EHD 2026 Awards: Winners revealed

Organised by Architects for Health and SALUS, the Awards committee recognised Jim Chapman with the signature prize: the Susan Francis Design Champion Award. 

The accolade, named after one of the UK’s great minds and practitioners in healthcare design, the late Susan Francis, is presented to a visionary healthcare leader who has championed, advocated and monitored the value of design across one or more major healthcare projects, working in close collaboration with multiple stakeholders to deliver excellence and set new standards in design quality. 

A hugely influential figure and contributor to the Congress for many years, Jim is a chartered architect and urban designer with over 40 years’ experience as a consultant delivering a wide range of projects in many sectors. He established his independent consultancy ten years ago advising clients in both the public and private sectors on design quality and project briefs. He is a member of the national design panel and Built Environment Expert [BEE] for Design Council CABE, a design panel for Architecture+Design Scotland and Places Matter in the North West, and a facilitator for the Construction Industry Council on the use of the Design Quality Indicator. He is also a trustee for the National Museums Liverpool. Jim was a partner at BDP for 20 years, a director for EDAW (later acquired by AECOM), and has been deeply involved with the regeneration of Manchester.

A double winner on the evening was Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects, which took top spot in two fields: the Design for Small to Medium-Scale Healthcare Infrastructure category and the coveted Design for Large-Scale Healthcare Infrastructure class. The former saw the firm honoured for Expertise Centre ‘t Spant – Ipse de Bruggen, in the Netherlands; the latter saw it praised for its collaboration with Archipelago in designing the General Hospital Diest in Belgium.

Another winner from Europe was Albert Wimmer Architects, which was recognised in the Mental Health Design category for Extended Soul Space, a specialised child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinic and day clinic, commissioned by Vienna Hospital Association.

The UK was represented by several winners. The Design for Neighbourhood Health category – a new award for 2026 – was won by Parkhead Hub, commissioned by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and designed by Hoskins Architects and AECOM. In the Design for Adaptation and Transformation bracket, MJ Medical took home the award for Cober Valley Health, Helston Gateway, commissioned by South Kerrier Alliance CIC. And Arcadis beat off all competition in the Interior Design and the Arts field for Silverwood, a mental health inpatient facility commissioned by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Representing the USA, Stantec took home the Future Healthcare Design award for Houston Methodist Centennial Tower in Texas.

Designed by Billard Leece Partnership and commissioned by NSW Health in collaboration with Children’s Cancer Institute, the Sydney Children’s Hospital Stage 1 & Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Australia was successful in the Design for Health and Life Sciences category. Also from Oceania, the New Betio Hospital (Stage 1) project, commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (Kiribati), and led and developed by Jacobs, took home the top prize in another new award – Excellence in Healthcare Planning.

Hassell was honoured in the Design Research for Healthcare Environments category, with the paper, ‘Anatomy of change: Rethinking of healthcare learning environments’, authored by Daniel Davis and Leanne Guy, from the US and Australia, respectively. Finally, HKS beat the field in the Healthcare Interiors Product category. It designed the COVE Clinical Observation Vertical Exam, developed in partnership with DIRTT Construction Systems.

Organisation and support

The European Healthcare Design Awards 2026 – which were kindly sponsored by Integrated Health Projects (IHP), a joint venture between Vinci Construction UK and Sir Robert McAlpine – celebrate and recognise professional excellence in the design of healthcare environments both in Europe and around the world. Other category sponsors were Gerflor | Gradus, Guldmann, HDR, Hoare Lea, Medical Architecture and NORR. Organised by Architects for Health and SALUS Global Knowledge Exchange, the Awards attracted interest from architects, healthcare leaders, academic researchers, and innovative solutions providers from all over the globe.

Continuing an exciting innovation that began during the pandemic, live webinar presentations and judging of the shortlisted categories were broadcast a month prior to the awards ceremony, offering delegates greater insight into the judging process and providing a valuable learning opportunity. Recordings of these webinar presentations are available on the event platform for two months from the end of the Congress and will later be available on SALUS.

The Awards shortlist was announced in April, following a hotly contested competition. It featured organisations and multidisciplinary project teams considered by the judges to have achieved shining examples of design projects and innovations in healthcare, and which will help raise the bar in healthcare design and service delivery in Europe and across the globe.

Full shortlist and judging process

The awards evaluation committee features international researchers, practitioners and policy advisors, who bring specialist multidisciplinary expertise to the specific categories they have been invited to judge. The shortlist and winner of each award are determined by a category chair, supported by panel judges with proven expertise in their field. This robust evaluation methodology ensures a balanced and transparent decision-making process.

The full set of winners and those highly commended in the EHD 2026 Awards are set out below:

Susan Francis Design Champion Award

Supported by IHP

Awarded for visionary leadership and lifelong dedication to healthcare design

• Winner: Jim Chapman
  

Design for Large-Scale Healthcare Infrastructure

Supported by Guldmann

• Winner: General Hospital Diest, Belgium
  Commissioned by General Hospital Diest
  Designed by Archipelago in collaboration with Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects
  

• Highly Commended: New Footscray Hospital, Australia
  Delivered by Plenary Health consortium, with VIDA Health and Western Health
  Developed by COX Architecture + Billard Leece Partnership
  
• Highly Commended: Shenzhen Children’s Hospital Longhua Campus, China
  Commissioned by Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Construction and Public Works
  Designed by Nickl & Partner Architectural Design Consulting (Beijing) & Zhubo Design Co., Ltd
  Developed by Shenzhen Municipal Government Engineering & Construction Bureau
  Constructed by Shanghai Baoye Group Co., Ltd
  
• Highly Commended: Viljandi Hospital & Health Centre, Estonia
  Commissioned by Riigi Kinnisvara Aktsiaselts
  Designed by Planho + Bakpak + Dagopen
  

Lead judge: Kate Copeland, Australian Health Design Council, Australia
Panel judges: Matthew Holmes, Jacobs, Australia; Paul Bell, Ryder Architecture, UK

Design for Small-Medium Scale Healthcare Infrastructure

• Winner: Expertise Centre ‘t Spant – Ipse de Bruggen, Netherlands
  Commissioned by Ipse de Bruggen
  Designed by Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects
  
• Highly Commended: Parkhead Hub, UK
  Commissioned by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
  Designed by Hoskins Architects and AECOM
  

• Highly Commended: Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease, UK
  Commissioned by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
  Designed by Corstorphine & Wright Architects
  
• Highly Commended: Te Hōpua Whakahauora – Taranaki Cancer Centre, New Zealand
  Commissioned by Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand
  Designed by Chow:Hill
  

Lead judge: Nicola Bertrand, Asklepios, Germany
Panel judges: Stephanie Costelloe, BVN, Australia; Tushar Gupta, Stantec, USA

Future Healthcare Design

Supported by IHP

• Winner: Houston Methodist Hospital, Centennial Tower, USA
  Commissioned by Houston Methodist
  Designed by Stantec
  
• Highly Commended: Great Ormond Street Healthy Hospital Street, UK
  Commissioned by Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital
  Designed by LDA Design
  
• Highly Commended: Hillsborough Acute Mental Health & Addictions Centre and Transitional Housing, Canada
  Commissioned by Department of Health and Wellness, Government of Prince Edward Island
  Designed by HDR Architecture Associates Inc., in association with Sable ARC
  
• Highly Commended: Hospital 2.0 System, UK
  New Hospital Programme
  

Lead judge: Cliff Harvey, Grand River Hospital / St Mary’s General Hospital, Canada
Panel judges: Bill Hercules, WJH Health, USA; Benjamin Bassin, Blue Cottage of CannonDesign, USA

Mental Health Design

Supported by Gerflor | Gradus

• Winner: Extended Soul Space, Austria
  Commissioned by Vienna Hospital Association
  Designed by AWZT – Albert Wimmer Architects
  
• Highly Commended: Building the Next Generation of Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Care, UK
  Commissioned by Nightingale Hospital
  Designed by GB Bespoke Joinery
  
• Highly Commended: Noarlunga Hospital Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit, Australia
  Commissioned by SA Health
  Designed by Wiltshire Swain + GHD Design
  
• Highly Commended: The Brook for Devon Partnership NHS Trust, UK
  Design and delivered by Kier Construction and Grainge Architects
  

Lead judge: Beatrice Fraenkel, Design in Mental Health Network, UK
Panel judges: Danny Gibson, MJ Medical, UK; Tara Veldman, Billard Leece Partnership, Australia

Design for Health and Life Sciences

Supported by HDR

• Winner: Sydney Children’s Hospital Stage 1 & Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Australia
  Commissioned by NSW Health (Health Infrastructure and Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network) in collaboration with Children’s Cancer Institute
  Designed by Billard Leece Partnership
  
• Highly Commended: Life and Mind Building, University of Oxford, UK
  Commissioned by Life and Mind Building Oxford Limited
  Designed by NBBJ
  
• Highly Commended: UNSW Health Translation Hub, Australia
  Commissioned by UNSW Sydney + Plenary Group
  Designed by Architectus
  

Lead judge: Peter Ward, Abzyme, UK
Panel judges: Mohammed Ayoub, HDR, USA; Richard Mann, AECOM, UK

Design for Neighbourhood Health

Supported by Hoare Lea

• Winner: Parkhead Hub, UK
  Commissioned by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
  Designed by Hoskins Architects and AECOM
  
• Highly Commended: Anishnawbe Health Toronto Indigenous Community Health Centre, Canada
  Commissioned by Anishnawbe Health Toronto
  Designed by Stantec Architecture with Two Row Architect
  
• Highly Commended: Harold Moody Health Centre, UK
  Commissioned by London Borough of Southwark and Notting Hill Genesis
  Designed by Morris+Company
  
• Highly Commended: New Betio Hospital (Stage 1), Kiribati
  Commissioned by Ministry of Health and Medical Services (Kiribati)
  Designed by Jacobs
  

Lead judge: John Cooper, JCA, UK
Panel judges: Charlotte Ruben, White Arkitekter, Sweden; Ruairi Reeves, Medical Architecture, UK

Design for Adaptation and Transformation

• Winner: Cober Valley Health, Helston Gateway, UK
  Commissioned by South Kerrier Alliance CIC
  Designed by MJ Medical
  
• Highly Commended: Mayo Clinic, Bed Tower Hospital Expansion, USA
  Commissioned by Mayo Clinic
  Designed by Perkins&Will
  
• Highly Commended: Mother-child-centre Henrike, Germany
  Commissioned by Bauherrengemeinschaft: Diakovere + Hannoversche Kinderheilanstalt
  Stiftung des privaten Rechts
  Designed by AEP Architekten Eggert Generalplaner
  

Lead judge: Jim Chapman, Manchester School of Architecture, UK
Panel judges: Christine Chadwick, Archus Canada, Canada; Christopher Shaw, past-chair, Architects for Health, UK

Interior Design and the Arts

• Winner: Silverwood, UK
  Commissioned by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
  Designed by Arcadis
  
• Highly commended: eARTh: inclusive trip in Salus Pueri Children’s Hospital, Italy
  Commissioned by Fondazione Salus Pueri Onlus
  Designed by DU IT
  
• Highly commended: Peninsula University Hospital, Australia
  Commissioned by Exemplar Health
  Designed by Bates Smart and Architectus
  
• Highly commended: Sydney Children’s Hospital Stage 1 & Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Australia
  Commissioned by NSW Health (Health Infrastructure and Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network)
  Designed by Billard Leece Partnership
  

Lead judge: Ruth Charity, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK
Panel judges: Mohammed Ul-Haq, HLM Architects, UK; Femke Feenstra, Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects, Netherlands

Excellence in Healthcare Planning

Supported by NORR

• Winner: New Betio Hospital (Stage 1), Kiribati
  Commissioned by Ministry of Health and Medical Services (Kiribati)
  Led and developed by Jacobs
  
• Highly commended: Al Ansar Madinah, Saudi Arabia
  Commissioned by Ministry of Health KSA
  Developed by RSO Architecture
  

• Highly commended: New Footscray Hospital, Australia
  Delivered by Plenary Health consortium, with VIDA Health and Western Health
  Developed by COX Architecture + Billard Leece Partnership
  
• Highly commended: NSM, New Hospital buildings, Sweden
  Commissioned by Region Skåne
  Developed by White arkitekter
  

Lead judge: Rhonda Kerr, Australasian Association of Health Planners, Australia
Panel judges: Jaime Bishop, Architects for Health, UK; Jonathan Erskine, European Health Property Network, UK

Healthcare Interiors Product

• Winner: COVE™ Clinical Observation Vertical Exam
  Designed by HKS and developed in partnership with DIRTT Construction Systems
  
• Highly Commended: SureProtect Artworx
  Designed and developed by Gradus – A Gerflor Company

Lead judge: Lead judge: Lara Kaiser, Perkins&Will, Brazil
Panel judges: Kate Bradley, MJ Medical, UK

Design Research for Healthcare Environments

Supported by Medical Architecture

• Winner: Anatomy of change: Rethinking healthcare learning environments
  Authored by Daniel Davis, Hassell, USA and Leanne Guy, Hassell, Australia
  

• Highly Commended: Optimising the inpatient room: A performance-based reassessment of hospital room typologies
  Authored by Antoine Buisseret, Lemay and Christine Mimeault, CHU de Québec – Université Laval, Canada

Lead judge: Göran Lindahl, Chalmers University of Technology, Centre for Healthcare Architecture, Sweden
Panel judges: Deborah Wingler, HKS, USA; Grant Mills, University College London, UK