Abloy UK is highlighting the functionality of its SMARTair wireless access control solution, which it says gives Facilities managers full control to lock down access to areas of, or an entire building, quickly and safely in an emergency.

Fire safety has long been a high priority for healthcare estates teams, but has assumed ever greater prominence following 2017’s Grenfell Tower fire. Andrew Foolkes, Principal Fire engineer at Tenos, presented on ‘Fire Safety Management Competency’

Anuradha Sabherwal, a senior associate at NBBJ, and Jon Nuttall, an associate director at Hoare Lee, take a look at some of the key steps to take in designing, delivering, and operating and maintaining, a Net Zero Carbon hospital.

While certain elements, such as safety flooring, are a ‘must’ for healthcare facilities, in most cases a more tailored interior design is required – especially when it comes to care units for those living with dementia.

Alex Emms, Operations director at Kohler Uninterruptible Power, highlights some of the key priorities for healthcare engineering teams to consider to ensure that hospitals and other healthcare facilities have safe, efficient, and compliant UPS system

Paul Millard, Technical manager at WRAS, highlights three key plumbing material issues which he says should be considered and addressed within Water Safety Plans to maintain the water supply in hospitals and other healthcare facilities in safe and hygienic condition.

Glenn Foot, technical manager at Eaton, examines some of the key security issues for healthcare estates and facilities managers, and how some of the latest IP, access control, and messaging technologies are helping them tackle them.

Lisa Ward, Product Line manager (UK & France) at Jeld-Wen –a designer, manufacturer, and distributor of high-performance interior and exterior doors, windows, and related building products, explores ‘the evolution of hospital design’, with the incorporation of colour and cues from nature contributing to more effective treatment, increased staff wellbeing, and a better bottom line.

Simon Everett, a Senior lecturer in the Built Environment and Programme Leader at Wrexham University, and Dr Scott Brown, managing director and lead consultant for Health Tech Solutions, discuss the importance of healthcare estate management teams maintaining up-to-date and sufficiently comprehensive Operations Manuals for each key engineering and EFM discipline, and some of the main elements to include.

A webinar being held at 12.00 pm on 12 June in association with Health Estate Journal will see Alex Emms (pictured), Technical Director for Kohler Uninterruptible Power – who has over 30 years’ experience in the UK power protection sector, discuss the topic, ‘Powering Safety: Uninterruptible Power Systems for Life Safety in Healthcare Buildings’.

A webinar being held at 12.00 pm on 12 June in association with Health Estate Journal will see Alex Emms (pictured), Technical Director for Kohler Uninterruptible Power – who has over 30 years’ experience in the UK power protection sector, discuss the topic, ‘Powering Safety: Uninterruptible Power Systems for Life Safety in Healthcare Buildings’.

Richard Mazuch, an architect, the director of Design, Research and Innovation for Arcadis, and the founder of TH!NK – the research and development arm of IBI (with whom Arcadis merged in late 2022), discusses some of the key learnings from paediatric healthcare design – in both physical and mental healtcare settings – for areas such as teaching, and vice-versa.

The Government's New Hospital Programme (NHP) has experienced delays, and is expected to deliver 32 of the intended target of 40 new hospitals by 2030, according to a new National Audit Office report (NAO).

With around 6.5 million people on NHS waiting lists in England, and a limiting factor in reducing this list a lack of space for consultations and procedures, plus a longer-term trend in the NHS and globally towards delivering more healthcare outside hospital settings, Smriti Singh, MD of Symbi Consulting, and Jacqui Baxter, a director at View 10D, argue that repurposing existing vacant local authority properties for healthcare provides a solution which helps both financially challenged councils, and the NHS.

Dr Louise Webb, Project director, and David Butler, Authorising Engineer – Fire Safety, of DRLC, discuss the changes in fire safety brought about since the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, and some of the key legislation, standards, and guidance, in this key area for healthcare estates management teams to take note of.

The Building Safety Act 2022, which became law in October 2023 following Dame Judith Hackitt’s Building a Safer Future Report and the lessons from London’s Grenfell Tower Fire, is expected to profoundly impact all players within the construction supply chain. It also places additional responsibilities on those who operate and maintaining certain buildings – including many in healthcare – for ensuring all aspects of their safety and compliance. A recent roundtable in Leeds saw some of the key considerations for the healthcare construction supply chain and the healthcare EFM profession discussed. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.

BOC Healthcare says its complete Gas Facilities Management (GFM) design consultancy service will ensure that each hospital customer ‘receives the right system for its requirements, delivered by a provider it can trust’

Lauren Whitty, marketing manager at Medicare Systems, discusses some of the features and capabilities of modern nurse call systems – the functionality of which now extends well beyond their original purpose, explains what to look for when considering purchasing one, and looks ahead to what new features we can expect to be incorporated in the future.

Westwood Care and Support Group has completed the internal refurbishment and reconfiguration of two buildings on the former Huntercombe mental healthcare site at Market Weighton, providing purpose-designed units – one for residential, and one for respite care – for patients with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) and complex physical needs. HEJ reports.

With its Pseudalert rapid microbiology technology for P. aeruginosa in water supplies now well-established in healthcare, IDEXX Water is now working hard to promote what it says is a ‘highly accurate, sensitive, and specific’ test to identify levels of Legionella pneumophila, with definitive results in just seven days.