath Units exemplify this transformation by offering collaborative, non-coercive care that prioritises patient wellbeing. These units use communal 'milieu' spaces, rather than isolated rooms, to foster a sense of connection, healing and autonomy. This design approach aligns with broader efforts to create healthy communities through supportive care environments that encourage interaction and collective recovery.
Secondly, the presentation will investigate how design and clinical medicine intersect to support effective care strategies. Montfort’s Mental Health Emergency Zone exemplifies the benefits of creating adaptive, humanistic environments that enhance patient outcomes. The space features calming elements like natural materials, soft lighting and therapeutic areas, which contribute to reducing anxiety and supporting patient recovery. The strategic design integrates psychiatric staff within close proximity to patients, enabling rapid interventions. Research shows that immediate, integrated care improves recovery times for individuals experiencing mental health crises.
Finally, the presentation will explore how interior design and architecture can promote dignity, identity and recovery. The thoughtful integration of design elements such as comfortable waiting areas, sensory spaces and patient-controlled features (e.g. dimmable lighting, device chargers and water dispensers) empower patients by offering a sense of control during distressing moments. These design features help patients regain agency and support their journey to recovery. The space also prioritises staff wellbeing, with safety features and improved workflow for mental health emergencies, creating an environment that supports both patient and staff dignity.
In conclusion, Montfort Hospital’s new Mental Health Emergency Zone demonstrates how integrated care models, empathetic design and patient-focused architecture can enhance mental health care. This innovative approach sets a new standard for healthcare environments, where patient autonomy, dignity and rapid clinical intervention converge to foster recovery and wellbeing.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the role of design in transforming mental health care
- Examine the intersection of design and new clinical delivery models in improving patient outcomes in mental health care
- Explore the impact of interior design on patient autonomy, dignity and recovery
11.05Post-implementation lessons learned for continued optimisation of physical environment
Stence Guldager
Market director, Architects cand.arch., Arkitema, DenmarkStence Guldager graduated from Aarhus School of Architecture in 2000 and has completed supplementary education in leadership, strategy, and stakeholder engagement. She serves as Market Director, overseeing Arkitema’s projects within healthcare and public building sectors. With over 15 years of experience in hospital construction, she has led large-scale projects such as the new super hospital Regionshospitalet Gødstrup, the new emergency hospital SNR in Hjelset, Norway, and a new inpatient building in Esbjerg. Currently, Stence is involved in projects like the expansion of AUH Psychiatry in Skejby and the New Bispebjerg Hospital. Through her work in hospital and healthcare construction, Stence has developed specialist knowledge in her field and extensive experience with complex building projects involving numerous stakeholders. She has a deep understanding of processes and frameworks surrounding healthcare architecture and is well-versed in concepts like healing architecture, evidence-based design, and wayfinding. Additionally, she has gained significant expertise in user involvement, having conducted numerous processes that engage a wide range of stakeholders, including clinicians, technical staff, operations teams, patients, and visitors.Post-implementation lessons learned for continued optimisation of physical environment
Abstract Copy
In Denmark, there has been an increased focus on improving psychiatric treatment and conditions, particularly on reducing the use of coercive measures. At Arkitema, we have contributed to this effort by designing psychiatric hospitals that support these objectives, including facilities in Esbjerg, Vejle and Aarhus. Our goal is to highlight how these projects have evolved and demonstrate how we continuously refine and develop architectural solutions that provide the best conditions for patients. This includes creating activating environments that foster meaningful social interactions, encourage physical activity and support coherent patient care.
Our design approach is grounded in the principles of healing architecture, where evidence and experience inform our decisions in key areas known to impact mental and physical health and wellbeing. These include optimising access to daylight, nature, materials, colours and building-integrated art.
We aim to prevent aggressive behaviour and ensure safety for both patients and staff through architectural strategies such as wide corridors, improved acoustics, transparency and enhanced spatial oversight. Post-occupancy evaluations are conducted through interviews with leadership, operational teams and practitioners to collect insights and refine our approach.
At the Esbjerg Psychiatry facility, the number of restraints and instances of forced sedative medication decreased by 69.9 per cent and 61.4 per cent, respectively, after moving into the new building. The number of patients subjected to coercive measures fell by 30.7 per cent
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At Vejle Psychiatry, the number of belt restraints was reduced by approximately 50 per cent in the first year after relocation.
At AUH Psychiatry, there was a 16 per cent reduction in dangerous situations and a noticeable increase in the overall sense of calm.
These positive outcomes, as evidenced by surveys and feedback, underscore the combined impact of thoughtful design, visionary hospital management and ambitious treatment goals.
Key insights from our projects, which continue to inform our ongoing work, include:
- expanding courtyard spaces, particularly for patients in closed wards;
- designing smaller, less institutional-looking patient rooms;
- creating common areas that allow practitioners to engage with patients more actively, reducing the need for office-based work;
- balancing transparency in shared spaces to enable both oversight and safe, private seating.
As psychiatric treatment and methods evolve, follow-up evaluations and the exchange of experiences remain invaluable. These ongoing efforts enable us to apply learnings across projects, enhancing outcomes for future facilities.Learning Objectives
- Psychiatry
- Healing environment
- Experience gathering
11.25A best design practice conversation about post-traumatic stress disorder: Two Canadian case studies for first responders
Guela Solow
Managing partner, ARK, CanadaAs Founding Partner, Guela’s vision for ARK is based on the creation of a practice which aspires to improve the human condition through design thinking. Challenging the boundaries of architecture to integrate art and culture, urban, interior and graphic design – the firms’ award-winning portfolio varies greatly in scale from small neighbourhood interventions to campus urban design strategies, embracing budgetary constraints and diverse geographical contexts. A collaborative approach to design prioritizes patient narratives in the context of healthcare imperatives, community voices, long term asset management and evidence-based design. Re-thinking architecture’s ability to impact health outcomes, Guela’s commitment to advancing research is demonstrated by a broad palette of academic endeavours including federal grants, academic appointments, critical theory and lecture engagements both locally and internationally. Her work has been cited as “… an excellent example of the profound ability of art and architecture to transform space and the human experience.”
Anisette Ruda
Medical student, Tel Aviv University, Israel2026 MD Candidate – American Medical Program, Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University B.Arts in Medicine, Science and the Humanities, Johns Hopkins University Outstanding Student Ward Award, Tel-Aviv University – Psychiatric Clinical Rotation, Ichilov Hospital The Art of Medicine Award, First Place Award and Grant Recipient Tel-Aviv University The Louis E. Goodman Aspiring Physician Award, Johns Hopkins University
Simon Ostapenko
Intern architect, ARK, UkraineArchitecture and Town Planning Degree, Prydniprovska State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Ukraine
Son Van Huynh
Director of visualization, ARK, CanadaMasters of Architecture, University of Toronto Daniel’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design PhD Candidate, York University, CanadaA best design practice conversation about post-traumatic stress disorder: Two Canadian case studies for first responders
Abstract Copy
"But now he is changed; he shepherds his thoughts in isolated places… former achievements of his own two hands, the most supreme accomplishments of his excellence, they have fallen, they have fallen, meaningless…"
Sophocles 440 BCE
Trauma-induced injuries to the mind echo throughout the narrative of human history. In Ajax, Sophocles captures the transformation of the protagonist war hero, whose ultimate suicide speaks to the tortured human psyche resulting from battlefield memories. While a plethora of historic tags have identified similar symptoms – shell-shock, war nerves, combat neurosis, soldier’s heart, battle fatigue – it was not until 1980, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, that the acronym PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) was cited by the DSM-3 ('Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders', 3rd Edition) and recognised by the American Psychiatric Association in war veterans, holocaust survivors and sexual assault victims.
Despite the prevalence of trauma-induced mental illness across cultures, geographies and generations, there are very few published studies which explore the impact of the environment as a mechanism to improve mental health outcomes for PTSD. A survey of treatment centres addresses mental health design generically, without PTSD specificity. This research paper explores the potential for the environment to act as an agent to facilitate the medical treatment of PTSD. Can architecture and design have a significant role in improving health outcomes for trauma-induced mental injury?
Collaborating internationally with medical and architecture professionals, this question is explored through the critical analysis of clinical facility design. Creating prototypical design guidelines specifically for PTSI (post-traumatic stress ‘injury’ – the alternate name which addresses causation and destigmatisation), applicable during the design process and formulating evidence-based design criteria, this paper tests the efficacy of design as a significant player in healing outcomes.
Station 3434 and the Caledon Centre are coupled centres of excellence developed by Runnymede Healthcare Centre to address the PTSI needs of first responders province-wide, currently in design at ARK’s Toronto studio. Beyond the hospital – in contrasting urban and rural locations – together the facilities are integrated case studies of a comprehensive spectrum of inpatient and outpatient care. Emergent critical therapies which have discernible implications for design fall into symptomatic baskets: triggers and memory, sleep and eating disorders, withdrawal and avoidance, dysfunction and lethargy. An architectural toolkit including built form, materiality and programmatic complexity creates a choreographed therapeutic experience and a platform for international engagement on best design practices.
Learning Objectives
- Developing internationally applicable best design practices for PTSD clinical settings
- Comparing and contrasting key design determinants for improved PTSD health outcomes, including inpatient vs outpatient care, rural vs urban contexts and the impact of materiality, scale, built form and programme
- Critical thinking on the efficacy of architecture and design on the medical treatment of PTSD and whether varying patient cohorts should factor significantly in design methodology and development
11.45Global lessons from Te Ao Mãori: Integrating cultural principles in mental health facility design
Jorge Anaya
Principal health architect, Jacobs, New ZealandJorge is a principal health architect at Jacobs, based in Christchurch, New Zealand. He started his career in 2002 in Barcelona where he accumulated experience working on a wide range of different projects. Actively working across New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific region, Jorge shares extensive experience in the planning of health infrastructure which promote innovative models of care and that have a patient centric approach.
Jacque Jones
Associate - interior designer, Jacobs, AustraliaJacque is a Senior Interior Designer with Jacobs for over 4 years with a Health Design focus. Jacque has over 30 years’ experience working with larger national and international architectural practices where she was interior design lead and team lead working on projects that have remote, regional and urban focus. This has afforded her the opportunity to develop skills where sensitive social resolution and balance is afforded. Jacque is currently involved in a range of health projects across Australia including regional hospitals, New Toowoomba Hospital in Queensland that has a mental health short stay unit design and St George Ambulatory Care Hospital in Sydney, both facilities have large multi-cultural stakeholders. Jacque promotes the benefits of wholistic design for wellbeing, and better cultural integration that is embedded in to the design enhancing greater healing out comes for all.
Adam Flowers
Director, CCM Architects, New ZealandAdam is a Director of CCM Architects and leads the Health Architecture team. CCM Architects, previously Craig Craig Moller was established in Wellington in 1969, and has established a reputation for high quality design and health architecture across new Zealand. CCM have a collaborative model, often partnering with specialist Health Planners and Health Architects for the delivery of major health projects. This collaborative model includes the delivery in New Zealand of the new Te Nīkau Hospital and Integrated Family Health Centre in Greymouth, Christchuch Hospital Outpatients Buliding, Dunedin Hospital Masterplanning, and Palmerston North Mental Health Unit with the Jacobs Health Planning and Health Architecture team. Adam is currently involved in a range of health projects across New Zealand including regional hospital Masterplanning, mental health unit design, private hospital development, and departmental refurbishments. Adam promotes the benefits of quality design for wellbeing, and better iwi engagement for integration of Te Ao Māori into models-of-care and health facility design.Global lessons from Te Ao Mãori: Integrating cultural principles in mental health facility design
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It’s no secret that the prevalence of mental illness is increasing in society, which ultimately calls for an increasing number of acute care facilities. With changing societal attitudes towards mental illness, traditional models of care (originally centred around staff concerns) are shifting towards patient-centred approaches. Additionally, recognition is growing for the positive impact of nature on wellbeing, highlighting the need to incorporate natural elements into mental health facility design.
The conference theme seeks to examine how we can transform existing facilities to cater to modern healthcare, however in Aotearoa New Zealand (and, indeed, other post-colonial nations) the existing infrastructure is often linked to a complex colonial history and Māori oppression. This case study, a new acute mental health facility in Palmerston North, presents a unique opportunity to integrate modern models of care with Te Ao Māori principles, emphasising the importance of relationships between nature and people.
This project, commissioned by the New Zealand Government, involves the construction of a 28-bed acute mental health unit of approximately 3,000m². The client aimed to integrate whanau-centred (family-centred) care into the design. The design process was characterised by extensive stakeholder engagement, with early and continuous involvement of iwi (local social units or communities). Iwi representatives participated in workshops with clinicians, promoting mutual sharing of cultural and clinical needs. These sessions provided opportunities to discuss all aspects of the design from both kaupapa Māori and Māori design perspectives.
Key insights gathered from these workshops included the need for reduced stress during the admissions process, high levels of privacy and dignity for service users, clear spaces for engagement with whanau and community groups, ease of assessment, diagnosis and treatment, and an environment that is residential, healing, prevents self-harm and is not overtly restrictive.
The outcome is a culturally-sensitive design for a mental health facility that, while specific to Māori culture, offers valuable lessons for international projects. Key aspects such as the integration with nature, involvement of the family unit and holistic recovery approaches contribute to the global ecosystem of mental health care. The success of stakeholder engagement underscores the importance of incorporating consultation processes into project timelines, ensuring that best-practice mental health models of care are effectively translated into built form. This case study highlights the challenges and opportunities of adapting existing facilities to new models of care in a post-colonial society, demonstrating the potential for these principles to be applied internationally.12.05Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networking14.00 - 15.30Session 29- Innovations in design methods
Cristiana Caira MArch
Partner and board director, White Arkitekter; Artistic professor, Chalmers University of Technology, SwedenCristiana Caira is Partner and Board Director at White Arkitekter, Artistic Professor of Healthcare Architecture at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, member of the Board at the European Health Property Network, and member of the Programme Committee at the EHD Congress. Cristiana has 25 years of experience in planning complex healthcare environments in Scandinavia and internationally. Focused on increasing collaboration between practice, research and education, Cristiana has led major White Arkitekter healthcare projects including the award-winning Södra Älvsborg Hospital Psychiatric Clinic, the Queen Silvia Children Hospital in Gothenburg and a large-scale extension of Karlstad Hospital. Her latest international project is the award-winning extension for the Panzi Hospital in Congo, in collaboration with the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Mukwege. Cristiana is currently Healthcare Design Lead Architect within the expert international team appointed to design Cambridge Children’s Hospital. Embedding research alongside clinical expertise in physical and mental child health, the hospital will be a state-of-the-art hospital designed to take care of the whole child.14.00Optimising the design of adolescent crisis stabilisation units: An approach integrating artificial intelligence, physical mock-up simulations and behavioural mapping
Roxana Jafarifiroozabadi
Assistant professor, Texas A&M University, United StatesDr. Roxana Jafari serves as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Architecture and Ronald L. Skaggs, FAIA Endowed Professor in Health Facilities Design at the College of Architecture, Texas A&M University. Prior to joining Texas A&M School of Architecture, she served as an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Lawrence Technological University in Michigan, U.S. She has earned her Ph.D. in Planning, Design, and the Built Environment (area of focus: Built Environment and Health) from Clemson University and worked as a Research Assistant at the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing (CHFDT), Clemson University. Her research incorporates human-centered design, evidence-based design, and socio-technical systems approaches to improve occupants’ safety and well-being in high-stress, complex healthcare environments, such as operating rooms and intensive care units. To date, she has collaborated with multiple interdisciplinary teams of researchers and clinicians across the U.S. on over $4 million of R01 and R03-funded projects by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), ranging from improving safety in operating room environments to the integration of telemedicine systems in ambulance environments. In addition, she has collaborated with industry sponsors (e.g., View Inc. and Haworth) and deployed innovative combined approaches utilizing virtual reality (VR) technology (digital twins) alongside physical mockups to evaluate the impact of environmental factors (e.g., lighting or room configurations) on users’ preferences and comfort. Dr. Jafari’s interdisciplinary research projects have received national and international media coverage through the SALUS Global Knowledge Exchange and Clemson News in South Carolina, U.S.
Cheng Zhang
Assistant professor, Texas A&M University, United StatesCheng Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. Before joining TAMU, he spent two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, working with Fernando De la Torre. He did my Ph.D. in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University with Harry Chao and Dong Xuan. Zhang received his M.S. and B.Eng. degrees from BUPT and Tianjin University, respectively. His research interests are machine learning and its applications to computer vision, multimodal understanding, human modeling for extended reality, and cyber-physical systems.
Stephen Parker
Mental and behavioral health planner, Stantec, United StatesStephen Parker is a dedicated Mental + Behavioral Health Planner at Stantec with significant healthcare projects across the US, Canada, China, Kenya, Australia and India. A Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Rising Star, Parker is a proponent of “architect as advocate” for colleague, client, and community alike, he believes strongly in leadership through service. Stephen has served a diverse client base, including the Cleveland Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, helping develop the VA’s new Inpatient Mental Health Design Guide. An accomplished design researcher and pro-bono community designer, Stephen is a Behavioral Health Business Future Leader, AIA AAH Best Healthcare Designer Under 40, ENR Top 20 Under 40 Young Professional, HCD Rising Star, HFSE George Pressler Under 40 Award recipient, and ULI Health Leader. Stephen championed the AIA Strategic Council’s Mental Health + Architecture during the pandemic and is a US representative to the International Union of Architects’ Public Health Group. He currently serves as Associate Director for the Design in Mental Health Network headquartered in England, Founding Member of the Center of Health Design’s Behavioral & Mental Health Environment Network, among other service leadership roles at organizations advocating for mental health environments around the globe.Optimising the design of adolescent crisis stabilisation units: An approach integrating artificial intelligence, physical mock-up simulations and behavioural mapping
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Physical mock-up simulations and behavioural mapping have been used in industry to evaluate and validate decision making during the design process of healthcare environments in recent years. The Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) has published a framework for conducting simulation-based mock-up evaluations for healthcare environments ('Healthcare Facility Mock-up Evaluation Guidelines', 2020). However, there has been little attempt to leverage recent advancements in design development and visualisation made possible through artificial intelligence (AI) in combination with physical mock-up simulations to investigate behavioural patterns, improve the environment and optimise care processes for mental and behavioural health patients.
This pilot study aims to bridge the research gaps mentioned above by incorporating AI-driven tools, such as computer vision and machine learning, into physical mock-up simulations to improve safety in care environments for adolescents experiencing mental and behavioural health crises. Three scenario-based simulations (20 minutes each) were conducted and video-recorded in a full-scale physical mock-up of a crisis stabilisation unit (CSU), in collaboration with a panel of experts consisting of clinicians and behavioural practice leaders (N=5) and healthcare designers (N=13) on a university campus. Participants’ feedback on different design features in the CSU (e.g. nursing stations and furniture) was obtained following each scenario through paper-based questionnaires, the failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) tool, and focus group discussions. The focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using MAXQDA (2022). Customised computer vision algorithms will be developed to identify and extract critical event clips that highlight challenging behaviours and unsafe interactions of participants with physical environmental features, such as furniture or contraband. The frequency of the identified events will be compared against manually coded ones using the Observer XT software (version 17.0), based on a modified coding scheme for challenging behaviour developed by Delgado et al. (2017). Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations and percentages) will be used to analyse and report the data from observations, questionnaires and focus groups. All analyses are conducted using RStudio (RStudio Team, 2020).
Findings from this study will build on the existing simulation-based mock-up evaluation tools and help healthcare designers and stakeholders optimise spatial layouts, environmental features and care processes in adolescent CSUs to better support patients experiencing mental and behavioural health crises. By proposing an innovative methodology integrating physical mock-up simulations, advancements in AI and behavioral observations, this research aims to improve safety and efficiency in care environments that address the unique needs of this vulnerable population.
Learning Objectives
- Develop an innovative approach integrating AI-driven tools, such as computer vision and machine learning, into physical mock-up simulations to improve safety in adolescent crisis stabilisation units
- Understand the environmental safety features in adolescent crisis stabilisation units through mock-up simulations and address the unique needs of this vulnerable population
- Validate customised computer vision algorithms by comparing their results with observations and manual coding methods
14.20Leveraging user involvement and full-scale testing to improve healthcare design
Janina Zerbe
Creative director and partner, KHR Architecture, DenmarkJanina Zerbe, partner and creative director at one of Denmark’s oldest design studios, KHR Architecture, leads the company’s public sector focus, actively contributing to healthcare and educational projects across various markets. Her approach integrates user involvement to ensure that architecture meets real-world needs, creating functional, human-centered, and sustainable environments. Janina combines her architectural expertise with a formal education in leadership and management, which she applies to fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration within project teams. Her project portfolio includes significant healthcare and educational buildings, emphasizing user-centered design processes, such as: • Akuthuset – Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen: As part of this 66,000 m2 acute care facility, Janina and team – in close cooperation with user groups - developed a new patient room standard which improves well-being in fewer square meters by integrating nature as a central element, enhancing patients' autonomy and healing through thoughtful design that optimizes both functionality and cost. • Kverndalen care home in Norway: 18,000 m2 care home based on extensive user involvement studies. • New School in Nuuk: A community-focused design with small, user-friendly “schools within the 17,500 m2 school,” fostering an engaging environment for students of all ages and for the local community after school hours. Janina’s commitment to Scandinavian design values is reflected in her focus on creating enduring and sustainable architecture. Her extensive experience and leadership qualities make her a sought-after speaker at international conferences, where she shares insights on bridging functionality, contextual design and sustainability in architectural practice. Education: • Architect, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture (2005) • Leadership in Creative Knowledge Enterprises (LKVV), Leadership Training (2019-2020)Leveraging user involvement and full-scale testing to improve healthcare design
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The design of Akuthuset at Bispebjerg Hospital and Glasblokkene at Haukeland University Hospital highlights the transformative role of user involvement and full-scale testing in driving innovation in healthcare design. Rooted in evidence-based principles and healing architecture, these projects showcase how active client leadership and collaborative teamwork can create environments that enhance wellbeing, operational efficiency and sustainability.
At Akuthuset, the development of a new patient room utilised a year-long, full-scale mock-up testing process. Real patients and staff engaged in iterative evaluations, allowing the design team to refine the layout for autonomy, healing and efficiency. The final design features angled layouts that enhance views of nature – proven to support recovery – while shielding patients from intimidating medical equipment. This approach also reduced the number of square metres per room, optimised workflows and promoted patient independence.
Similarly, Glasblokkene was developed through a deeply collaborative process, with architects, healthcare professionals, patients and a highly engaged client driving the building process. Workshops and feedback loops ensured the design prioritised family-centred spaces, incorporated natural light and materials as well as art, and balanced emotional wellbeing with operational efficiency. Delivered on time, on budget and at a high-quality level, the project demonstrates the advantages of a trade contractor model where the client organises specialised contractors to keep in charge throughout the full project lifecycle.
Both projects highlight the benefits of user-driven design. At Akuthuset, mock-up testing enhanced the patient room’s ability to accommodate user and operational needs at a higher quality and lower cost. At Glasblokkene, the collaborative approach resulted in a design that combines a homely atmosphere with professional functionality and excellent working conditions. Early feedback highlights enhanced patient wellbeing, stronger family support and more efficient workflows for staff. The success of the trade contractor model, led by an actively engaged client, further demonstrates how collaboration and specialised expertise can deliver outstanding results while maintaining a lower budget.
These projects illustrate how user involvement and collaborative processes can redefine healthcare architecture. By prioritising active client leadership and iterative design, teams can address complex needs while delivering impactful, sustainable results.
This presentation will share the strategies and lessons learned, offering actionable insights into how user involvement and full-scale testing can create healthcare environments that excel in wellbeing, efficiency and sustainability.Learning Objectives
- User-centered design: insights into fostering collaboration and active client involvement to create healing environments
- Healing architecture: understanding the integration of evidence-based design to enhance patient recovery and staff efficiency
- Project delivery excellence: strategies for achieving on-time, on-budget and high-quality outcomes in healthcare projects
14.40Using participatory processes to go beyond normative design of mental health spaces
Felicity Coughlan
Architectural assistant, Centre for Alternative Technology, United KingdomFelicity is driven by an enthusiasm for sustainable buildings that promote human wellbeing. She is currently training to be an Architect having completed a Masters in Architecture at the Centre fo Alternative Technology. Using her own experiences with mental health she is passionate about improving the spatial quality of current and future mental health services.
Carl Meddings
Programme leader, Centre for Alternative Technology, United KingdomCarl is the Programme Leader for the M.Arch in Sustainable Architecture. He has taught at several architectural schools at all levels from pre-first-year undergrad to final year at masters level and beyond. As an architect and educator, he is passionate about educating architects in our rapidly changing cultural and professional environments.
Zoë Quick
Visiting lecturer, Centre for Alternative Technology, United KingdomZoë’s architectural practice, research and teaching move between architecture, art, poetry and performance, with a focus on enacting resilient relationships between archives, communities and ecologies. She brings to CAT rich experience in leading multi-disciplinary teams in delivering narrative design projects for cultural institutions and landscapes.Using participatory processes to go beyond normative design of mental health spaces
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The number of people who have lived, or are living, with mental health conditions is growing with recovery often a complex and challenging journey. Financial investment in services focuses on acute treatment and clinical spaces. Overmedicalisation and problems with power have been recognised with narrow scope for service users to make sense and meaning of their experiences (Johnstone and Boyle, 2018). Collaborating with those who have lived experience, this project offers a socio-spatial response that challenges the status quo of mental health architectural design within the context of sustainability.
The project was framed around two parts. Part i) followed an embodied methodology. Clay was used as a grounding medium for those with lived experience to physically sculpt and express how the architectural environment might support recovery. Analysis of this dialogue, alongside existing literature, allowed for the emergence of a number of design principles. Part ii) then focused on the translation of these principles into an architectural design. A brownfield site rich with history and opportunities for retrofit was selected as the testbed, the final result being a detailed design for a sustainable mental health recovery centre.
Advocacy for spatial provision that goes beyond current clinical paradigms was a core strength of this project. Yet, using participatory methods as the basis for the design of environments that can justly host meaningful mental health support is highly complex. Translating an appropriate ethics of care into physical provision is challenging: categorisation and the use of simplistic devices to translate design principles into actual space can lead to reductionism and depersonalisation. The research shows that grappling and working through these limitations leads to fundamentally richer environments than those already available to service users.
Ultimately this research highlights a need for greater investment into recovery infrastructure that goes beyond hospital care design. It evidences how successful merging of recovery services with wider community care services creates an opportunity to break down societal stigma towards those who experience mental health conditions. The project also demonstrates and insists that dedicated spaces for these services are designed with user participation at the heart. In the spirit of the Maggie’s Centre model, a blueprint is offered for how a network of spaces that are less clinical and more holistic can be crafted across the UK, deeply embedded within each place and community.
Johnstone, L and Boyle, M (2018) 'The Power Threat Meaning Framework'. Leicester: British Psychological SocietyLearning Objectives
- Using participatory design methodologies
- Socio-spatial application of theory into mental health provision
- Mental health services within the context of sustainable design
15.00Panel discussion15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 30- Design for young and old
Iona McAllister
Associate director, MJ Medical, UKA registered clinician and hospital operational manager, Iona has a proven track record of delivering large-scale healthcare facilities. Iona has strong experience in operational readiness, ensuring hospitals can deliver healthcare safely and effectively from day one. From the delivery of major regional cardiac centres to the development of the first healthcare buildings from the New Hospital Programme, she is a confident and experienced team leader. Iona is passionate about delivering efficiency in healthcare operations through effective design and collaboration.16.00Whole life care: Delivery of specialist and tertiary services through the journey of the patient
Jenni Bronock
Senior associate - healthcare project lead, Perkins&Will, United KingdomWith 17 years experience specialising in the design of healthcare facilities, Jenni is a qualified architect dedicated to creating environments that support the healing process. Her passion lies in designing buildings that enhance the well-being of patients, staff, and families alike, fostering spaces that promote comfort, functionality, and healing. By working closely with the building’s users, Jenni develops designs that not only create a healing and supportive environment but also incorporate the technical expertise necessary to bring these concepts to life. Jenni has a keen interest in exploring how design can be improved and adapted, considering the entire life of a building and focusing on the journey of those who inhabit it. The patient journey begins before entering the building and continues after they have left, making it essential to understand how the building and environment contributes to and impacts the user experience.
Anne Stanton
Deputy programme director and design lead , Building the Leeds Way (BtLW) -Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, United KingdomWith 35 years of experience as a Paediatric Nurse, I have built a career spanning various clinical and leadership roles. Throughout my career, I have gained invaluable insight into the intricacies of patient care, clinical service delivery, and the complexities of healthcare systems. My expertise extends across a broad spectrum of paediatric nursing, from direct clinical care to strategic management, and I am passionate about using this knowledge to drive improvements in healthcare delivery. Over the years, I have honed my skills in clinical leadership, working closely with multidisciplinary teams to improve patient outcomes and optimise care pathways. My experience in leadership roles has enabled me to lead complex projects, manage operational teams, and facilitate collaborative work focused on delivering excellence in patient care. In my current role, I provide clinical leadership for the new hospital project, where I act as the primary liaison for the clinical design and planning workstreams. This position allows me to leverage my understanding of clinical service delivery to ensure that the hospital's design meets the real-world needs of healthcare professionals and patients & families alike. I am responsible for translating operational demands and capacity modelling into comprehensive design proposals, and working alongside colleagues to guide the project through its various stages. My extensive background in clinical service delivery is essential in aligning operational requirements with the architectural and technical aspects of the hospital project. By ensuring that the clinical environment is tailored to support the efficient and compassionate delivery of care, I aim to support the creation of a facility that enhances the quality of patient experiences while optimizing workflow and resource management.
Stacey Walton
Technical and construction project manager, Building the Leeds Way (BtLW) -Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, United KingdomStacey Walton is a Project Manager at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust with experience in delivering constriction related projects across the health and public sector. Stacey has been recognised as one of nearly 400 inspirational Leeds women for her outstanding contribution to important development projects in Leeds. As part of the Hospitals of the Future Project, Stacey is delivering various workstreams, with a focus on construction and contract management. This includes enabling works to prepare for the main construction activities including the decant of office staff and clinical services. Stacey has recently lead on the successful completion of the Acute Hospital Lab at the LGI.Whole life care: Delivery of specialist and tertiary services through the journey of the patient
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The Leeds 'Hospital of the Future' combines the highest ambitions of the New Hospital Programme with an exceptionally complex context. A state-of-the-art children’s hospital, with one of the largest maternity centres in the UK, and an adult hospital that will enhance existing service provision are to be combined efficiently in a single 18-storey building. Rather than create two linked vertical hospitals, the design integrates the three elements in one envelope, maximising efficiency in terms of departmental adjacencies, flows and shared facilities, creating a building that provides 'whole life care' for patients.
Although standalone facilities can deliver these pathways, we are exploring how an integrated hospital enhances continuity of care – how a patient can receive care throughout their life, from childhood to adulthood, within the same healthcare facility, ensuring seamless transitions between children’s and adult services and the benefits associated with this.
Using the trust’s 'healthcare transition workstream', data and evidence is in place to analyse the patient pathway and the staff and patient experience within the current facilities and to look at how this will change and bring benefit to all parties in the future building – e.g. young people who receive care for chronic conditions as children are seamlessly transitioned into adult services and receive follow-up care from the same hospital (in some cases the same clinicians), thus ensuring continuity and monitoring of their condition across their lifespan.
It is anticipated that an integrated care will:
› optimise patient care and safety with adult and children’s clinicians co-located within an integrated facility collaborating more easily, ensuring that medical and nursing histories and treatment plans are consistent and updated across all stages of life;
› foster cross-specialty collaboration, where professionals learn from each other’s expertise in treating different age groups;
› share equipment resources and treatment protocols, helping improve quality, efficiency of care and cost savings through waste reduction;
› allow for research that spans both children’s and adults' health, offering valuable insights into diseases, conditions and treatments that affect people at different stages of life;
› offer familiarity and comprehensive support services for families, recognising the impact that managing health across multiple locations and through multiple generations has.
In summary, it is believed that an integrated children and adult hospital will foster a comprehensive, lifelong approach that can lead to better outcomes, more efficient care delivery and improved support for families.
Learning Objectives
- To understand the impact that delivering integrated care can have on the patient journey
- To understand the impact that delivering integrated care can have on staff
- To understand the impact that delivering integrated care can have on families
16.20Using co-design to create an empathic paediatric operating theatre experience
Alyson Walker
Consultant paediatric anaesthetist, Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, United KingdomDr Alyson Walker is a Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist with a passion for design and creativity in healthcare. She anaesthetises children for ear nose and throat surgery, dental procedures, surgical emergencies and interventional radiology. Alyson does everything she can to alleviate anxiety and make the experience a positive one. When a Scottish Quality and Safety Fellow, Alyson was introduced to design in healthcare and now uses these lessons to improve the patient experience. She established the Theatre Improvement Initiative in 2018 to ask children, young people, families, communities and staff about their experiences in theatres and act on the insights. Working alongside design studio Graven and an extensive multidisciplinary team, the theatre suite at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow is transforming into a welcoming, friendly, and relaxing place to visit. Alyson established a Design in Healthcare module at the University of Glasgow introducing medical students to design principles and including them in real projects. She is an External Examiner for the MSc Healthcare & Design at Imperial College and Royal College of Art, London. Alyson enjoys travelling to Norway regularly to run workshops for healthcare professionals, helping them to progress quality improvement and service provision projects using design principles. Happy to talk design anytime, Alyson can be contact on alyson.walker2@scot.nhs or on www.linkedin.com/in/alywalkerrhc.
Christopher Collins
Lead project manager, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, United KingdomChris studied architecture at The Glasgow School of Art and worked as an architect at NORR for over 17 years. He is a lead Project Manager in the Capital Planning Department of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. He was instrumental in the execution and success of the recent transformation of the operating theatre department of the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.Using co-design to create an empathic paediatric operating theatre experience
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Glasgow Children’s Hospital is Scotland’s largest paediatric hospital, serving patients from across the country. Each year, over 10,000 children visit its operating theatres. Despite the hospital's modern architecture, users have described the theatre department as “cold, clinical, and intimidating”.
To transform this experience, the hospital staff employed the principles and tools of service design and co-design, conducting extensive user research to gain insights into their environment. They assembled a diverse team and partnered with the design studio Graven to reimagine the space, aiming to create a welcoming, relaxing and empathetic atmosphere.
In Phase 1, the theatre reception and corridors were transformed into inviting areas that encourage exploration and provide distractions, acoustic privacy and warmth. A new multipurpose room was developed for sensitive conversations, group seminars, job interviews and relaxation. This was achieved through engaging role-playing exercises and dynamic prototyping, ensuring that the final designs met all user needs.
Phase 2 involved the staged transformation of all 11 anaesthetic rooms, with a focus on minimising disruption to clinical operations. The team conducted extensive 1:1 prototyping of the room proposals, simulating clinical scenarios within them to ensure optimal outcomes and empower staff throughout the design process.
The Glasgow team also collaborated closely with two of Scotland’s leading illustrators, Laura Darling and Mark Faulkner, to create an environment that is inclusive and appealing to users of all ages. The artwork is rich with layers of content, reflecting the hospital's deep history and sharing the emotive stories of children, families, staff and communities who have passed through its doors.
Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity has played a crucial role in the project’s success, employing innovative and engaging methods to raise the necessary resources. Dr Alyson Walker, a consultant paediatric anaesthetist and lead for the Theatre Improvement Initiative, shares insights into their methodology, successes and lessons learned. This project exemplifies innovative design within the strict constraints and regulations of healthcare, requiring imaginative and creative solutions. Their results highlight the powerful synergy between clinical expertise and creative design.
Learning Objectives
- Demonstrate the synergy between clinical expertise and creative design
- Illustrate the use of art and illustration for creating an inclusive environment
- Sharing lessons from a co-design approach for improvement
16.40Research, ideation and exploration: A collaborative approach to transforming paediatric hospitals
Roxane Bejjany
Architect, associate, KPMB Architects, CanadaInspired by the profound impact that the built environment has on people, community, and society, Roxane Bejjany was drawn to pursue architecture and received her master’s degree from the University of Toronto. Roxane joined KPMB in 2019, bringing valuable experience in civic, academic, and residential project typologies in a range of scales that also include custom projects. Previously, she worked at Shim-Sutcliffe Architects and Izen Architecture. After joining KPMB, Roxane worked on a competition for a courthouse, where her discernment for details and material choices demonstrated her ability to create a tailored environment for this project, one that represents truth and honesty. She was also part of the team on the University of Toronto Mississauga Campus Robotics building winning competition. For the last 5 years, she has been Project Architect and Design Lead on the Project Horizon for the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, driving the 15+ year project vision through all phases including renovations of the existing buildings, early works projects and the development and visioning of the future towers including the Patient Care, Critical Care and Ambulatory Care. For SickKids, she is driven by the firm’s dedication to pushing the boundaries of healthcare design to elevate the experience of care. At KPMB, Roxane sits on the corporate social responsibility committee and spearheads many of the firm’s wellness initiatives and community service programs, including those that support such organizations as The Daily Bread Food Bank and SickKids Foundation. Committed to shaping the next generation of architects and designers, Roxane has served on our student hiring committee and participates in the firm’s mentorship program, both as a mentor and a mentee.
Michaela Cada
Staff haematologist, SickKids, CanadaDr. Michaela Cada is a Staff Haematologist in the Division of Haematology/Oncology at SickKids, and an Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto. She was the Director of the Paediatric Haematology/Oncology Training Program, one of the largest clinical training programs in the world, from 2012 to 2020. Over the last 4 years, Dr. Cada has been a member of the Project Horizon Team, first as the Medical Officer, then as the Chief Clinical Planning Officer, and now as the Chief Reinvention Officer. She is responsible for the development and planning, execution, risk mitigation and evaluation of the Clinical Transformation that will support and advance the future SickKids clinical vision. As part of this work, she is leading the development of new and optimization of existing clinical care models across all services in the Hospital, functional programming, clinical planning, simulation-based hospital design (schematic design, design development and clinical flows/processes/service models), operational readiness and post occupancy evaluation.
Tim Eastwood
Senior principal, architect, Stantec, CanadaWith over 25 years of experience, Tim is our Healthcare sector lead for Ontario, overseeing the local design studio. He focuses on every aspect of healthcare projects—with demonstrated experience in master planning and a particular interest in planning, program interpretation, conceptual design, and user interface process. His goals? Advancing the level of quality in healthcare design for the optimal staff and patient experience. As an industry leader, Tim is a member of several advisory groups, including the Canadian Standards Association Subcommittee on the Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities, which is responsible for developing and maintaining the Canadian Health Care Facilities standard (CSA Z8000). As part of this work, Tim chaired a taskforce to review the standard and propose modifications to ensure the unique requirements for children’s health were accounted for. Tim has played a key role on transformational projects for a number of clients across Ontario and North America, including SickKids, University Health Network, Collingwood General and Marine Hospital, and Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare. He has also gained considerable experience in multiple project delivery types including design-bid-build and alternative finance and procurement (AFP).Research, ideation and exploration: A collaborative approach to transforming paediatric hospitals
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This session will explore the collaborative journey of the redevelopment of the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, a global leader in paediatric care. We will discuss how the team and client collaborated to weave ideation, exploration and prototyping into an engagement-driven design and planning process, using various tools and methodologies to speculate on a future world-class academic hospital, focused on human-centred design, maximised outcomes, increased operational flexibility and enhanced patient and family experience.
Located on a dense, urban site in a world-renowned healthcare district, the design needs to address challenges such as 1) existing ageing infrastructure; 2) ongoing acute, critical and ambulatory operations; 3) the integration of cutting-edge equipment, processes and people flows; 4) meeting and anticipating regulatory standards; and 5) creating environments that inspire comfort and healing. Additionally, the era of individualised medicine and precision child health (PCH) is redefining paediatric care by tailoring the delivery of care to the unique genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors of each patient, all while the medical world is experiencing rapidly evolving and changing innovations in clinical care, therapeutics and technology.
These factors present increasingly complex requirements to the built hospital environment that needs to support individualised, data-driven, patient-centred care. What does this mean for the future of clinical planning and the design of healthcare environments?
The joint design team at KPMB Architects and Stantec, and the chief reinvention officer, a physician from SickKids, will present how the project embodies the principles of precision child health (PCH) while simultaneously creating an integrated and connected urban campus. Attendees will gain practical insights into how the rapidly changing healthcare field is reshaping paediatric hospital design and care delivery, learn strategies for embracing multidisciplinary collaboration that includes the patient and family, and understand the implications of delivering flexible, technology-ready and human-centred healthcare environments.
Learning Objectives
- Explore how to take advantage of long project schedules to create space for exploration, prototyping and engagement to support the client’s needs and future vision
- Identify effective strategies for fostering collaboration among architects and healthcare practitioners to deliver impactful, future-ready medical facilities in a complex urban context
- Examine how individualised medicine and the rapid innovation in healthcare influence hospital spaces, promoting adaptability, efficiency and patient comfort
17.00Panel discussionEnd of Tertiary care stream -
Climate-smart healthcare
Linacre and Sloane Room
08.45 - 10.15Session 31- Decarbonsing healthcare
Jim Chapman
Independent design consultant; Visiting professor of architecture, Manchester School of Architecture, UKJim Chapman is a chartered architect and urban designer, with more than 36 years' experience as a consultant delivering a wide range of projects in many sectors. In 2006, he established an independent consultancy, which focuses on supporting and advising clients on the delivery of high-quality projects.08.45Decarbonising healthcare: A collaborative path to net zero in Sussex Integrated Care Board
Lucy Symons-Jones
Net zero director, Lexica, United KingdomLucy is the Director of Net Zero at Lexica where she is liaising at executive level with public sector organisations - particularly in health and life sciences- and leading suppliers and innovators to reach national net zero targets. Trained in public administration and practised as an entrepreneur, Lucy knows how to make big ideas happen. She has worked on the business and policy of the national rollout of heat networks, electric vehicle charging and demand-side response and has close connections in the clean technology industry from her time liaising with cabinet ministers on behalf of members of the Association for Decentralised Energy.Decarbonising healthcare: A collaborative path to net zero in Sussex Integrated Care Board
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As a consultant to NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB), Lexica supported its drive to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, a key priority for the health system serving over 1.7 million people across Sussex. Climate change intensifies flooding, storms and heatwaves, disrupting care and accelerating the spread of diseases, making decarbonisation an urgent necessity. The NHS, contributing 4–5 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions, has a critical role in addressing this challenge. NHS Sussex ICB’s sustainability strategy identified that over 74 per cent of its carbon emissions stem from fossil-fuelled heating systems. Decarbonising buildings and reducing reliance on oil and gas are essential steps in meeting net zero targets.
To focus efforts, we assessed the NHS estate and shortlisted four trusts – Sussex Partnership, Sussex Community, East Sussex and Queen Victoria Hospital – offering the greatest opportunities to reduce emissions. Working with Hoare Lea and stakeholders from estates, facilities and finance, we secured Low Carbon Skills Fund support to create heat decarbonisation strategies. Our work included feasibility studies, options appraisals and climate adaptation plans for 45 buildings. Key measures identified included optimising energy efficiency, transitioning to LED lighting, upgrading infrastructure, phasing out gas boilers and incorporating on-site renewable energy through solar PV. These interventions are projected to save over 8 million kilograms of carbon annually and reduce lifetime energy use by over 611 million kWh. Beyond reducing emissions, energy-efficient systems improve indoor air quality and thermal comfort, creating healthier environments for patients and staff. Investments in metering and building management systems (BMS) are enhancing data quality, enabling smarter decision making and improved efficiency.
We are now developing detailed designs for 18 buildings as part of the next phase of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. By collaborating with other ICBs in the Greener NHS South East region, we aim to replicate and scale these efforts, delivering improved outcomes and sustainable healthcare across the sector. This programme demonstrates the power of strategic oversight, technical expertise and stakeholder collaboration in creating a resilient, low-carbon healthcare system. Our work provides a blueprint for meaningful change that addresses the dual challenges of climate change and healthcare sustainability.Learning Objectives
- Understanding decarbonisation in healthcare at Integrated Care Board level
- Collaboration for sustainability: how effective collaboration between multiple stakeholders can secure funding and develop comprehensive decarbonisation strategies
- Impact on energy efficiency measures: evaluate the environmental, operational and community benefits of implementing energy-efficient systems
09.05NHS Orkney decarbonisation
Charlie McQuilkin
Director, NORR, UKCharlie McQuilkin leads with knowledge and passion in healthcare design. He has mastered the complexity of modern architecture across multiple typologies including acute, primary, mental health and speciality care facilities. He understands that each project at the community level has specific requirements from the health system – and that patients also have specific needs – so interacting with all stakeholders helps to close the gap to deliver an environment of positivity, healing and well-being. Design plays a vital role in making patients feel welcome, empowered and valued, which in turn influences the recovery process. As Director, Health Sciences, UK, Charlie takes a hands-on approach in examining the evolving healthcare sector. There are significant changes that are affecting design from virtual environment, 3D modelling, virtual reality, automation in technology and robotics in operating theatres. But nothing comes close to the new viruses that are far more diverse and far more dangerous than we’ve realized in a decade. Charlie collaborates with multi-stakeholders to advance our designs in tandem with the evolving state of healthcare. Charlie’s current projects include The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre under construction in Aberdeen, Scotland. The two new innovative hospital designs will provide inclusive and compassionate environments providing high quality care for patients. Designed by NORR, the Baird building will provide modern and innovative Maternity and Neo Natal care, while The ANCHOR Centre will provide much needed out-patient and day patient services for Oncology and Hematology patients, as well as facilitating research and teaching. Both projects have been designed using the NHS KSAR and SDAC principles to ensure design and construction quality and energy efficiency. Charlie is a huge fan of Hurling, the outdoor team sport of ancient Gaelic Irish origin. It is an inspiration for teamwork, strength, robustness and agility that underpins his work ethos.NHS Orkney decarbonisation
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NHS Orkney is an NHS trust that covers the Orkney Islands, which lie off the north coast of Scotland. This part of the world has always been ahead of the curve in renewable energy technology, and in 2019 the new Balfour Hospital in the islands' capital opened. It is the first hospital in the UK built to a net-zero standard, which means the running of the building does not contribute to carbon emissions. In 2023 and 2024, NORR led a decarbonisation programme for the balance of NHS Orkney’s buildings as part of its commitment to achieving a net-zero estate. This will be the first NHS estate to achieve this in the UK and, possibly, Europe.
The existing estate consists of a disparate mix of 19th- and 20th-century buildings often in remote and exposed sites. The programme of works identified the needs of each site with the works rolled out over two years.
The works consisted generally of a three-pronged approach: first to upgrade the building fabrics insulation with new doors, windows and external/internal insulation and, secondly, to remove the heating and hot water systems with new air source heat pumps. In most sites, solar PV panels were installed most with battery support to offset electricity bills and give a limited continuity of supply during power cuts. Due to the proliferation of wind and tidal schemes in Orkney, it is generally accepted that the power in Orkney is already effectively net zero.
The project faced challenges in terms of getting contractors to and from some of the more remote island sites and weather-related travel disruption caused by one of the worst years for gales and blizzards on record. The works were also delivered while the sites remained operational.
A monitoring programme will commence in 2025 to investigate how the improved thermal efficiency of the buildings and heat pumps have affected running costs, user comfort and site resilience.Learning Objectives
- Background and lessons learned from decarbonisation of NHS estate
- Challenges of working in a remote location with extreme weather conditions
- How the decarbonisation works will be monitored and evaluated
09.25Decarbonisation of healthcare in Wales
Andrew Street
Associate principal and architect, Arcadis, United KingdomAndrew is an RIBA Award winning architect specialising in healthcare and community based design with over 20 years’ experience. Andrew leads the Architecture and Urbanism team’s health sector work in Wales and the South West of England. He has worked on a variety of typologies including estates reviews, DCP strategies, refurbishment and reconfiguration of services, mental health, acute and out of hospital community projects. He works closely with Trusts to develop strategies and solutions providing value for money. Underlying and evident in every project that Andrew is involved in is his desire to create spaces designed to enhance the patient, staff and visitor environments. He also has a keen focus on applying low carbon approaches within the healthcare estate.Decarbonisation of healthcare in Wales
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In 2021 NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership released its Decarbonisation Strategic Delivery Plan. This sets out a plan for addressing the cimate emergency. The Strategic Delivery Plan sets out 46 initiatives and targets for the decarbonisation of NHS Wales that will be assessed and reviewed. The strategic plan was released mid-way through the NHS Buildings for Wales Framework for delivering capital investment in infrastructure. Our team were, and still are, a supply chain partner to the principal supply chain partner, Kier Construction.
At that point, our team was providing architectural design services on three healthcare projects let through the framework, all at various stages of development and maturity, and therefore implementation of the decarbonisation strategic plan looked different for each building. This provided an opportunity to understand the strategic plan, its core objectives relevant to new-build and refurbishment projects and develop an approach to responding to these objectives that were project-specific and targeted. This all happened at pace and in the three varying contexts and project typologies. It required us to work closely with the health boards and NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership’s lead for the strategic plan. Together we developed project specific approaches to delivering the strategic plan within the parameter of each project.
Following this learning, we established a methodology for healthcare projects in Wales that supports clients to understand the strategic plan, its impacts on their project and work with them to identify a preferred low carbon brief for the development. Key to this has been communication, clear targets and goal setting, a framework for decision making and evaluating progress.
This process has been applied to six projects being delivered through the framework and has delivered common and varying approaches that offer lessons learnt and solutions for future projects. This session will consider:
• the needs of the healthcare estate;
• an overview of the decarbonisation strategic plan
• our response and approach to delivering the plan;
• a case study overview of the six projects in Wales;
• lessons learnt and low-carbon solutions.
Learning Objectives
- Understanding the problem and the core components of the decarbonisation strategic plan for Wales
- The importance of a collaborative approach to developing project-specific and targeted low-carbon approaches with the client team
- Exploring case studies to demonstrate lessons learnt and appropriate low-carbon solutions
09.45Panel discussion10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking10.45 - 12.30Session 32- Adaptive reuse, retrofit and refurb
Victoria Head
Chief executive officer, Archus, UKAs Chief Executive Officer, I am responsible for the financial performance of the business and leading the ongoing improvement and integration of Archus services to ensure consistency, innovation, sustainability and quality across our growing number of UK, Irish and International offices. I also support projects within our Programme and Project Management service which includes working across all stages of the project lifecycle to advise clients on how projects should progress to deliver successful outcomes. All whilst keeping the environment fun and interactive so that everyone has a chance to have their voice heard.10.45Cura Day Surgery: Redefining patient-centred care through adaptive reuse and humanistic design
Gordon Gn
Managing director, HKS Architects, SingaporeGordon serves as a design director and office director for the HKS Singapore office and is involved with the client and project team from initial planning, helping to establish the project objectives, concepts and goals. In his extensive experience across the Asia-Pacific, Middle East/North Africa and American regions, Gordon’s projects have been honored with design awards from both the American Institute of Architects and Healthcare Design. He has been recognized in publications such as Healthcare Design, Asian Hospital & Healthcare Management and featured on Channel News Asia as well as TodaySingapore.
Joey Tan
Medical planner, HKS Architects, SingaporeJoey is an Associate and Medical Planner at HKS Singapore with a deep passion for the built environment and a commitment to making a meaningful impact through architecture. With five years of experience, she has contributed to healthcare projects across Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East. A Master’s graduate in Architecture from the Singapore University of Technology and Design, Joey’s work has earned recognition with awards from the Texas Society of Architects and Rethinking The Future. She is certified as a WELL AP and LSSYB and is an associate member of the AIA.Cura Day Surgery: Redefining patient-centred care through adaptive reuse and humanistic design
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This presentation explores the transformative journey of Cura Day Surgery, a cutting-edge facility in Singapore, blending innovative design and clinical excellence. Tasked with converting one level of a 25-year-old medical office building into a state-of-the-art day surgery centre, the project exemplifies adaptive reuse in healthcare design. The challenge was to accommodate the technical demands of modern clinical medicine – such as spatial requirements, advanced HVAC systems, lead-lined operating theatres and optimised workflows within the constraints of an ageing structure, limited space/clear heights and a point-core medical office building.
The design team focused on creating environments that promote wellbeing, dignity and empowerment for patients and staff alike. Patient rooms are designed as healing sanctuaries, incorporating natural light, biophilic elements and local artwork to foster recovery. Same-handed room layouts enhance clinical efficiency, while bespoke furnishings ensure comfort for both patients and caregivers. Efficient patient and staff workflows were meticulously planned, with dedicated circulation paths maintaining privacy and reducing cross-contamination risks.
Metrics validate the design's impact: patient satisfaction scores reached 93 per cent, and energy efficiency improved by 32 per cent through sustainable design interventions. Staff wellbeing was equally prioritised, resulting in a 42 per cent reduction in turnover compared to other facilities. These outcomes highlight the synergy between thoughtful design and clinical performance, demonstrating how human-centred spaces can empower users and enhance care delivery.
Cura Day Surgery serves as a model for integrating art, sustainability and efficient clinical service planning within the constraints of adaptive reuse, setting a benchmark for future healthcare environments.Learning Objectives
- Navigate adaptive reuse in healthcare – learn how to navigate the architectural and engineering challenges of transforming ageing infrastructure into high-performing healthcare environments, while maintaining patient comfort and clinical efficacy
- Explore the role of design in promoting wellbeing, identity and dignity – discover how biophilic design, natural light and localised artwork can enhance patient recovery, foster staff engagement and create a sense of place in clinical settings
- Evaluate the impact of workflow optimisation on clinical outcomes – analyse integration of efficient staff workflows, examining how thoughtful spatial planning can reduce cross-contamination risks, improve operational efficiency and patient satisfaction
11.05The real costs of refurbishment in healthcare facilities – challenges and innovations
Maria Luigia Assirelli
Director, Floyd Slaski Architects, United KingdomMaria Luigia Assirelli joined Floyd Slaski Architects in March 2022 as Director and EDI, Social Value, and Stakeholder Engagement Lead, as well as the Mental Health Portfolio Lead, with a proven track record of delivering impactful, community-centred projects. With a positive attitude, understanding of team dynamics and personal dynamics and great communication skills, Maria has a real desire for learning, teaching, research of new trends and lecturing at conferences. Maria communications skills are particularly helpful during engagement with Stakeholders and Design Team Coordination. Passionate about designing healing environments, Maria thrives in creating spaces that support mental and physical well-being. Maria's commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, combined with her ability to align stakeholder visions with project goals, ensures every initiative reflects meaningful social value. Whether championing collaborative design processes or leading complex initiatives, Maria brings a unique blend of creativity, insight, and leadership to every endeavour.Marc Atienza
Capital projects manager, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United KingdomMarc started working for Ashford and St. Peter's in 2013 in different admin and clerical roles until he began working in the Capital Projects team in 2019. Since then, he had experience in delivering a wider range of projects as the Trust's agent while completing an MSc in Construction Project Management at London South Bank University. With Floyd Slaski Architects, he is working on all of the Trust's construction programmes at both the Ashford Hospital and Woking Community Hospital sites. He has a desire in learning how resources and technology can be used to aid in active management and pragmatic delivery of building projects.The real costs of refurbishment in healthcare facilities – challenges and innovations
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The refurbishment of healthcare facilities within live environments is a complex undertaking that requires balancing operational continuity with the demands of modernisation. This joint presentation by Floyd Slaski Architects and Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will explore the hidden and tangible costs of these projects, with a focus on building in active healthcare environments and integrating new systems into existing infrastructure.
This session aims to illuminate the multifaceted challenges and considerations in refurbishing healthcare facilities, and demonstrate the value of strategic planning, stakeholder engagement and advanced tools like building information modelling (BIM) in mitigating disruption, addressing unforeseen issues and ensuring long-term resilience.
This presentation will share insights from a case study: Ashford Hospital Elective Centre, highlighting the impacts of disruption on clinical outcomes, staff efficiency and patient satisfaction. It will examine strategies for managing unknown variables, such as legacy systems, to ensure seamless integration and minimal downtime. Methodology for the case study included:
• stakeholder collaboration: engaging diverse parties – including patients, healthcare staff, contractors and technical advisors – through workshops and consultations;
• live environment strategies: minimising operational disruptions through phased construction and adaptive management;
• integration challenges: addressing the complexities of incorporating redundant and outdated services into modern frameworks, and aligning them with new technologies and workflows;
• BIM utilisation: Leveraging BIM for comprehensive planning, coordination and conflict resolution in refurbishment projects.
Understanding the true costs of refurbishment requires a holistic view that considers both immediate and long-term impacts. By embracing collaborative planning, advanced technologies and an adaptive mindset, healthcare facilities can successfully navigate the challenges of refurbishment, ensuring sustainable, patient-centric environments. This discussion will contribute to the broader discourse on adaptive reuse, sustainability and innovative practices within healthcare design.Learning Objectives
- Navigate the challenges of live refurbishment: understand strategies to minimise disruption to healthcare services during refurbishment in active environments, ensuring continuity of care and patient safety
- Leverage collaboration and technology: learn how effective stakeholder engagement and advanced tools like building information modelling (BIM) can streamline the planning, co-ordination and integration of new and old systems
- Address unforeseen variables in legacy systems: gain insights into managing the complexities of outdated or redundant infrastructure while aligning refurbishment projects with contemporary healthcare needs and sustainability goals
11.25Adaptive reuse: The power of interior interventions
Ann-Kathrin Salich
Architect, An(n) Architecture Solution, GermanyAnn-Kathrin Salich is a visionary architect driven by a fascination for how architecture can achieve psychological goals and enhance human experience. Her work delves into how architectural spaces can evoke emotional responses and influence behavior, creating environments that are as impactful as they are functional. After gaining valuable experience at Nickl & Partner, she founded her own studio, An(n) Architecture Solution. Her studio specializes in revitalizing existing spaces, integrating research knowledge to craft designs that are both aesthetically compelling and psychologically impactful. From concept to completion, her work encompasses the disciplines of architecture, interior, and furniture design to address complex design challenges with a holistic and transformative approach. In addition to her practice, Ann-Kathrin shares her expertise as a lecturer at Leibniz University in Hanover, Germany, where she teaches contemporary design practices and advanced digital techniques. Her ongoing research informs her projects, ensuring that her designs remain at the forefront of innovation and serve as thoughtful solutions to our societal challenges.Adaptive reuse: The power of interior interventions
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Germany's healthcare system comprises various facilities, including hospitals, private practices and medical care centres (MVZs). MVZs are specialised office-like buildings designed to host multiple medical practices, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and efficient care delivery. However, many MVZs, particularly in Berlin, face challenges such as ageing infrastructure, outdated designs and, thus, declining tenant interest. This project focuses on revitalising a 30-year-old MVZ to address these pressing issues and adapt it to the needs of contemporary healthcare.
The primary aim is to modernise the MVZ to make it financially sustainable by addressing its spatial and operational deficiencies. The redesign seeks to improve the building’s overall functionality and aesthetic appeal, meeting the needs of medical professionals, patients and visitors. Specific goals include: improving accessibility for elderly, children and disabled individuals; enhancing safety and comfort; and creating an environment that fosters wellbeing and collaboration.
The project employs an integrated approach that combines architectural and interior design strategies, leveraging the transformative power of colour, materiality and spatial reconfiguration. With a focus on adaptive reuse and sustainability, the redesign minimises the need for new construction while maximising the potential of the existing structure. Targeted interventions include identifying pain points for patients and staff, incorporating barrier-free access and intuitive navigation systems, and integrating child- and dementia-friendly features. Custom-made furniture, new lighting concepts and targeted material selections are used to boost functionality and comfort. Lastly, minor structural renovations for improving energy efficiency are conducted to align with sustainability principles and minimise the environmental impact.
This intervention demonstrates how thoughtful interior design can create a positive psychological and functional impact, foster inclusivity, support interdisciplinary collaboration and provide a welcoming environment for patients of all ages and needs. Moreover, it illustrates how enhanced aesthetics and functionality can increase a facility's appeal to potential tenants, thereby ensuring its financial sustainability.
This project underscores the relevance of adaptive reuse and interior-focused design in modernising ageing healthcare facilities. By addressing user needs through targeted design interventions, the approach provides a replicable model for other medical buildings facing similar challenges. The case study highlights the importance of sustainable and inclusive architectural strategies in reshaping healthcare environments for future use.Learning Objectives
- Adaptive reuse
- Inclusive design
- Financial sustainability
11.45The intensive care unit at Södersjukhuset – 20th century modernism meets modern medtech
Cecilia Spannel
Senior architect MSA, healthcare design specialist, LINK arkitektur AB, SwedenCecilia Spannel has worked as a design architect in several areas of expertise (infrastructure, housing, schools, defense buildings, offices) during her 28 years as an active professional, and during the last 18 years she has mainly worked as a commissioned and design responsible architect in healthcare building projects. The projects have encompassed varying degrees of complexity and range from general masterplans and feasibility studies, to the basic and detailed design of hightech healthcare premises, such as surgery and intensive care. As a leading architect at LINK, Cecilia contributes with her knowledge and experience of using the means of architecture to create well-functioning, safe environments with equity. Cecilia's specialist knowledge in wayfinding, and especially in the hospital environment, is also an asset in various projects where patient and visitor logistics are included. Master of Architecture 1996 Lund UniversityThe intensive care unit at Södersjukhuset – 20th century modernism meets modern medtech
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Södersjukhuset (Sös) is one of the largest hospitals in Stockholm, Sweden, originally constructed between 1937 and 1944. The hospital was expanded in 2019 with 70,000 square metre buildings designed by LINK Arkitektur. Södersjukhuset has one of the largest emergency departments in Scandinavia.
Transformation – reuse of space
This transformation project is to create a large modern intensive care unit (ICU) in a narrow existing building from 1944, a former surgery department, strategically positioned in the hospital complex. The architectural task was to fit 22 single-patient intensive care rooms in units that needed to be designed for proximity within, due to staff effectiveness. Load-bearing walls and structures gave us some obstacles on the way, but it also brought new ways of thinking: tricky conditions create new ideas. The layout is based on 'moving' the traditional corridor to a new position, creating a staff connection between team stations, and patient beds are transported in an outer corridor 'layer'. That gives the staff a quieter zone to work in, close to the patient space. Another issue concerning the performance of the project was the ceiling height in the building. It was solved through using the attic space above, and roof additions were designed for new HVAC.
Design process in the middle of a pandemic
This project is a result of many learnings during Covid-19. Patient integrity and recovery were main focuses, as well as creating effective space to reduce stress on the staff. The design process started in spring 2021 with the experience of Covid-19 fresh in the mind – and the pandemic was still ongoing. All design meetings were held online.
Visual control
Staff experience was important, including the need to always be able to see each other, have eye contact and keep watch on patients' respiratory tracts were aspects to secure in the design. Detailed studies were performed in 3D sketches to guarantee overviews, for quick staff reaction to intervene or call for help in a situation.
We will present the challenges of redesigning for advanced healthcare in an older building and the online design process, with lessons learned from the pandemic. We will show the core ideas that were the outcomes of all these special circumstances.
The start of project construction is planned for spring 2025. This has been an exploratory project for us – 'The ICU where function meets form' – and we look forward to sharing it with others.
Learning Objectives
- Reusing an older hospital building
- The staff experience of the pandemic
- Patient integrity in intensive care
12.05Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networking14.00 - 15.30Session 33- Designing for net zero
Tina Nolan
Managing Director, Lexica, UKTina is a founding director of Lexica. She joined the new company in 2014 to establish a Healthcare Strategy + Planning team bringing her 20 years’ experience in major health infrastructure projects in the UK and internationally. Prior to joining Lexica, Tina was a shareholder in a niche management consultancy, Healthcare Partnering, and before that she was Partner Lead for Healthcare Planning at EC Harris and a shareholder/director of RKW Healthcare Strategists for 12 years. An architect by background, Tina is widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading healthcare planners. She leads the largest team of dedicated healthcare planners in the UK. As Managing Director, Tina leads the long-term strategic growth of the business in health and life sciences and ensures Lexica develops as a client-focused consultancy. Tina is also one of the founding directors of the Healthcare Planning Academy, which provides a professional development resource to practitioners to support the continuous improvement of industry standards.14.00Enough is more – sufficiency as a design strategy
Giulia Scialpi
Architect, archipelago; Researcher, Univerity of Liège, BelgiumGiulia Scialpi is an Italian architect based in Brussels. She holds a Postgraduate Master’s from CRAterre-ENSAG laboratory, a centre of excellence that manages the UNESCO Chair “Earthen architecture, construction cultures and sustainable development” in Grenoble’s School of Architecture. She is currently working in Belgium for archipelago architects and its R&I team, supporting many research projects with her expertise in circular design. She also works as a researcher and PhD candidate in the Urban Metabolism Lab at the Louvain research institute for Landscape, Architecture, Built environment (LAB) and as teaching assistant at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Studies (LOCI) of UCLouvain.Enough is more – sufficiency as a design strategy
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Since Florence Nightingale’s 'Notes on Hospitals' in 1863, it has been recognised that architecture can significantly impact health. While modern approaches tend to reduce the optimal indoor environment to a few building physical parameters, Nightingale emphasised the importance of fresh air, daylight, views and acoustics in the therapeutic potential of spaces. Today, architects and engineers are rediscovering this in adaptive and dynamic comfort models, moving beyond static approaches to incorporating outdoor climate and user agency in building design. This new method, referred to as ‘sufficiency’, prioritises assessing user needs and activities first before focusing on energy-efficient climate installations – leading to reduced energy consumption and optimised comfort.
Sufficiency as a design strategy seeks to reduce both embodied and operational carbon emissions. It prevents the rebound effect, where efficient systems tend to lead to operational overconsumption. Fewer technical installations further reduce embodied carbon. The strategy relies on understanding user comfort, integrating the psycho-social wellbeing framework of self-determination theory with performance-based design. In the first study phase, diverse user comfort needs are identified, leading to a broader comfort range that focuses on eudaimonic wellbeing (personal growth) over hedonic comfort (pleasure). The result is a design that harmonises natural energy, air and light with user activities, improving health and wellbeing, especially for those underexposed to climate cycles.
To demonstrate sufficiency, we will present several recent and ongoing projects where we expose the building to the external climate.
- In Helora, a hospital project, the circadian daylight cycle optimises daylight while preventing overheating.
- Booghuys, a dementia care home, adapts room layouts to maximise daylight exposure, adjusting window placement for each side and floor.
- CHwapi, a hospital under construction, features a jagged façade with windows and integrated air vents that create a 'breathing façade'.
- De Kerselaar, a care centre for people with disabilities, uses an intermediary façade to buffer cold weather while offering exposure to the outside climate.
- Dalal Jamm, a hospital in Dakar, incorporates bio-climatic principles, with sun-shading and natural ventilation to prevent overheating.
Understanding a building’s interaction with the exterior climate allows for dynamic internal comfort, which can fluctuate and sometimes cause mild discomfort. However, research in thermophysiology shows that slight discomfort can actually enhance physiological resistance and overall health. Thus, designing for dynamic comfort not only impacts energy use and embodied carbon, it also positively influences user health and wellbeing.
Learning Objectives
- Sufficiency
- User comfort
- Low-tech
14.20Healing cities: A landscape approach to healthcare ecosystems
Christopher Wright
Principal landscape architect, Stephenson Halliday (RSK Group), United KingdomChristopher is a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute with over a decade of experience in landscape architecture, urban design, and masterplanning. Throughout his career, Christopher has applied his expertise to a diverse range of projects, including estate regeneration, extra-care developments, and urban-scale masterplans. Christopher is passionate about creating restorative landscapes and delivering green infrastructure that fosters well-being, supports biodiversity, and integrates seamlessly with urban environments. A strong advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration, Christopher believes the best projects emerge from a synergy of expertise. His approach combines technical planning and policy compliance with innovative design solutions that prioritise community engagement and nature-based interventions. With a focus on security-conscious design and environmental sustainability, Christopher’s work emphasises the transformative potential of landscapes to enhance the social and ecological fabric of cities. Christopher thrives on delivering projects that balance aesthetic quality with functional resilience, ensuring they meet the needs of both people and the environment.
Andrew Tempany
Technical director, landscape architecture, Stephenson Halliday (RSK Group), United KingdomAndrew is a Fellow of the Landscape Institute and a Chartered Landscape Architect with over 20 years of experience in landscape and urban planning. As Technical Director at Stephenson Halliday within RSK Environment Ltd, he specialises in integrating nature-based solutions and green infrastructure into complex projects. His expertise spans landscape strategy, large-scale infrastructure design, and conservation, with a focus on delivering sustainable and meaningful landscapes. Andrew is passionate about regenerative and narrative-driven design, crafting projects that reflect each site’s unique heritage while optimising environmental benefits through nature-based solutions. His thoughtful approach ensures that every design integrates ecological resilience with user-focused functionality. An experienced leader in interdisciplinary project management and stakeholder engagement, Andrew excels in tackling complex challenges with innovative solutions. His work consistently balances practicality with creativity, creating spaces that connect people to nature, enhance well-being, and improve quality of life.
Lynne Houlbrooke
Associate director, landscape architecture, Stephenson Halliday (RSK Group), United KingdomLynne is a Chartered Landscape Architect and Associate Director at Stephenson Halliday within RSK Environment Ltd, with over 20 years of experience in landscape architecture, urban design, and masterplanning. For the past 15 years, she has led the design department at Stephenson Halliday, excelling in coordinating multidisciplinary teams through all project stages. Lynne specialises in regenerative design, applying a strategic, landscape-led approach to deliver tangible outcomes that support health, well-being, and sustainability. Her expertise spans project management, masterplanning, and technical design, ensuring every project aligns seamlessly with client objectives while promoting accessible and inclusive design. Known for her collaborative and stakeholder-focused approach, Lynne thrives on creating landscapes that balance aesthetic quality, functionality, and long-term sustainability. Whether shaping large-scale masterplans or delivering detailed technical designs, Lynne’s work consistently enhances the environment while addressing the diverse needs of its users.Healing cities: A landscape approach to healthcare ecosystems
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Amid the dual crises of declining public and planetary health, healthcare must evolve, not only to treat individual ailments but also to promote environmental healing. Conventional hospitals are often sprawling, car-dependent complexes. When located on city outskirts, they become isolated from the communities they serve. When located more centrally, they require extensive demolition, displacing communities and disrupting the fine-grained character of the urban landscape. These facilities impose significant environmental burdens, and their token greenspaces do little to offset their overwhelming footprint. This presentation explores the landscape benefits of a decentralised approach to healthcare planning by embedding facilities within the existing urban fabric. As landscape architects, we envision healthcare spaces that are accessible, community-connected and interwoven with nature. By integrating green infrastructure and leveraging the urban environment through adaptive reuse, we can foster holistic health and wellbeing for both people and the planet.
Decentralising healthcare into smaller urban sites offers multiple benefits, including bringing care closer to residents. Strategic placement near greenspaces connects healthcare to nature, reducing stress and promoting wellbeing, and transforms healthcare facilities into integral parts of urban life, strengthening connections between patients, providers and the environment. This approach aligns with other health-focused goals too, such as promoting active travel and reducing car reliance. Thoughtful public realm design by landscape architects can enhance the entire healthcare journey, from the moment patients leave home to receiving care, through pedestrian-friendly routes and spaces that prioritise wellbeing, safety and accessibility. Incorporating nature-based solutions enriches these pathways, delivering health benefits while enhancing urban ecosystem services and prioritising comfort and experience over logistics.
Adaptive reuse of existing infrastructure, like vacant offices post-Covid-19, reduces land take, embodied carbon and community disruption. Repurposing buildings aligns healthcare facilities with the urban fabric’s existing character and scale, creating more welcoming spaces. Savings from reduced land and construction costs could be redirected to green infrastructure, amplifying shared health and climate benefits. Distributing healthcare across urban sites could catalyse wider improvements in public areas, potentially unlocking additional resources to enhance the urban realm for the whole community.
As landscape architects, we advocate a shift from isolated, land-intensive hospital complexes to city-integrated, green healthcare models. This approach, supported by evolving technological capabilities, enables hospitals to deliver value beyond patient care, offering improvements that can benefit the entire community. We envision a future where healthcare is woven into the urban ecosystem – accessible, welcoming and healing for both people and the planet.Learning Objectives
- Decentralised healthcare planning
- Nature-based solutions in healthcare design
- Adaptive reuse in urban healthcare
14.40Transforming hospital design for a net-zero future: Lessons from the UK and Spain
Nathan Shelley
Associate director, AECOM, United KingdomNathan joined AECOM with a background in environmental science and professional experience of delivering sustainability projects in new and existing buildings. Nathan’s interests lie in delivering sustainability across all of its aspects for the built environment and he has a proven record of guiding clients with the latest policy and best-practice sustainability strategies including BREEAM, LEED and WELL, in order to embed the principles of sustainability in their processes, designs and developments. Nathan has led the development of net zero design strategies for healthcare projects in the UK, including the Hillingdon Hospital and Oriel projects. He has also championed the new NHS Net Zero Building Standard, applying the Standard to the first wave of net zero pioneer hospitals.
Eric Trillo
Director, AECOM, SpainEric is the Director of Architecture in AECOM’s Barcelona office. He is an all-round architect with over 22 years’ experience in a variety of sectors such as Sports, Education and Healthcare. He has worked in several countries such as the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden and Spain. With a personal interest in Patient Experience Design, he leads the Healthcare and Science Architecture team in Spain to deliver complex infrastructures through a clear human centred approach.Transforming hospital design for a net-zero future: Lessons from the UK and Spain
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The urgent need to address the climate emergency through mitigation and adaptation, while enhancing patient care and community resilience, presents a critical challenge for healthcare infrastructure worldwide. This session explores how sustainability-driven hospital design is advancing in two contrasting contexts: the UK’s New Hospital Programme (NHP) and recent healthcare projects for CatSalut in Spain. These case studies reveal how localised approaches, grounded in climate and site-specific realities, can drive meaningful progress towards net-zero carbon healthcare delivery.
In the UK, the NHP is pioneering efforts to meet stringent net-zero standards, with a focus on reducing embodied and operational (whole-life) carbon. However, the programme faces significant challenges, including the complexity of achieving ambitious targets within cost and operational constraints. Meanwhile, in Spain, where regional resilience to climate stressors such as water scarcity and rising temperatures is critical, strategies are centred on water-efficient systems, leveraging solar energy potential, and passive design solutions. Both contexts highlight the importance of reconciling global sustainability goals with diverse environmental and regulatory landscapes.
This session will share insights into the use of predictive tools and data-driven approaches to inform design strategies across climates and geographies. It will examine the role of material sourcing and supply chain logistics, which can significantly affect the environmental impact of healthcare infrastructure depending on regional availability and transportation distances. The discussion will also delve into the balance between sustainability imperatives and service priorities.
By exploring these examples, participants will gain a nuanced understanding of how to embed the principles of energy-efficient and low-embodied carbon-impact design in healthcare projects, tailored to the specific needs and challenges of different regions. This includes strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change, optimise resource use, create environments that promote healing, dignity and identity, and help to promote staff and patient wellbeing, while achieving long-term carbon reduction in order to be compatible with a net-zero carbon future.
The insights offered will inform the design and delivery of healthcare systems that are not only resilient to future challenges but also exemplify leadership in environmental stewardship. Through this comparative analysis, the session will inspire attendees to rethink how hospitals can serve as catalysts for sustainable, community-centred healthcare.Learning Objectives
- Regional approaches to sustainable hospital design: Learn how climate-specific challenges and regulatory contexts in the UK and Spain shape strategies for achieving net-zero carbon healthcare delivery
- Data-driven tools for informed decision-making: Learn how predictive modelling, whole-life carbon assessments and supply chain analysis can optimise design strategies for varying environmental and operational conditions
- Sustainability with patient-centred design: Learn how design strategies can balance resource efficiency, climate resilience and humanistic principles to create environments that support healing, dignity and identity
15.00Panel discussion15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 34- Climate-smart structures and materials
Katie Wood
Head of programme and project management, Archus, United KingdomI bring together technical, people and process expertise and combine local capability with global best practice, focussing on healthcare, health and wellbeing and the built/digital environment. I advise on the complex interactions between buildings, the urban environment, operational processes, digital technology, data and people, in order to maximize the positive effect of the built environment on health and wellbeing. I have delivered a wide variety of healthcare and urban programmes and projects in the UK and internationally including Peru, Australia and Canada.16.00Modular and circular: Redefining the future of healthcare architecture
Hieronimus Nickl
Managing director, architect, Nickl & Partner, GermanyHieronimus Nickl Hieronimus Nickl studied architecture at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, graduating in 2003. In 2008, he completed an MBA in International Hospital and Healthcare Management at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. He joined Nickl & Partner Architects in 2003 and, by 2005, was leading projects and teams, with a focus on international assignments. Since 2015, he has been the Managing Director of the Beijing office, and in 2019, he became a member of the Board of Directors at Nickl & Partner Architects. He additionally holds the role of Managing Director of Nickl & Partner Architects Germany GmbH.Modular and circular: Redefining the future of healthcare architecture
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Modular construction is revolutionising architecture, heralding a transformative era of efficiency, sustainability and resilience. Yet a critical question persists: how do we ensure resources used in construction are not wasted but reintegrated into a perpetual cycle? The answer lies in modular, circular building – an approach that prioritises the reuse and recycling of every material, creating a sustainable, closed-loop system.
This vision is reshaping architecture into a dynamic, time-evolving discipline. Beyond traditional applications, modular construction exemplifies how technological innovation and enduring design converge to deliver flexible, scalable solutions tailored to diverse global healthcare challenges. From mobile hospitals on the seas to modular laboratories facilitating international collaboration, and from healthcare stations in remote deserts to the cutting-edge medical facility for the German Federal Forces, these projects embody the potential of modular design to redefine healing architecture.Learning Objectives
- Healing architecture
- Circular building and sustainability
- Redefining wellbeing
16.20Health in timber
Karl-Johan Gydell
Project assistant, Chalmers University of Technology, SwedenKarl-Johan is a practicing architect specializing in healthcare architecture and also works as a project assistant at Chalmers University of Technology.
Magnus Falk
Project manager, RISE, SwedenDevelop projects within various sustainability aspects of the building industry as wood constructions to re-use of building materials at the Swedish Research Institute, RISE. 2010-2019 manager for the business collaboration Energy & Environment association in Sweden, Em Sweden.se Pioneer in building a low CO2 private villa 2008 with alternative materials in foundation to isolation and with re-used materials.
Kirsi Jarnerö
Project manager, RISE, SwedenPhD. Building Technology . Vibrations in timber floors.Cristiana Caira MArch
Partner and board director, White Arkitekter; Artistic professor, Chalmers University of Technology, SwedenCristiana Caira is Partner and Board Director at White Arkitekter, Artistic Professor of Healthcare Architecture at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, member of the Board at the European Health Property Network, and member of the Programme Committee at the EHD Congress. Cristiana has 25 years of experience in planning complex healthcare environments in Scandinavia and internationally. Focused on increasing collaboration between practice, research and education, Cristiana has led major White Arkitekter healthcare projects including the award-winning Södra Älvsborg Hospital Psychiatric Clinic, the Queen Silvia Children Hospital in Gothenburg and a large-scale extension of Karlstad Hospital. Her latest international project is the award-winning extension for the Panzi Hospital in Congo, in collaboration with the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Mukwege. Cristiana is currently Healthcare Design Lead Architect within the expert international team appointed to design Cambridge Children’s Hospital. Embedding research alongside clinical expertise in physical and mental child health, the hospital will be a state-of-the-art hospital designed to take care of the whole child.Health in timber
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The Swedish building sector is moving forward towards climate neutrality in 2045. Healthcare buildings are particularly challenging in this development, hospitals being one of the most climate-intensive types of buildings with high-performing load-bearing structures and advanced technical infrastructure. In a hospital building, the load-bearing structure can make up to half of the total carbon footprint. Therefore, the choice of the structure is crucial to achieving a lower climate impact, and interest in integrating wood as a structural element has been growing in the latest years. On the other hand, the use of wooden structures remains a challenge, due to lack of experience.
'Health in timber', led by RISE and CVA at Chalmers University of Technology, involves 14 partners, including experts in fire safety, vibration, structural engineering, stakeholders and suppliers. Spanning 2023 to 2025, the project is funded by VINNOVA.
The project aims to identify the challenges and possibilities associated with building future sustainable hospitals with wooden structures. Specific requirements for selected high-tech healthcare services, such as operating theatres and intensive care units, are mapped out. Beyond fundamental requirements like vibration control and fire safety, sustainability and future-proofing aspects, such as flexibility and generality, are considered. The requirements identified for each of the selected healthcare services are compared with the performance of selected structural systems, including both wood and hybrid structures. Then the opportunities and challenges for each structural system are mapped out, along with scenarios where wood may not be applicable. Building upon these challenges, a speculative and limited design exercise is conducted to test the use of wooden or hybrid structures in a new building dedicated to high-tech healthcare services.
The speculative design exercise draws inspiration from a real, ongoing hospital project conducted by Region Västerbotten, one of the partners involved in the project. In the design exercise, the challenges of using a wooden structure are further examined by addressing the aspect of vertically stacking the different healthcare services. The fictive building includes an ICU, an operating department, a technical floor and three levels of inpatient wards.
Ultimately, this project seeks to foster interest in optimising various existing wooden structure systems, promoting resource efficiency and greater architectural flexibility. The driving force behind this effort is to accelerate the construction industry's transition towards lower environmental impact, addressing the challenge of constructing sections of hospitals with wood as the primary structural material.Learning Objectives
- Sustainable hospitals
- Healthcare facilities
- Timber construction
16.40The interconnectedness of human and environmental health: Biogenic materials in healthcare architecture
Hala El Khorazaty
Senior healthcare designer, Perkins&Will, United StatesHala is a Senior Healthcare Project Designer at Perkins&Will, bringing over 13 years of experience with the firm across multiple countries. She is a thoughtful designer with a diverse range of research interests, focusing on wellness and sustainable design across various markets. Hala is also one of the firm’s Living Design Champions and an expert researcher on brain capital.
Asif Din
Regenerative design director, Perkins&Will, United KingdomAsif has been involved in environmental low energy buildings and supply chains for over 20 years, including PassivHaus and Zero Energy Developments. He is particularly interested in the healthcare typology as when this can be provided on a zero-carbon basis there is no excuse for all other building types not to deliver at this standard. He has a doctorate in life cycle carbon and part of many research groups including UKGBC, LETI and RIBA. He is BREEAM AP and LEED GA accredited, a FitWel Ambassador, and has held Certified PassivHaus Designer accreditation. Asif has changed design practices at Perkins&Will to include a more multivalent approach to environmental design as part of the ‘Living Design’ framework. As part of this the office includes a circular economy strategy document, LCA and a zero operational carbon costed report at the end of RIBA Stage 2 for all projects.The interconnectedness of human and environmental health: Biogenic materials in healthcare architecture
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This presentation explores the critical connection between human and environmental health, focusing on the innovative use of biogenic materials within healthcare architecture. With growing recognition of the healthcare sector's environmental footprint, biogenic materials – derived from renewable organic sources – present a promising avenue for sustainable design and regenerative practices. The presentation will delve into their application in hospital construction, emphasising infection control and the delicate balance required to meet strict healthcare standards.
Drawing on live examples from the NHS in the UK and healthcare systems in the US, we will examine the potential showcasing successful integration of biogenic materials in non-sterile environments such as waiting areas, patient rooms and staff lounges. These examples highlight the potential of such materials to create healthier, more restorative spaces for patients and staff. However, limitations persist in high-risk zones like operating rooms (ORs), where current product technology has yet to achieve the required sterility and durability standards.
The discussion will also address the regenerative aspects of biogenic materials, including their ability to sequester carbon, support indoor air quality, use fewer chemicals in maintenance and align with circular economy principles. These attributes underscore the importance of investing in the next phase of product development to overcome technical challenges and broaden their applicability in healthcare settings.
Ultimately, this presentation advocates for a shift in healthcare architecture, where material choices prioritise not only infection control and operational efficiency but also environmental stewardship and long-term human health. By investing in research and innovation, we can pave the way for the widespread adoption of biogenic materials, fostering a healthcare environment that is as regenerative as the care it provides.
Learning Objectives
- Biogenics
- Infection control
- Biophilia
17.00Panel discussionEnd of Climate-smart healthcare stream -
Project showcase
Platt Room
10.45 - 12.30Session 35- Hospital design showcase
Justin Harris
Global practice group director, Arcadis, United KingdomJustin is an Architect and Global Practice Group Director in the Architecture and Urbanism group at Arcadis. With over 20 years of experience in a range of projects, the majority of his work has focused on healthcare including projects across the full healthcare spectrum, from acute, out of hospital, supportive housing, masterplanning and healthcare strategy. With an interest in innovative healthcare systems and how they relate to supporting health and wellbeing, and the sustainability of healthcare systems, Justin works across our global regions in areas including healthcare strategy, master-planning, infrastructure development and digital healthcare environments. Justin has recently been working on New Hospital Programme projects in the UK, whilst also involved in the transforming the Kasr El-Ainy hospital in downtown Cairo. Justin, a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and collaborates with our global healthcare leads in bringing best practice ideas to our clients. Justin has contributed to guidance for NHS England, through the Healthy New Towns programme, focusing on developing ‘Integrated Health and Wellbeing Facilities.10.45A hospital in a garden and a garden in a hospital: A new design approach on pairing biophilia principles with sustainable design strategies for one of the largest new medical centres in the worldTye Farrow
Founding partner, Farrow Partners, CanadaWorking at the intersection of architecture and neuroscience, Tye Farrow is a world-recognized pioneer tackling how what we create either gives or cause health. With award-winning projects around the globe that enact salutogenic design - design that actively incites health - he is the first Canadian architect to have earned a Master of Neuroscience Applied to Architecture (University of Venice Iuav), and has a Master of Architecture in Urban Design (Harvard University), and a Bachelor of Architecture degree (University of Toronto). Tye is a sought-after speaker who has presented to respected organizations and universities in over forty-five cities on six continents, including the Salk Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Stanford University Medical School, The Mayo Clinic, and The Cleveland Clinic, and has been called a global leader making “a significant contribution to health and humanity through the medium of architecture.” His bestselling book, Constructing Health: How the Built Environment Enhances Your Mind’s Health, explores how our mind, and its various sensory systems, interacts with our built environment to create the conditions of which we can thrive and prosper, bridges the gap in knowledge between the therapeutic medical world, the design community, and public, to reveal how the intentional shaping of our environment can support our physical and neurological well-being. Acclaimed by both professional and public critics, the book has been described as “a landmark work that will undoubtedly influence the future of architectural design.”A hospital in a garden and a garden in a hospital: A new design approach on pairing biophilia principles with sustainable design strategies for one of the largest new medical centres in the world
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The largest brand new medical centre in Israel, the first in over 30 years – 300,000 square metres (3 million square feet) and 1,900 beds, more than any other hospital in the country – Negev Health City is also one of the largest new greenfield hospitals in the world, outside the United States, and will open in 2031. It is located in the southern Israeli region of Negev, a desert area, part of a new biotech and residential neighbourhood in the growing City of Be’er Sheva.
Ben Gurion, Israel’s founding father and first prime minister, said that the vision of Negev was for it to turn into a blooming, lively and green piece of land: that the “Negev desert bloom”. The architects' central approach to the design of the new medical centre is to take waste and turn it into a wider community health asset: “A hospital in a garden and a garden in a hospital”, firmly tying together health creation and civic wellbeing.
Hospitals are the largest consumers of water, double any other building type. The design will harvest select portions of the hospital's wastewater, recycle it and treat it for use in the creation of the largest new public horticultural park in the country – five hectares (12.5 acres) focused on desert plants. The park is a continuation of a new proposed Central Park of the biotech/residential district. Yet the solution lifts the garden up and drapes it over the wedged-shaped, central ambulatory main entrance building of the medical centre, oriented in a north-south direction – thereby creating a ‘backyard’ to the hospital, above and accessible from grade from the community to the north of the medical centre. At the top of the sloped central horticultural park at the southern end is a large shade canopy, a common terrace, and a place for concerts, fitness and gatherings, along with the main restaurant of the hospital. Other amenities line the sides of the park's length as it slopes down to grade to join the larger community park to the north; patient and staff lounges, rehab and fitness areas, verandahs and focused retail.
The hospital offers a new design approach of how to pair biophilia principles with sustainable design strategies for the design of complex medical centres globally.
Learning Objectives
- Biophilia
- Horticultural architecture
- Human mega-hospital design strategies
11.00Transforming paediatric care: The project reveal of new Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Surgical TowerHala El Khorazaty
Senior healthcare designer, Perkins&Will, United StatesHala is a Senior Healthcare Project Designer at Perkins&Will, bringing over 13 years of experience with the firm across multiple countries. She is a thoughtful designer with a diverse range of research interests, focusing on wellness and sustainable design across various markets. Hala is also one of the firm’s Living Design Champions and an expert researcher on brain capital.
Amy Sickeler
Principal, design director, Perkins&Will, United StatesAmy brings to her work deep empathy for people and the environment while creating beauty. With industrial design and interior architecture training she is dedicated to partnering with clients and leading teams in the creation of compassionate, healing space that inextricably blend research and design theory with health, functionality, aesthetics, and performance for the interior of complex architectural projects. Amy’s influence reaches beyond projects and clients. A Principal in the Atlanta office of Perkins&Will, Amy serves as an Interior Design Principal for all the studio's healthcare projects. Amy’s 35+ years of experience include research, visioning, programming, space planning, development of facility standards, interior design, construction documentation, furniture and equipment inventory and color and design theory. With an intent focus on healthcare design, she has dedicated her career to developing innovative healing spaces for a variety of diverse clients.Transforming paediatric care: The project reveal of new Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Surgical Tower
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We are thrilled to present the completion of the new Nicklaus Children's Hospital Surgical Tower, a project we have shared over the last couple years, as it embodies the culmination of extensive research, design innovation and the dedication of a multidisciplinary team. This landmark facility was thoughtfully designed with a focus on neurodiversity, children’s emotional and physical development during trauma, and the interaction between the built environment and human physiology. The design also incorporates family-centred experiential research to enhance the overall care experience.
In this presentation, we will showcase the final photography of the facility and share lessons learned from this research-driven approach to healthcare design. Located in the southeastern United States, Nicklaus Children's Hospital is globally recognised as one of the top paediatric hospitals, offering comprehensive care and rehabilitation for infants, children and young adults.
The Surgical Tower represents a state-of-the-art replacement and expansion of the hospital’s surgical suite and support services, as part of a multiphase master plan focused on modernisation, resiliency and sustainability. The five-storey vertical expansion, constructed atop an existing emergency department, introduces: 12 universal operating rooms, 40 pre-op/post-anaesthetic care unit (PACU) rooms, a new central sterile processing department, a 20-bed medical-surgical unit and administrative spaces.
The facility also prioritises the wellbeing of patients, families and staff with innovative amenities, including: a multi-storey lobby offering enhanced intake facilities and intuitive wayfinding, a staff rooftop terrace for respite and rejuvenation, and a healing garden to reduce stress and foster connections with nature. The project’s scope included enabling infrastructure improvements such as a rooftop helipad, utility and pedestrian bridges, and renovations to the central energy plant, all contributing to the campus' long-term sustainability.
Join us as we explore how this cutting-edge facility serves as a family-focused care for children across the southeastern United States.
Learning Objectives
- Surgical expansion
- Research-based design
- Children's health
11.15Health promoting healthcare in a sustainable urban environment
Paula Block Philipsen
Architect, partner, White architects, SwedenPaula Block Philipsen, Architect Partner, White Architects Malmö Paula is a health care specialist with 30 years solid experience of hospital projects in Scandinavia and abroad. Work range from early stages, design dialogues in varied groups to technical coordination in several large projects, involving somatic and psychiatric facilities. Starting 2016, she is one of the lead architects of the new hospital project in Malmö.Health promoting healthcare in a sustainable urban environment
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The new hospital area in Malmö is a major renovation and addition of care buildings and technical infrastructure. Skåne University Hospital, the third largest hospital in Sweden, consists of the Malmö and the Lund site. The hospital provides highly specialised care, responsibility for several national programmes, research and education. Both facilities are facing the challenge of how to meet future demands. The new buildings are additions to an existing pavilion hospital from the nineteenth century in the middle of the city. The site is in between the well-situated seaside areas and the areas of immigration, poverty and the non-integrated.
Based on ambitious pre-studies from Region Skåne and the Malmö City Council, we set up goals that, in addition to creating buildings for excellent care:
- placed the patient in the centre;
- created a healthy and attractive workplace;
- provided for the healthcare of the future;
- put the hospital in the middle of the city.
The project was organised in four major parallel streams addressing the different topics. The overall strategic planning of the clinical care involved the whole hospital in a series of workshops, setting goals, analysing the future and setting scenarios, including typical rooms and the principles of wards, involving all clinics, without telling who would benefit from what. The building project tested several volumes and structures. The aim was to design rational, evidence-based design solutions, sufficient in themselves and still possible to add in the future. The design solutions for the exterior facades and landscape introduced huge volumes in a new scale to the old brick buildings, in green park surroundings.
The new care buildings were brought into use with very few additions or complaints. High-tech solutions focusing on high hygienic standards and good flows will facilitate the function of the whole area, supporting older buildings with faster supply of goods, technical media and medical equipment.
The inventive use of material and colour schemes, combined with the art programme, have given the large and sometimes cold clinical environment a necessary warmth and a humanistic approach. Careful design of the narrow square and pedestrian street, with only low-speed traffic and a minimum of parking places, has created a welcoming and warm way into the entrance halls, that invites everybody in and reduces offensive behaviour.
Involvement, and more involvement, is key to good function and the wise use of our common goods. Using and developing existing buildings and areas offering new common places and passages gives the whole community a safer and more prosperous environment.
Learning Objectives
- Hospital buildings can heal the city
- Structure that offers organic growth of clinics
- Ownership of patients and staff promote wellbeing
11.30Innovation and technology as essential tools for dense cities – optimising the operations of verticalised hospitals
Lara Kaiser
Director of operations, Principal, Perkins&Will, BrazilBorn into a family of architects and doctors, it is only natural that Lara would become a specialist in healthcare architecture. Growing up with an architect mother, she started developing her own projects as a kid. “I had my own clipboard where I’d sketch my designs as my mom worked.” Lara’s commitment to creating efficient, people-focused healthcare environments also came from a young age. For her graduating project, she proposed to design a hospital for children with HIV. As the theme was still a taboo at the time, she was advised not to do so, but carried on anyway, knowing it was a reality that deserved attention and care. The project won an A+. Today, Lara’s young daughter is following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, she is already asking for clipboards and mechanic pencils of her own.Innovation and technology as essential tools for dense cities – optimising the operations of verticalised hospitals
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“By 2050, around 70 per cent of the world’s population will live in urban areas”, according to the UN-Habitat biannual report, which discusses alternatives to accelerate global progress towards sustainable development. The trend of rapid urbanisation combined with intense climate change, which characterises the early 21st century, poses challenges for maintaining life in cities, especially in megalopolises like São Paulo, among the most populous in the world – with more than 22 million inhabitants – which can face an additional increase in temperature of at least 0.5°C by 2040.
In theory, densification is a sustainable alternative for São Paulo – and similar cities – to overcome these problems. According to urban economist and Harvard professor Edward Glaeser, a compact city is beneficial for the environment, culture and education, since it limits urban sprawl, and reduces motorised mobility and pollutant gas emissions, allowing for a greater mix of ideas, values and cultures.
The most recent review of São Paulo's Strategic Master Plan (2023) outlined the goal of transforming the capital into a compact city, reducing the distances between housing, work, leisure and essential facilities, such as hospitals. A city of this type maintains its urban quality through a balance in land use, with typological diversity that ensures greater population density, especially on public transport routes, optimising infrastructure and encouraging urban life.
Among the sustainable development strategies for cities, such as adapting existing buildings and new developments in neighbourhoods with robust infrastructure, the Brazilian team at Perkins&Will presents Vila Mariana Hospital, designed in one of São Paulo's most traditional neighbourhoods to make the most of the limited space available. In a partially commercial region, with strong residential characteristics, the new hospital structure is close to a park listed as municipal heritage.
The combination of strategic planning and integration into the urban fabric allowed the team to develop an efficient vertical structure, with 65,000 square metres on a plot of land measuring just 6,300sqm. The highly complex hospital has 302 beds organised into 15 floors above ground (plus six underground floors), with optimised vertical circulation that allows for the best use of the 1,800sqm slabs. The tower is integrated into the city through a central square, which follows the curves of the building and facilitates the organisation of access points – social, service or outpatient – on the same face, in synergy with the surroundings through the landscaping specially designed for the site.Learning Objectives
- Densification as an alternative for sustainable development
- Optimised use of spaces in dense cities
- Innovations and technologies to optimise the use of vertical buildings
11.45Architecture is care
Luisa Fontana
Architect, LFA - Architecture & Engineering , ItalyLuisa Fontana is the founder and CEO of Luisa Fontana Atelier (LFA) architecture&engineering srl. Launched in the early 1990s, the atelier immediately adopted an integrated design method based on the optimasation of natural environmental resources, attention to people with physical disabilities, the application of colour and the integration of artistic masterpieces to enhance orientation and user experience. Refined over the years, with a recent but well‐received application in the healthcare sector also thanks to a participatory design shared with users, Fontana's methodological approach, ‘Architecture is Care’, defines a healthcare layout that moves from the inside‐out based on circulation flows enhanced by a curvilinear design that creates enveloping and human‐scale environments. Multifaceted and pioneering, Luisa Fontana is convinced that only by moving away from traditional practice will it be possible to obtain an innovative spatial model that becomes an active part of the care process.Architecture is care
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The current phase of demographic, epidemiological, social and economic transition, combined with recent pandemic events, has exposed the inadequacy of existing hospital building models. Although healthcare organisations have evolved to address new treatment needs, current hospital building models remain largely unchanged, compromising both functionality and spatial quality.
The aim is here to “create healthcare architecture that becomes an integral part of the care process itself”, providing environments that are both welcoming and functional for healthcare professionals and patients. The methodology is based on the principle that the more thoroughly one understands the constraints (care procedures and processes, staff management, budgets, etc.), the more freedom one has to introduce effective innovations. To achieve this, healthcare, technical, professional and administrative staff, as well as patients, work collaboratively with architects and engineers, sharing their knowledge synergistically.
The new 'spatial model' is developed according to the intensity of care and homogenous care areas, as well as the separation of staff, patient and goods circulation flows. Its design employs curvilinear forms, shaping spaces to respond to internal organisational requirements on the one hand, and to environmental, climatic and landscape conditions on the other. This approach defines the healthcare layout from the inside out, moving beyond the traditional practice of starting with a fixed orthogonal form and then carving out spaces within it. Principles of wayfinding, the strategic use of colour and the integration of artistic installations contribute to the orientation and enhancement of the patient experience. The spatial model also integrates bioclimatic principles and supports the sustainable use of resources, relying on energy-saving solutions and renewable energy sources.
The result is a healthcare facility that is both effective and efficient, accessible and welcoming, functional and flexible – capable of meeting contemporary healthcare demands and adapting to future needs. Its curvilinear design creates enveloping, human-scaled environments that can be described as 'humanised', providing comfort for both patients and staff. The innovative and dynamic spaces break away from the rigid patterns of traditional healthcare construction, moving towards an architectural model that opens new perspectives in healthcare environments.
Examples of this approach include the Montecchio Maggiore Hospital (Vicenza, Italy) and the Padiglione Degenze in Cittadella (Padua, Italy), both currently under construction, as well as the Vincent Moran Healthcare Regional Hub in Malta, which will soon be operational. By transcending standard healthcare construction practices, architecture can shape facilities that become an active part of the care process.
To conclude, 'architecture is care'.
Learning Objectives
- Architecture is care
- Healthcare model and spatial model
- Humanisation of spaces and processes
12.00Panel discussion12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, workshop, exhibition, lunch and networking14.00 - 15.30Session 36- Mental health design showcase
Karin Imoberdorf Dipl Arch, MPH
Architect, LEAD Consultants, SwitzerlandKarin is a partner with Lead Consultants and the official representative for Switzerland within the Union of International Architects, Public Health Group.14.00Woodland View – eight years on
Karen Flatt
Architect, studio director, mental health lead, Arcadis, United KingdomKaren is an Architect, Studio Director and the Mental Health Lead at Arcadis who specialises in mental health design. With over 20 years of experience in designing for mental health and wellbeing she has developed a profound knowledge of both service-users‘ and healthcare professionals’ unique requirements. She has successfully designed and delivered numerous award-wining mental health schemes across different age groups, and security levels. Karen believes that building environments play a significant role in the behaviour of their users and good design can deliver real and measurable benefits. Her aim at Arcadis is to involve users in all aspects of the design process to create sustainable, uplifting and therapeutic buildings that improve mental and physical wellbeing.Woodland View – eight years on
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In 2016, NHS Ayrshire and Arran relocated mental health services to Woodland View, a 206-bedroom facility offering a full spectrum of care. With a focus on recovery, it provides services for adults and the elderly, including dementia care, addictions treatment, and a new mental health assessment unit for emergency admissions.
Woodland View's design draws inspiration from the coastal surroundings, aiding patient rehabilitation through empowerment and choice. Secure green spaces within each ward have been found to mitigate conflicts, offering service users a serene escape. A sustainable solution, the design has enabled low energy use using low- and zero-carbon (LZC) technologies and achieved a BREEAM 'Very Good' rating.
The facility's welcoming entrance, shared amenities and community-centric layout enhance navigation and promote a sense of belonging. Staff camaraderie has flourished with co-location, boosting morale and retention. Positive feedback on the non-clinical atmosphere, double-height entrance and community café underscores the facility's success in creating a supportive environment. Regular interactions among staff foster idea exchanges and teamwork, enriching the overall experience and ensuring a cohesive, uplifting atmosphere for all.
Staff have cited the positive impact on service users, acknowledging the facility's success post-transition. In 2024, due to increasing pressure on the nearby emergency department, the original design was altered to introduce a mental health assessment unit to help divert people in crisis to a supportive environment.
Woodland View stands as a testament to continuous learning and improvement in mental health care design. Through lessons learned in flexibility, service user management, and staff wellbeing, it is a beacon for mental health facility design nationwide.
"We were delighted with the building because Woodland View continues to have visits from other board areas if they're looking at undertaking a significant mental health refurb or a new build."
William Lauder, General manager, Woodland View
Post-occupancy findings:
- larger bedrooms allow flexible use and accommodate larger beds;
- innovative patient behaviour management with delineated flooring is widely successful;
- larger rooms facilitate easy ward decanting, maintaining bed numbers during system works and Covid-19;
- reconsideration needed for ward sizes to optimise nursing levels and functionality;
- importance of adequate time for training, defect resolution before occupation;
- courtyard wards with gender-flex corridors prove beneficial;
- staff rooms both on and off ward would be beneficial;
- community usage of the café aids in local mental health stigma reduction with diverse events;
- service users feel safer with visible staff.Learning Objectives
- To aid understanding of best practice in mental health design and the impact good design objectives can have on staff, service users and the operation of a mental health building
- To reflect on the building after eight years in operation and learn what has worked well and what has been a challenge to aid understanding of what could be taken forward into future projects
- To learn what materials have withstood the test of time and the sometimes ‘challenging’ use by the service users which will enable future projects to specify robust and safe materials and components which wear well and reduce costs
14.15Hafod Farm – a pilot Homestead project
Heather Macey
Director, Makower Architects, United KingdomHeather Macey is a Director at Makower Architects and a passionate advocate for socially impactful design. With extensive experience in masterplanning, adaptive reuse, and community-focused projects, she specialises in creating inclusive, sustainable environments that balance social value and design excellence. Heather is the founder of Architects Aware, a platform addressing housing insecurity through design and policy. Her research spans mental health, homelessness, and ethical housing standards, driving her commitment to designing spaces that empower vulnerable communities and foster social equity. Notable projects include the revitalisation of culturally significant spaces such as Millbank Tower, The Burrell Collection, and Watford Market, where her designs blend sustainability with community needs. She is currently leading Homestead, a pioneering concept for therapeutic supported housing for individuals with psychosis, integrating creative arts, nature-based therapies, and community engagement. An experienced educator and public speaker, Heather has taught and lectured at leading institutions and regularly advocates for the role of architecture in addressing societal challenges. Her work reflects her belief that good design can transform lives and create stronger, healthier communities.
Andrew Howe
Psychodynamic psychotherapy, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, United KingdomAndrew Howe is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience in mental health and community-focused care. His practice is rooted in understanding and addressiAndrew Howe is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience supporting individuals with psychosis and other complex mental health conditions. He specialises in creating therapeutic frameworks that foster resilience, independence, and well-being through evidence-based and innovative approaches. Andrew played a pivotal role in developing the clinical specification for Homestead, a pioneering concept for holistic supported housing that combines creative arts, nature-based therapies, and community-focused care. His expertise ensures that therapeutic principles are embedded into housing design, promoting meaningful recovery and social connection. Passionate about the intersection of mental health and the built environment, Andrew works collaboratively with architects, designers, and policymakers to advocate for spaces that improve mental well-being. He is dedicated to translating clinical insights into practical, impactful solutions that empower individuals and strengthen communities.Hafod Farm – a pilot Homestead project
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Homestead is a new concept for holistic and therapeutic supported housing for people with a diagnosis of psychosis. It is built upon three pillars of creativity: within the arts, working with nature and community focus. We aim to offer a new approach to living with psychosis that fosters growth and independence. We want to support our residents to have reduced use of emergency care and hospitalisation and help them manage mental health crises.
Our theoretical basis is founded on the proven benefit of creative arts and nature-based therapies, combined with a community focus. We want to offer more than just supported housing. We believe that community-based care, instead of long-term inpatient treatment, allows people to move forward and live as independently as possible. Homestead wants to go beyond just meeting the needs of people living with psychosis and instead provide a holistic approach where residents feel part of a community. Through therapeutic engagement with the natural world and creative forms of expression, we hope to provide our residents with new ways to approach life’s challenges.
We present the work thus far on our initial pilot project, Hafod Farm in North Wales, and demonstrate how our theory is beginning to find its place in the real world. We give a narrative account of the challenges we have already faced and are yet to come through the medium of pictures, video and personal accounts. We aim to clearly define our theoretical underpinnings and explain how we are working with local people to realise our vision. We end with our plans for the future, with a focus on how we plan to answer specific research questions and seek to prove empirically that Homestead can be of benefit.
Learning Objectives
- Random control trial process and other research-based learnings
- Knowledge sharing
- The role of the prototype
14.30Ipswich Hospital Mental Health Unit: The value of restoring dignity to the healing journeyStephen Watson
Principal, Hassell, AustraliaStephen is a recognised leader in health architecture and planning, bringing over 20 years of experience in delivering complex and future-focused health projects, many of which are award winning; including the recently completed Ipswich Hospital Mental Health Unit and the Specialist, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) at Herston, Brisbane. A thoughtful and considered leader, Stephen champions a collaborative design approach via in-depth consultation with clients, contractors and end-users, and engagement with the design team. He encourages debate and challenges design decisions to create outcomes that exceed expectations. Other key highlights in Steve’s portfolio include masterplanning for Townsville University Hospital redevelopment and playing a key role in the design and delivery of the main clinical buildings at the Gold Coast University Hospital. Intuitively attuned to delivering innovative, human-centred and evidence-based design, Stephen is a forward-thinking leader in his field.Ipswich Hospital Mental Health Unit: The value of restoring dignity to the healing journey
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The new Acute Mental Health Unit at Ipswich Hospital in Queensland, Australia has been designed to fulfil an ambitious vision around delivering best-practice recovery-focused care for the community. A foundation of healing underpins an environment that nurtures wellbeing and mindfulness. Architecture, interior design and landscape work together to establish a holistic setting of calm to restore dignity to the healing journey, normalise mental health care in the community and deliver a new benchmark for recovery-orientated care in Australia.
The facility has reached 12 months of live operation. Evidence is currently being gathered through a post-occupancy evaluation process, and early indicators show that the healing environment is profoundly benefitting the community. This is through more effective healing, more active family participation in the care journey, and a more effective workforce. These factors delivering both health and cost benefits for the whole community.
An overarching philosophy around ‘designing for people’ has shaped both the process and the outcomes of this project. The design focus has been on caring for people, consumers, their loved ones and those people providing the care, to create an environment that supports the network around each person and enables care for the ‘whole person’. The community has been at the core of the co-design process and the community remains the foundation of the care model that is now being successfully delivered.
A community of stakeholders: the facility has been designed through a deep and comprehensive engagement process that welcomed the community, including First Nations representatives, to participate in the co-design journey with equal footings.
A community of care – the building as a setting to enable best practice in a rehab-focused model of care: consumers, carers and staff form a progressive community-focused on healing and mindfulness.
The family community: breaking down stigma, consumers, carers and family are welcomed with pride into the healing environment and participate in the recovery journey, aiding transitioning to home and resulting in reduced relapse.
The presentation will outline key project objectives, the collaborative design process and innovative design manoeuvres that have shaped the facility. The benefits being delivered to the community will be demonstrated through findings from the post-occupancy evaluation. This will include insights around the type of care being delivered, family participation, staff satisfaction and consumer recovery rates.
Learning Objectives
- The value of a rich co-design process – over 100 separate stakeholder group engagements with a range of passionate, informed participants including consumers, carers, clinicians, therapists and representatives from the local community
- The value of connection to country – through meaningful engagement with local First Nations representatives we learned the importance of creating a culturally safe and inviting place to create an environment that is authentically connected to Country
- The value of designing for context – designed to respond to the urban context, a multi-level facility that stitches into the neighbourhood while delivering a recovery focused model of care in an environment that is connected to nature and landscape
14.45Three words: Early intervention = wellbeing
Graham Harris
Principal, practice group manager, Arcadis, United KingdomGraham Harris is an experienced architect and project director. Skilled at delivering all aspects of a project, he is particularly strong at executing innovative stakeholder consultation processes. He places collaborative working as the focus of his leadership, winning awards for outstanding team delivery and high client satisfaction. In healthcare, he works alongside clients to transform their ‘model of care’ into an efficient and therapeutic healing environment, ensuing overall cost savings and improving service delivery. Graham is highly competent at meeting the design challenges posed by complex refurbishment works within a live hospital environment. His experience includes the development of complicated phasing plans to meet both clinical and construction requirements. With a rich background in healthcare design, Graham is very aware of Trust requirements, ensuring solutions address future flexibility, energy efficiency and most importantly reduced infection rates.Three words: Early intervention = wellbeing
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Young people are our future and ensuring their wellness is essential – and the health systems that support them are a crucial part of a resilient and sustainable future. The Pears Maudsley Centre was conceived around the ethos that early interventions prevent long-term sickness in young people with mental health challenges.
Providing an integrated service that delivers both national and local mental health care is an essential part of ensuring the wellness of young people across a system. Bringing the researchers who create innovative approaches in mental health knowledge together in a single facility alongside the teams who provide the care and deal with young people (and their families) in crisis is a crucial part of achieving population health and wellness that can be delivered in a sustainable and cost-effective way. By solving the issues early, the costs – both human and financial – can be reduced significantly and the long-term outcomes for young people to go on and enjoy productive and rewarding lives hugely impacted for the positive, achieving long-term wellness.
Great care has gone into the design of a facility that combines the aspirational alongside the routine urgency in delivering care. The project gained additional momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic, when young people's mental health became 'news' in terms of creating long-term sustainable healthcare. Creating adaptive environments within the building were essential to not only destigmatise a mental health facility for service users but also act as a draw card for leading academics, while capturing elements of daily life (the Maudsley School), all of which co-exist within the centre to provide a human-centric environment that solves issues early and delivers long-term results.
Designing for young people required dialogue, especially for such a neurodiverse group, and creative workshops, which helped distil the divergent ideas into a cohesive design response that not only delivers operational practicality, but also ensures the principles of inbuilt sustainability. Access to natural daylight, nature and low energy usage, as well as ongoing maintenance regimes and consideration of the impact on the surrounding context (overshadowing neighbouring patient areas) were all part of the design solution and ensure that outpatient specialist tertiary services are delivered from contemporary and relevant spaces that the reflect the needs of service users and that can adapt as conditions or treatment regimens evolve. These considerations all form part of a resilient and equitable health service that delivers long-term wellness to the population.
Learning Objectives
- Early interventions prevent long-term sickness in young people with mental health challenges
- The importance of integrated services
- Access to outside space and daylight is paramount
15.00Panel discussion15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking16.00 - 17.15Session 37- Tertiary hospital design showcase
Gonzalo Vargas
Healthcare practice lead, associate principal, Perkins&Will, United KingdomGonzalo is the health sector lead supporting Perkins&Will’s established and experienced design studios across the UK and Ireland, in delivering a growing portfolio of healthcare projects of lasting social value. Gonzalo spent his formative years studying architecture and urbanism in Peru before relocating to the UK in 2002 where he began specialising in the healthcare sector. Gonzalo has worked at Nightingale Associates, Steffian Bradley Architects, NBBJ, BDP and TODD. With over 20 years’ experience and an MSc in Planning Buildings for Health, Gonzalo has a proven record in the design and delivery of many different types and sizes of healthcare facilities across the UK and Europe. Gonzalo is member of the Executive Committee of Architects for Health. As a leading expert in the field of healthcare design, Gonzalo’s specialist knowledge equips him to dynamically pursue positive user experience, design quality and functionality whilst maximising efficiencies on costs by working together with clients, consultants, and contractors.16.00Sunderland Eye Hospital: Health at the heart of urban regeneration
Philip Miller
Associate, Ryder Architecture, United KingdomPhil joined Ryder in 2013 and leads a number of key healthcare projects including Friarage Surgical Centre and Sunderland Eye Hospital. He has also held key roles for several nationally significant schemes including Dumfries and Galloway Hospital, Emergency Care Centre and The Children’s Heart Unit. Phil is passionate about collaborative working and stakeholder engagement, leading a broad programme of engagement across projects including Future Homes and the Academic Health and Science Network Digital Skills Hub. Phil is a senior member of Ryder’s healthcare sector board and leads the groups development of cross-practice efficiencies and standardisation for healthcare projects. He studied at Sheffield and Newcastle Universities.Sunderland Eye Hospital: Health at the heart of urban regeneration
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Themed on health ecosystems this session explores the development of Sunderland Eye Hospital as an integral part of city centre regeneration. We look into the development of the project and its role as part of a holistic and diverse community in a post-industrial city in north east England.
Sunderland Eye Hospital is a new-build dedicated eye hospital located within the Riverside Sunderland regeneration area. The new hospital replaces the existing building which is no longer fit for purpose.
Built on a brownfield site in central Sunderland, the hospital forms an intrinsic part of the wider Riverside Sunderland regeneration which brings together healthcare, housing, culture, leisure and employment opportunities. Covering 32 hectares, the regeneration is developing 1,000 homes, 100,000 square metres (sqm) of commercial office space as well as constructing a dedicated cultural venue ‘Culture House’ and generating up to 10,000 new jobs. The hospital provides 10,000sqm of clinical accommodation across four floors. The building is a standalone facility on an 8,000sqm site overlooking the adjacent Riverside Park and River Wear.
The master plan creates the conditions for a city centre ecosystem of health and wellbeing, providing the diversity in services to attract and maintain a multicultural and multigenerational community in the heart of the city.
The project was identified as a key component of the master plan from the outset, and while an ongoing project the hospital will serve as a destination node, bringing increased footfall to the site and city centre, acting as a catalyst for improved local services and demand.
The main entrance have been located to face directly into the riverside development, and through a consistent approach to landscaping, seamlessly blurs the boundary between the different functions. Being in the heart of the city, the hospital benefits from its proximity to national and local rail services, including the Tyne and Wear Metro, city and regional bus routes. This demonstrably improves connectivity and broadens the travel options for patients and staff.
The hospital brings high-quality healthcare to the people, delivering services on people’s doorsteps, creating an attractive and active environment, and promoting health and wellbeing at the heart of our cities.
Once live, the impact of the project will be monitored and compared against other recent examples of healthcare services in the community, including primary care and community diagnostic centres.
Learning Objectives
- Healthcare as a catalyst for urban renewal
- Integration of healthcare and communities
- Interdependence of healthcare and city services
16.15From vision to reality: Transforming spaces for ALS patients and their families
Marta Parra Casado
Co-founder, VIRAI Arquitectura, SpainPioneering architect and international reference in Hospital Architecture, specializing in elderly care and healthcare. Renowned for her innovative approach to Person-Centered Design, Neuroarchitecture, and Sustainability. Graduated from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (1998). Co-founder of Virai Arquitectura (2001) and Parra-Müller Arquitectura de Maternidades (2008), whose projects include award-winning iconic buildings, pioneering maternity renovations, and senior residences in Spain, Africa, and Latin America. Virai and Parra-Müller received the 2022 EHD Award in the Adaptation and Transformation category for the renovation of the Maternity Unit at Punta de Europa Hospital in Algeciras. Recipient of the "Architect of the Year 2018" award by the Spanish Council of Architects, alongside Ángela Müller. Director of Architecture for the Master’s in Hospital Engineering and Architecture at the University of Cádiz and guest lecturer at leading universities. Committed to using architecture as a tool to improve lives, fostering wellbeing and health, with a special focus on vulnerable users.
Juan Manuel Herranz Molina
Co-founder, Virai Arquitectura, SpainJuan Manuel Herranz Molina is an architect from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (1999) with a Master’s in “Conservation and Restoration of Architectural and Urban Heritage” (2000). Co-founder of Virai Arquitectura with Marta Parra, he has won numerous national and international awards and is certified in straw construction by the RCFP. His work spans multiple scales and continents, from the Institutional Winery for the Government of La Rioja to sustainable learning spaces in Gambia. Notable projects include the Day Care Center in Meliana, Spain's largest public building made with wood and rice straw, awarded for its sustainability. Guest lecturer and speaker in Europe and the Americas, specializing in sustainable architecture.From vision to reality: Transforming spaces for ALS patients and their families
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Healthcare spaces often fail to address the holistic needs of patients with complex medical conditions. The ALS Day Care Center at Isabel Zendal Hospital in Madrid is the first project of its kind in Spain, pioneering humanised healthcare design for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and their families. This groundbreaking facility demonstrates the transformative power of architecture in specialised healthcare, aligning therapeutic care with dignity, autonomy and wellbeing.
The project aimed to transform a utilitarian, industrial-like space within a pandemic-focused hospital into a therapeutic and welcoming environment. The design prioritised patient and family needs, creating a space that fosters interaction, provides emotional support and enhances the quality of life. After several months of operation, the project's impact has extended beyond architecture, influencing public policy. Recently, a law was approved in Spain to provide greater support for ALS patients and their families, underscoring the significance of this initiative.
Setting: a challenging construction within an active hospital, completed in just a few months.
Design features: integration of natural light and green patios for biophilic connection, use of sustainable materials for a domestic ambiance, and adaptable spaces for therapy, socialisation and privacy.
Accessibility: designed for advanced mobility needs, including oversized wheelchairs and assistive devices, ensuring inclusivity.
Collaborative approach: close engagement with healthcare professionals and advocacy groups to ensure that the design met both medical and emotional needs.
The centre has had a profound and measurable impact on patients, families and staff. It provides a space where ALS patients can retain autonomy, foster social connections and find emotional respite. The humanised environment alleviates caregiver burnout and improves interdisciplinary collaboration among healthcare professionals. The recognition of its success has positioned the centre as a national model for specialised care facilities.
This project exemplifies how architecture can transcend functionality, becoming a tool for social change and improved healthcare outcomes. By integrating human-centred design, sustainability and therapeutic innovation, the ALS Day Care Center at Isabel Zendal Hospital sets a new benchmark in healthcare design, offering replicable solutions for global challenges in specialised care.
https://nanarquitectura.com/2024/07/05/centro-especializado-de-atencion-diurna-para-personas-con-ela-en-el-hospital-isabel-zendal/36176
Learning Objectives
- Discover innovative approaches to integrating therapeutic environments within healthcare design for ALS patients, focusing on holistic care
- Understand the role of biophilic design, sustainability and neuroarchitecture in creating impactful healthcare spaces
- Learn how architectural design can promote dignity and autonomy for vulnerable patients and their families
16.30A new Canadian ambulatory health centre built entirely with philanthropy
Feby Kuriakose
Principal, NORR, CanadaHealth Sciences Principal Feby Kuriakose is passionate about creating spaces that push design boundaries and provide environments to promote the well-being and healing of the body and mind. With more than two decades of experience, Feby has designed and managed a wide spectrum of large scale, complex projects. Feby approaches every project with a keen sensitivity to cultural identities and environmental factors. Feby is leading the multi-location rollout of the Canadian Blood Services Plasma Donor Centres across Canada as well as other key projects to support important research, and is managing a new standalone ambulatory surgical center that is the new model of care to address and solve the backlog of elective surgeries created by the pandemic. She is a mentor to young talent at NORR is passionate about creating equitable working environments that promote diversity and inclusion.
Frank Panici
Vice president, NORR, CanadaFor 30 years, Frank has built trusted relationships with Health Sciences clients, guided by a deep commitment to creating environments that promote health, wellness and the delivery of vital services. He combines his creative vision and technical expertise to lead multidisciplinary teams in delivering specialized designs across diverse healthcare settings—including Acute Care, Continuing Care, Community-Based Care, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Cancer Care Centers and Life Sciences. He is a champion of the Immersive Design Process, which integrates virtual reality and in-situ simulation technologies to foster seamless collaboration between clinicians and architects, ensuring rigorously tested solutions that improve care delivery. His portfolio includes significant design projects such as the Peter Gilgan Patient Care Tower at St. Michael’s Hospital, Princess Margret Cancer Centre Space Transformation, LGC Group North American Headquarters, Essex Centre of Research (CORe) at the University of Windsor, ON and the Canadian Blood Services Facility in Calgary, AB.Adam Zaricki
Chief strategy officer, Schroeder Ambulatory Centre, United StatesAdam Zaricki is an executive leader and corporate strategy advisor in healthcare technology and aerospace fields. Since 2020, Adam has served as a senior advisor to the family foundation of Canadian philanthropists Walter & Maria Schroeder. He oversees charitable investments to build out new, efficient healthcare capacity and to develop novel therapeutic approaches for common health conditions. For the new-start Schroeder Ambulatory Centre project, Adam is serving as Chief Strategy Officer, responsible for the overall Centre business plan, medical program plans, facility design oversight, project management for operational readiness, and the underlying IT and healthcare technology strategies. Previously he served as Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Program Management at U.S. biotechnology firm NantHealth, where he managed the portfolio of strategic technology and M&A investments and led the launch of the first commercial whole genome sequencing test for cancer therapeutic decision support. Adam holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering from the University of Florida.
Haley Driscoll
Principal, NORR, United StatesHaley is the Principal of the Philadelphia Health Sciences Studio. With more than 25 years of experience, she leads the design process for many nationally-acclaimed healthcare projects. Her leadership and guidance of project team designers has been instrumental in growing NORR’s Health Sciences Center of Excellence. Her work has resulted in recognition from several organizations, including the Best Healthcare Award from the Philadelphia Chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), the prestigious Vista award from the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) and the American Hospital Association. A recent award, the Health Facilities Symposium User-Centered Award, reflects her commitment to delivering a design project that incorporates all perspectives – patients, family and care givers and clinicians. Haley’s carefully honed knowledge of design and sensitivity to the challenges in the healthcare environment, paired with her collaborative work style has earned the role of “trusted advisor” from her clients. In addition to being a thought leader in the industry, her experience ranges across most modalities of project types varying from small clinics and outpatient centers to major hospital complexes.A new Canadian ambulatory health centre built entirely with philanthropy
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The Schroeder Ambulatory Centre, initiated by the Schroeder Foundation, is a groundbreaking healthcare project designed to address Canada’s pressing issue of wait times for common outpatient surgeries and clinical services. As an independent, non-profit facility – the first of its kind in Ontario and Canada – it offers an efficient, multidisciplinary model for delivering ambulatory care. By removing elective surgeries, general and specialist clinics, and diagnostic services from critical care hospitals, the Centre reduces pressure on the broader healthcare system. With a capacity for up to 200,000 patient visits annually, it supports the Ontario Ministry of Health’s decentralisation strategy while demonstrating support for healthcare innovation and sustainability. This approach, once fully realised, will serve as a model for improved care across Canada.
The Centre’s primary objective is to improve access to timely care and enhance patient outcomes while driving net cost savings. By decentralising elective surgeries, common clinical services and diagnostics, the Centre not only alleviates hospital strain but also provides local communities with closer, more efficient healthcare options. This Centre’s approach draws on extensive experience of ambulatory centres in the US and other developed countries. Additionally, utilising adaptive reuse, efficient and sustainable operational practices, along with advanced medical technology, the project demonstrates how non-profit initiatives can address systemic healthcare challenges.
The project transforms a 300,000 square foot medical office building into a state-of-the-art ambulatory surgical facility. Employing LEAN design principles, the team focused on eliminating inefficiencies, optimising workflows and embedding patient-centric solutions throughout. The design incorporates thoughtful use of colours, textures and organic forms to create a calming environment and aid in wayfinding and signage to ensure intuitive navigation. Challenges posed by the existing structure, such as non-purpose-built layouts and curved walls, required innovative solutions, including strategic placement of operating rooms and imaging equipment to minimise structural upgrades. The Immersive Design Process, developed by NORR, ensured continuous collaboration with user groups from pre-design to operational readiness. Early engagement with the Ministry of Health and City officials, enabled the team to navigate complex code compliance and regulatory challenges.
The Schroeder Ambulatory Centre represents a landmark in Canadian healthcare. By reducing surgical wait times, advancing patient care and fostering innovation, it exemplifies how visionary philanthropy can create lasting community impact. As one of the largest philanthropic healthcare donations in Canada’s history, it sets a precedent for future ventures to address systemic challenges.
Learning Objectives
- Addressing systemic healthcare challenges
- Providing a sustainable, scalable model for healthcare delivery
- Improving access to timely care and enhance patient outcomes
16.45The birth of a new generation – South Texas’ first dedicated Women and Children’s Hospital
Tiffany Robinson Long
Partner, Marmon Mok Archietcts, United StatesTiffany Long has a specialization in healthcare design and experience in planning and design of a variety of healthcare facilities. Ms. Long’s focus on sustainability and implementation of Evidence-Based Design practices during project design helps to improve facilities’ energy performance, staff productivity, and patient satisfaction. Her belief that the quality of a patient’s surroundings has a direct impact on a person’s well being helps create patient-centered environments and promote new ways to solve the everyday challenges of our built environment. As a registered architect and interior designer, Ms. Long pulls from both disciplines to promote a collaborative atmosphere with creative design solutions for flexibility of evolving cultures and technology. Ms. Long is a former chair of the local AIA Healthcare Knowledge Community and founding member of the San Antonio chapter of Women in Healthcare. Ms. Long was a strong advocate for this project since inception as a local resident and mother of 4 using her personal experiences and knowledge of San Antonio's rich Mexican influence to inform the overall design.
Mike Fialkowski
Principal, Affiliated Engineers, USAFor over 20 years, Mike’s leadership has helped advance technology teams, enabling them to understand available solutions, develop plans for implementation, and provide precise technology consultancy. He is considered a national expert in clinical communications, wired/wireless infrastructures, collaborative audio-visual solutions, integration of information/operational technologies (IT/OT), and safety/security technology planning.
Janet Pangman
ZGF, USAWith communication and care at the core of her leadership style, Janet Pangman is a medical planner who designs healthcare facilities with heart. Truly inspired by creating comfortable, welcoming environments that help to ease the hardship of illness, Janet takes pleasure in creating a dialogue between clients and users to understand how they work and translating that into spaces that support their goals and workflows. Her keen awareness of medical facility operations and functional requirements allows Janet to simultaneously address the aesthetics, workflow, and technical issues to create healthcare environments that warm the heart and heal the soul.The birth of a new generation – South Texas’ first dedicated Women and Children’s Hospital
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The University Health Women’s and Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, Texas is the first hospital in South Texas to focus solely on women’s and children’s health, and one of only 20 in the nation. The facility is a Level IV maternity centre, capable of treating the highest acuity cases. The hospital addresses regional health outcome disparities, while specialising in high-risk deliveries and pregnancy complications with a Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Located on an urban site, this project consists of a 14-storey tower intersecting a 900-car parking structure. Facilitating continuity between the new tower and existing campus thoroughfares, the team developed a solution using 90-foot-wide, 15-foot-tall steel Howe trusses to span the existing road. These trusses connect to concrete columns supporting the podium's entry and the parking garage. This method transfers loads, provides unobstructed space under the truss and reduces the number of columns. The bundled steel and concrete forms large elliptical columns within the podium, adding a visually striking rhythm. This supports the tower above, while maintaining a column-free 32-foot x 32-foot grid, ideal for healthcare facilities. This is one of the first applications for this structure in the United States.
Achieving LEED Gold, the building has a 28 per cent reduction in energy compared to the ASHRAE 90.1-2010 baseline. It employs multiple energy efficiency measures, including a high-performance envelope, LED lighting, water conservation and a 13 per cent reduction in embodied carbon. The design capitalises on the local climate's abundant sunshine, while protecting users from extreme elements. The room layout and façade design provide even daylight to the patient’s bedside. The glazing orients northward and projects from the façade in pleats to take advantage of hill country views and provide maximum daylighting without overheating the family zone.
The design embeds the tower's numerous prefabricated elements and mechanical systems into the sleek aesthetic. The patient bathrooms, curtain walls and MEP racks are some of the first examples of extensive prefabrication for a healthcare facility in the nation. This provides unparalleled consistency across rooms, while positively impacting both the construction schedule and budget. The offsite fabrication removed hundreds of people from the operational campus a day, minimising the impact to the facility during construction.
The facility is responsive to both its environmental and human context. It provides outstanding care to a historically underserved population, providing comprehensive services to mothers, children and their families.Learning Objectives
- Innovative structural solutions to open up flow on an urban hospital site
- Sustainability applications in healthcare – LEED Gold
- Prefabrication in healthcare construction to reduce on-site labour in an operational hospital
17.00Panel discussionEnd of Project showcase stream
Awards ceremony
Wolfson Theatre
Lead Awards Partner
17.00 - 18.00Session 22- Awards ceremony17.15European Healthcare Design 2025 Awards ceremonyJaime Bishop
Director, Fleet Architects; Chair, Architects for Health, UKJaime is a proven project designer, competition winner and studio leader. During his professional career he has been responsible for multiple projects with values ranging between 8 and 120 million pounds and was one of three associate directors responsible for the management of a 65 person firm under a Managing Director. He is an experienced all-round designer with specialist skills in healthcare and has sat on the executive board of Architects for Health (AfH) since 2006. He has significant experience as the lead architect in major PFI schemes including the preparation of a reference project for a $2 billion teaching hospital in Adelaide, Australia. He has been a visiting tutor at various universities since 2002 including Nottingham, Cardiff and London Metropolitan. Since 2012 Jaime and Richard have been teaching third year degree level at London South Bank University and established their studio, The Transpontine Laboratory, based at the university in 2014. Jaime was educated at The Royal College of Art, Bath University and the TU Delft Highrise Scholarship. He has been ARB registered and a member of RIBA since 2006. He is a recognised figure in the healthcare sector with connections throughout the industry. Jaime has detailed knowledge of traditional and PFI contracts, fee negotiation and project cost control. Jaime has sat on the board of City and Hackney NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and, social enterprise, East London Integrated Care. He has also served as an elected governor at the Homerton University NHS Foundation Trust.17.45Closing remarksSunand Prasad OBE
Programme director, European Healthcare Design; Principal, Perkins&Will, UKSunand Prasad is a principal at Perkins&Will. While designing across several sectors, he has been consistently engaged in healthcare and sustainability for four decades. At the core of his architectural practice, alongside interdisciplinary collaboration, Sunand holds a passionate belief that expertise and aesthetic judgement are most effective in creating truly successful environments when they are catalysed by the everyday experience of people. Sunand has been active in the wider built environment industry, particularly championing low-carbon, regenerative design, and until recently, as chair of the UK Green Building Council. He was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 2007 to 2009, campaigning for action on climate change. He was founding member of the UK Government’s Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment; a London Mayor’s design advocate; a trustee of the Centre for Cities; and chair of the Trustees of Article 25, the humanitarian architecture charity. He currently chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architecture and the External Advisory Board of TRUUD, a major research project on the fundamental links between health and urban development. He has written widely on architecture, sustainability and healthcare design, such as the book 'Changing Hospital Architecture'.Garden Party
Supported by
18.30 - 22.00Garden party and live music -
Morning workshop
Dorchester Library
08.30 - 12.30Session- Global perspectives: Standards and standardisation at the crossroads08.30Global perspectives: Standards and standardisation at the crossroadsSunand Prasad OBE
Programme director, European Healthcare Design; Principal, Perkins&Will, UKSunand Prasad is a principal at Perkins&Will. While designing across several sectors, he has been consistently engaged in healthcare and sustainability for four decades. At the core of his architectural practice, alongside interdisciplinary collaboration, Sunand holds a passionate belief that expertise and aesthetic judgement are most effective in creating truly successful environments when they are catalysed by the everyday experience of people. Sunand has been active in the wider built environment industry, particularly championing low-carbon, regenerative design, and until recently, as chair of the UK Green Building Council. He was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 2007 to 2009, campaigning for action on climate change. He was founding member of the UK Government’s Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment; a London Mayor’s design advocate; a trustee of the Centre for Cities; and chair of the Trustees of Article 25, the humanitarian architecture charity. He currently chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architecture and the External Advisory Board of TRUUD, a major research project on the fundamental links between health and urban development. He has written widely on architecture, sustainability and healthcare design, such as the book 'Changing Hospital Architecture'.Clifford Harvey
Joint vice president redevelopment, Grand River Hospital/St. Mary’s General Hospital, CanadaCliff Harvey is the Joint Vice President, Redevelopment, leading the Building the Future of Care Together initiative. This new role is an important investment and milestone for our community towards our shared vision for a new hospital in Waterloo Region, and revitalization of existing infrastructure. Cliff Harvey, MSc(HQ), EDAC, OAA, FRAIC collaboratively leads organizations through the planning, design and implementation of capital infrastructure projects, allowing healthcare organizations to stay current and position themselves for the future. Using Design Management methods, he builds holistically upon governance, strategy, project management, planning, design, and procurement to deliver the right project. Design Management supports a culture of innovation, creativity and transformation, and builds a structure for an organization to successfully deliver on their strategic vision – from discovery to execution to operations – while still supporting strict governance, comprehensive reporting, and effective business decisions. Cliff’s professional career includes being Senior Architect in the Ontario Government, a Senior Hospital Executive, and a practising Architect. Cliff searches for excellence through continual learning and professional curiosity, always challenging himself to be better and to stay ahead of the curve. Cliff is an international speaker on health and design, and volunteers his time to boards, committees, professional task groups, and advises on educational programs.
Shalyce Corney
AusHFG standard components lead, Australasian Health Infrastructure Alliance, AustraliaShalyce is a Health Facility Designer with experience across both large hospital projects and small regional facilities and refurbishments. After studying Interior and Spatial Design and Occupational Therapy, Shalyce found her passion where her design and health knowledge intersect and has been facilitating design user groups since 2016. The focus of her current role is coordinating the development of the Standard Components of the Australasian Health Facility Guidelines, facilitating the reviews through the extensive consultation with clinicians, consumer representatives and technical experts to align with current best practice models of care as well as sustainable and affordable design solutions. Shalyce also provides secretariat support for the AHIA BIM Sub Group, supporting Australian and New Zealand public health authorities to optimise their use of digital build and data technology and processes in their capital projects.Global perspectives: Standards and standardisation at the crossroads
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Standards and standardisation have recently become particularly prominent in the discussion of healthcare design, as they do from time to time. While the two terms mean very different things in practice, there are commonalities in the way they are imposed on the industry by governments in their roles both as regulator and major client. What is often played out in the debates are the opposing pulls of centralisation and localisation, rather than the merits and methods of the two ‘S’ words.
In the immediate future, another recurrent trend will exert a strong pull. Deregulation, which has polarised opinion along party-political lines in the UK until recently, is now finding wide support driven by frustration at the very slow pace of current project delivery of buildings and infrastructure. On the face of it, it may seem paradoxical that while committing to cut red tape and speed up infrastructure delivery, the UK Government is becoming more prescriptive in dictating hospital design from the centre in the shape of Hospital 2.0. But there is also an obvious logic here. A single design that has already met the required quality criteria applied across dozens of projects should speed up several parts of the delivery process, from regulatory approvals to supply chain procurement. The Australian healthcare system has deployed template design for well over ten years with clear cost and time advantages. However, there are reservations about the quality of human experience in the facilities with implications for long-term value.
The impact of deregulation on the planning system are better understood than the risk deregulation may present for the performance of facilities. The Grenfell Tower tragedy and its aftermath have exposed the massive danger of zealous deregulation. The reaction to this horrific and shaming event has led to increased bureaucratisation of professional education, design and construction processes; the very factors that are seen to cause cost and time delays.
On the third day of the 11th European Healthcare Design Congress, we are convening a special session to discuss standards and standardisation. We intend to enable a deeper dive by focusing on these prominent topics, which a number of conference presentations will have tackled in the previous two days. We will discuss questions such as:
> Could standardisation compromise standards?
> How can we balance the economic advantages of centralised prescription with the advantages for quality and a sense of ownership engendered by local decision making?
> Is the bureaucratisation of life a necessary cost for the safety of life? If so, how do we manage regulation in a smarter way?
> What are the best examples internationally of proportionate regulation?
> What role will digital technology and AI play in helping achieve standards, and aid standardisation?
An international panel will be convened, followed by a participatory session tapping into the collective knowledge and wisdom of the global European Healthcare Design community.Study tours
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