A Sustainable Approach to
the Design of Healthcare Facilities
Phil Nevin’s presentation champions a holistic approach to designing sustainability for healthcare. While facing challenges such as a changing workforce, and a huge decision making process, the healthcare industry has to build buildings that will last, working alongside a wide stakeholder base who don’t necessarily understand the technical drawings being shown to them.
The presentation asks key questions that building designers need to answer when working on a new project. Is this going to be a whole life costing, or first cost? Are we going to concentrate on current needs or future needs? Are we going to be innovative or prescriptive? He points out that some procurement routes are very risk orientated, and an innovative solution may not be ideal if the PI is at risk.
Phil Nevin also points to the fact that in healthcare it’s not just about renewable resources or energy use, but also about buildings for people who are unwell and that will attract and maintain staff in a highly stressful environment.
The presentation emphasises the need to convince people that the best time to build sustainable elements into a project is at the beginning, especially given that hospitals boften have huge teams putting a brief together. When putting together sustainable solutions, it is also worth remembering that hospitals are 24/7 buildings, so night purging techniques have to be carefully worked out in order to be effective. This is also something that needs to be considered when trying to reach energy use standards put in place for buildings that traditionally operate nine to five, five days a week.
Mr Nevin points to research conducted by Cabe, which suggests 91% of nurses believe that a pleasant environment made a positive effect on recovery rate, and that a less pleasant one could increase stress levels. As Mr Nevin states, that what matters is not how accurate these beliefs are, just that staff hold them. Good design is clearly essential to the people working in these buildings, so architects need to redouble their efforts to ensure it is implemented.
Click on the link on the left of this page to view a copy of this presentation.
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