FEATURE ARTICLES

Ayrton Byng of Brymec argues that the halving of the acceptable lead limit in water risks becoming a major compliance issue for healthcare estates.

Jamie Brewster, architect at MJ Medical, is on a personal mission to understand and improve patients’ experience of clinical isolation.

Owen Ransford Rowe, director of business development at CBRE Global Workplace Solutions, offers a practical reflection on where outsourced hard FM genuinely supports the community healthcare agenda, where it can create risk, and what needs to be in place if it is to play a constructive role over the next decade.

Dame Laura Lee, chief executive at cancer charity Maggie’s, and Craig Chandler, project manager at Sir Robert McAlpine, reflect on how the built environment can influence patient wellbeing, complement clinical care, and respond to the emotional and practical needs of those affected by life-changing diagnoses.

Morgan Sindall Construction’s Jonathan Stead discusses the company’s approach to a new generation of CDCs

Claire Colgan, director and cost centre lead, UK Real Estate Advisory Cost Centre at Turner & Townsend, looks at how the NHS 10 Year plan is driving system transformation across estates, service models, and clinical priorities.

Eastwood Park continues to lead the way in delivering certificated, specialist heating and ventilation training tailored for healthcare estates professionals. Set within a 200-acre Gloucestershire estate, Eastwood Park’s purpose-built training centre offers one of the UK’s most comprehensive HVAC training facilities.

The NHS may be on the brink of a fundamental rethink of its estate, not just as infrastructure to maintain, but as a strategic asset that can improve outcomes and reduce costs. Tim Chell, health sector and regional director at BAM UK & Ireland, looks at the role NHS buildings have to play in unlocking cost savings that can be reinvested directly into patient care.

Jane Ho, partner and regional practice director, health at HKS, calls for learning from the details of large-scale acute hospitals, both private and public, to transform healthcare facilities in the UK’s rural and other underserved areas as part of the new Neighbourhood Health Centres initiative.

Samuel Rose of IMPOWER Consulting and Dr Nicole Samuel of the National Centre for Child Health Technology at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust present findings from a qualitative research programme examining how clinical and digital transformation can be embedded within large-scale healthcare capital programmes. Their research reveals a persistent and dangerous gap between the transformational ambitions built into business cases and the operational reality that new hospitals face at opening.

Public-private partnerships are once again being touted as a means of bringing about much-needed investment in health infrastructure, particularly when it comes to serving local health needs. Here, Sarah Beaumont-Smith, UK strategy director of Fulcrum Infrastructure Group and chair of both the Neighbourhood Health Forum and The LIFT Council, discusses the past, present and future of neighbourhood health delivery.

Healthcare relocations bring with them a host of challenges. Here, Jenny Thorncroft, director, JTS Relocations, looks at how, when managing relocations within live healthcare environments, communication and partnership between estates teams and other stakeholders can minimise disruption, support staff wellbeing, and ultimately help protect patient experience and continuity of care during periods of organisational change.

A water system affected by stagnation risks transforming into a rich biological habitat for opportunistic pathogens. Here, Holger Eggert, head of product management and business development at Aqua free Group, looks in depth at why stagnation remains one of healthcare’s most underestimated risks and what estates teams need to do in order to prevent it.

Michael Goodman, senior key accounts manager at Clevertronics, explores the importance of emergency and exit lighting and how approaches such as smart monitoring, long life batteries, energy efficiency, BMS integration, and sustainable design are elevating these systems from regulatory compliance tools to essential pillars of resilient healthcare facilities.

Luis González Sterling, co-founder of Argola Arquitectos, explains how the transformation of one of Spain’s largest hospitals exemplifies how contemporary healthcare architecture can integrate advanced medical functionality with sustainable design principles while maintaining operational continuity.

At IHEEM’s annual Wales Regional Conference at ICC Wales, Jason Yi, associate director and healthcare business leader for global consultancy Arup, and assistant project manager and successful Arup apprentice Kate Yeomans (pictured), discussed the importance of private sector apprenticeship programs in bringing young people into the healthcare sector. HEJ editor Matt Seex reports.

As NHS estates face increasing operational pressure, emergency lighting has evolved far beyond a compliance requirement. P4 explores how self-testing technology, intelligent monitoring, and connected emergency lighting systems are helping healthcare organisations improve resilience, reduce maintenance burdens, and support compliance with BS 5266.

Medical emergency communications still rely on single channel systems vulnerable to a single point of failure. James Bushell, head of product at Critico, explains why communication resilience must be considered with the same engineering discipline applied to other critical services.

With NHS estates facing mounting maintenance backlogs, limited capital funding, and rising demand for services, making better use of existing space has never been more important. Tony Booty, director at Abintra, explains how, by combining occupancy sensors, environmental monitoring, and strategic estate planning, healthcare organisations can uncover hidden capacity and improve efficiency without costly new developments.

The urgency to shift care into community settings to support the NHS –while delivering value for public funds – is clear. Tom Howells, board director and national head of healthcare at Pulse Consult, examines why the shift from treatment to preventative care is integral, what delivery success looks like on the ground, and the estate and operational design components required to enable it.