According to AECOM, the provider of professional technical and management support services, there is now a growing desire among developers and regulators to see CEEQUAL, an environmental assessment methodology historically applied to civil engineering projects such as roads, bridges, and water treatment works, applied to all civil engineering projects, to improve and measure sustainability.

The President, Paul Kingsmore, presided. There were 28 members present. The meeting opened with the President welcoming the members to the meeting, and calling on the CEO to read the Notice of the AGM.

Micad say its Room Utilisation Module (RUM) has seen increased sales over the past 12 months, a trend it feels is ‘no doubt a result of the current changing face of the NHS estate’.

Dave Blackwell, Matthew Crouch, Berni Baier, and Larry Isford, of leading air filtration and ‘clean air’ specialist, Camfil Farr, explain how properly filtered indoor air can make a major contribution in the fight against healthcare-associated infection, but point out that specifiers of the latest filtration products need to ensure that they are fully cognisant with their ‘real-world’ performance.

This year’s Healthcare Estates conference and exhibition was attended by 2,758 visitors, delegates, and exhibitor personnel, continuing the increases in attendance seen since the move to Manchester.

As fire detection specialist, Hochiki points out, ‘hospitals and other healthcare estates are constantly evolving environments that must be flexible enough to accommodate new layouts and changes of use, as and when required’.

Mark Clark, strategic partner manager (Europe, Middle East and Africa – Healthcare), Hitachi Data Systems, looks at meeting the healthcare data challenge with virtualised storage.

Following the recent ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces, it is in hospitals where the sick, bereaved or emotionally unstable are most likely to find it difficult to abstain, according to the company that provides security services at many NHS hospitals.

Dart Valley’s Mike Allen explains how no-touch taps can assist in the fight against an organism which continues to attract much attention.

Information on breakthroughs in prion decontamination and detection were presented by Dr Graham Jackson, head of molecular diagnostics at the Medical Research Council, to a Central Sterilising Club meeting held in Manchester earlier this year.

In support of NHS governance arrangements for assuring design quality and improving the patient environment, the Department of Health has recommended that all Trusts and PCTs embarking on new developments, whether they are refurbishment or new build projects, should appoint a Design Champion to their board of directors. Health Estate Journal reports.

Operating theatre and medical lamp manufacturer Brandon Medical examines the development of what it claims is the market’s first full spectrum LED lighting system, HD-LED, which it believes will be seen in numerous operating theatre applications, benefiting surgeons undertaking intricate procedures but equally, thanks to its lower costs, also helping to reduce health estates managers’ energy bills.

Tom Cumberlege, public sector manager at the Carbon Trust, describes the organisation’s initiative to reduce NHS carbon dioxide emissions.

Vernon Barry, UK general manager of tubular safety solutions specialist Kee Klamp, explains how healthcare premises specifiers can improve a building’s hygienic performance and play a key part in infection control measures through the use of new anti-bacterial coating technology.

Dr K.C. Lam, of the Department of Building Services Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, explores the merits of construction process re-engineering (CPR), and takes a special look at ProCure21.

Bill Geerlings C.Eng FIHEEM FIHEA BHA (NSW), director, Capworks Management (Victoria) Pty, discusses the role of end users in health facility developments. This article originally appeared in The Australian Hospital Engineer, the magazine of the Institute of Hospital Engineering Australia and is published in HEJ through IHEEM’s links with the International Federation of Hospital Engineering.

Drawing on my experience as a project director and facilities director of teaching hospitals in Victoria and Queensland, Australia, I will examine the need for end user involvement in health facility redevelopments if these are to be really successful. I will also examine the strategies and structures for optimising their contribution during the planning, design, commissioning and handover phases of major projects.

IHEEM must be continually responsive to change across the NHS landscape, and resolute in driving membership recruitment forward.

NHS Direct is to become a NHS Trust from April 2007, with the objective of becoming a NHS Foundation Trust as soon as practical after that.

The Process Steam Guide has been produced by Gary Sowerby Eur.Ing CEng MEI as a result of 38 years of process steam plant experience.

The European Working Group for Legionella Infections (EWGLI) this year held its meeting in Rome, hosted by the Istituto Superiore di Sanita. There were representatives from many countries of the world and presentations detailing where outbreaks occurred, the epidemiology and actions taken. Presentations included treatment therapies and insights into the way LD bacteria are hosted in biofilm found within water systems.