Guy’s Tower, at London’s famous Guy’s Hospital, has regained its title as the world’s tallest hospital building following a £40 million repair and environmental improvement programme, and the addition of a light sculpture; the Tower is now 148.65 metres high, including the artwork.

Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock has announced a £30 million fund to increase the supply of engineers, to encourage more women into the sector, and to address engineering skills shortages in smaller companies. The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) says the fund will enable engineering companies to establish training programmes to develop future engineers, and boost the number of women in the profession.

As the 2014/15 financial calendar reaches the mid-year assessment, the search for efficiency savings and cost improvement plans (within the healthcare sector) continues. So says leading global built asset consultancy, EC Harris. Here, basing his article on the company’s recently published fifth report, Conor Harris (pictured), the company’s global head of Health, argues that, ‘while pressure on Trusts to balance the books is greater than ever before’, and the ‘quick wins have been won’, there are still ‘major savings to be made’.

In an article that first appeared in The Australian Hospital Engineer, Michael Ward, facilities engineer, Building, Engineering & Maintenance Services (BEMS), Townsville Hospital and Health Service, Queensland Health, Mark Fasiolo, hospital engineer within the same organisation and service (both work at Townsville Hospital), and Jeffrey Turner, now client services manager, BEMS, at Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Queensland Health (but formerly hospital engineer at Townsville Hospital), describe a complex redevelopment project at Townsville Hospital in Queensland.

A strong gathering of IHEEM members, senior representatives from London livery companies, construction companies, architects, consulting engineers, and equipment suppliers, a number attending on behalf of Company Affiliates, gathered in Westminster on the evening of 18 November to hear the Institute’s new President, Chris Northey, give his inaugural Presidential Address.

The Fire Protection Association (FPA) says it offers ‘a range of highly practical and vocationally relevant courses to suit those with a responsibility for fire safety in healthcare premises’.

Despite having only established the company nine years ago, the founders of Kidderminster-based Avensys Medical believe the company now offers not only one of the UK’s most comprehensive maintenance, repair, consultancy, and equipment audit services for medical and dental equipment, but also one of the most tailored training portfolios for electro-biomedical (EBME) engineers working in healthcare settings to enable them to get the best out of such equipment, improve patient safety, optimise service life, and save both the NHS and private sector money.

Energy savings of over 75% have been delivered by Thorlux Lighting in a number of healthcare projects undertaken over the past 18 months via the use of its so-called ‘SMART’ lighting control system, the company explains.

As facilities managers take more responsibility for the hospital laundries, Murray Simpson, chief executive of the TSA (Textile Services Association), the trade association for the laundry, dry cleaning, and textile rental industries in the UK, highlights the major issues that need to be addressed – ranging from effective stock control, to making sure nurses’ uniforms are washed at sufficiently high temperatures to prevent them harbouring bacteria, to ensure that Government targets on hygiene and efficiency are met.

Jane Howarth, of the University of Bolton’s Institute for Materials Research and Innovation, describes a study involving three NHS Trusts in the north of England which examined the merits of a ‘more sustainable’ approach to air filtration in air-handling units.

Giving the keynote presentation on the first day of this year’s Healthcare Estates conference, Julian Hartley, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, discussed some of his key experiences and learnings since he began his NHS career as a management trainee in north-east England.

Door hinges, and small fingers getting trapped in them, continue to pose a health and safety issue in many sectors.

Mohammad Mahtab Alam, associate principal engineer at AECOM Middle East in Abu Dhabi, reports on some of the key challenges in the mechanical plant design – particularly bearing in mind the local extreme climactic conditions – for the new King Khalid Medical City, a ‘centre of excellence for specialised healthcare centre’ in eastern Saudi Arabia, already designed, but yet to be constructed.

Very close proximity to existing hospital buildings, managing the craning of 31 sizeable off-site built modules and eight large air-handling unit sections onto site without disrupting hospital traffic or operations, and the need to complete the new building to an extremely tight schedule, were among the challenges successfully met by MTX Contracts recently during its completion of a new ‘dementia-friendly’ 30-bed decant ward at Walsall Manor Hospital in the West Midlands.

It is often said that food is the best form of medicine, but will the new Hospital Food Standards help? Good quality, high standard catering in hospitals and healthcare establishments is crucial. Here ISS Healthcare’s catering services director, the immediate past chair of the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA), Andy Jones, outlines just how important it is for Trusts throughout the British Isles to consistently promote, develop, and implement, catering standards, and to ensure they that are adhered to.

As technology continues to improve the performance and capability of access control products, Grant Macdonald, managing director of access control company, Codelocks, takes a look at the functionality now available from the latest systems, and suggests ways that healthcare estates and facilities personnel with responsibility for security can reap the benefits.

A suite of environmental assessment tools developed by The King’s Fund is continuing to help healthcare providers develop effective ‘dementia-friendly’ care settings.

The role of safety flooring in healthcare premises, and some of the key features to look for when specifying it.

A senior decontamination engineer working for NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership considers the array of standards and guidance in place on effective instrument decontamination

The Endoscopy Outreach Department at Neath & Port Talbot Hospital uses four QED Washer Disinfectors (WDs) to disinfect medical devices including bronchoscopes, gastroscopes, colonoscopes, cystoscopes and duodenoscopes.