Writing on behalf of the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES), Ewen Rose, an experienced journalist specialising in building engineering services, reports on a number of presentations at October’s IHEEM Healthcare Estates 2014 conference where the focus was very much on how healthcare estates and facilities and healthcare engineering teams can save energy and cut carbon emissions through more efficient monitoring, and, if necessary, subsequent adjustment, of key HVAC plant.
Among the key conclusions were that basic energy efficiency measures could ‘shave millions of pounds from NHS estates’ running costs’, and that hospitals and other healthcare buildings face both ‘an air-conditioning legal crisis’, and a growing threat from outdoor air pollution.
Millions of pounds could be shaved from NHS running costs if estates managers took a closer look at how their heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems were performing, the sizeable audience at last October’s Healthcare Estates conference in Manchester heard.
A study by cost consultants, EC Harris – the company’s NHS Estate Efficiency Review – unveiled at the IHEEM event (HEJ – January 2015) identified savings worth £1.5bn that the NHS could make ‘by improving efficiency across its estate’. The current annual bill for NHS estates management stands at £7.2 bn, and is rising at almost 8% every year, despite the austerity measures introduced by the coalition government.
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