Creating a 21st Century mental healthcare facility which would soon be world-renowned both for its quality of care, and for the high standard of its buildings, was the overriding goal of the project team behind the new £75 million, 312-bed Roseberry Park mental healthcare facility in Middlesbrough.

With September having seen the end of the registration period for the introductory phase of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme, healthcare sector participants should already be monitoring their energy usage, and preparing their carbon reduction strategies.

As the UK’s largest organisation, with an annual purchasing budget of around £17 billion, the NHS has an enormous part to play in reducing the country’s energy consumption and emissions.

A high-level initiative involving all 36 UK engineering institutes aimed at “ensuring the health of all areas of education and training that bear on the formation and progress of engineers” has now been under way for nearly 18 months.

Steve Hough, national sales manager, CEP Claddings, and Andrew Nicholls, sales director, CEP Ceilings, explain how modern cladding and ceiling materials can enhance the appearance of modern hospital buildings while offering practical, cost-saving, and environmental advantages.

While the UK’s Climate Change Bill is debated in Parliament, the NHS has been putting in place its plans to lead the way in public sector carbon cutting, which aim for a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. Susan Pearson talks to Dr David Pencheon, director of the new NHS Sustainable Development Unit.

When it comes to emergency incidents, hospitals and healthcare facilities often provide a safe haven for those in need of critical care. However, such premises are not immune to their own crises, and need to have adequate, well maintained and suitable emergency lighting in place at all times.

With a particular focus on washroom technology – ‘from handwashing to basin design’, Ideal Standard’s Senior Sector marketing manager, Tony Rheinberg, explores the theme, ‘How can we anticipate the issues of the future, and design for them?’ He argues that, even where capital is scarce, investment in up-to-date technology will pay dividends long term

Fire safety continues to a major topic of debate, particularly in hospitals that have had refurbishment carried out. The general manager at Horbury Property Services looks at fire risk assessments, and why it is essential that fire compartmentation is properly inspected during them.

Low temperature sterilisation could meet the conflicting demands of tougher infection control guidelines and ever more delicate medical devices.

In an article that first appeared in Canadian Healthcare Facilities magazine, Mike Cavanaugh and Brett Farbstein of architectural, engineering, design, and construction firm, CannonDesign, consider some of the fundamentals in ensuring that hospitals and other healthcare facilities are designed to be as resilient as possible in the face of extreme climate events.

The healthcare sector is facing an unprecedented set of challenges that include providing an ever higher quality of service without increasing costs. Healthcare estates and facilities management personnel are among those being tasked with ‘delivering more from less’, and are increasingly also being asked to step up their work on sustainability.

Hospitals, schools, and workplaces should be subject to an annual ‘building MoT’ or health check to ensure they are properly ventilated and maintained to protect users from airborne viruses such as COVID-19.

Ian Hill, Emergency Lighting Business manager at leading life safety system and equipment manufacturer, Hochiki Europe, highlights what he dubs ‘seven key considerations’ for choosing a hospital emergency lighting system.

As specifications are passed down lengthy chains, sometimes the intent can be lost. Adam Fox, director at vibration isolation specialist, Mason UK, offers three key principles for writing a good specification.

A look at laundry facilities’ contribution as part of a hospital’s overall ‘infection control care bundle’, and some of the key priorities to ensure they are operated compliantly and safely.

Rohit Sharma, Resilient Sales manager at Bona – which provides ‘sustainable, high-performance products and systems for resilient flooring in healthcare settings’ discusses the advantages of floor refurbishment over replacement in healthcare facilities

Hospitals have unique ventilation requirements. Lee Jenkins-Skinner, CIAT’s AHU specialist, highlights updated guidance on the subject.

Scott Tacchi, Head of MMC at Sir Robert McAlpine, argues that for the true benefits of MMC approaches to be understood, a comprehensive breakdown of the cost-benefits to provide the data and information necessary to effectively implement MMC practices from a cost reduction perspective is required.

Amid shifting budget constraints and pressing Net Zero targets, M&E designers and architects are re-evaluating the way they approach the design of healthcare facilities. However, says Steve Richmond, head of Marketing and Technical at Rehau Building Solutions, it is critical that these new considerations do not impact the wellbeing of patients and staff. Here he discusses the importance of instilling healthy design principles ‘to facilitate truly sustainable growth for the sector’.