08.00 - Registration opens

Opening keynote plenary

Fleming Room

Supported by

08.45 - 10.15

Session 18

 - Opening keynote plenary

Chair: Jaime Bishop, Chair, Architects for Health, UK

Jaime Bishop

Chair, Architects for Health, UK

Jaime is a director at Fleet Architects and chair of Architects for Health, and a proven project designer, competition winner and studio leader. During his professional career he has been responsible for multiple projects with values ranging between £8 and £120 million and was one of three associate directors responsible for the management of a 65-person firm under a managing director. He is an experienced all-round designer with specialist skills in healthcare and has sat on the executive board of Architects for Health (AfH) since 2006. He has significant experience as the lead architect in major PFI schemes, including the preparation of a reference project for a $2 billion teaching hospital in Adelaide, Australia. He has been a visiting tutor at various universities since 2002, including Nottingham, Cardiff and London Metropolitan. Since 2012, Jaime Bishop and Richard Henson have been teaching third-year degree level students at London South Bank University and established their studio, the Transpontine Laboratory, based at the university, in 2014. Jaime was educated at the Royal College of Art, Bath University and the TU Delft Highrise Scholarship. He has been ARB registered and a member of RIBA since 2006. He is a recognised figure in the healthcare sector with connections throughout the industry. Jaime has detailed knowledge of traditional and private finance initiative (PFI) contracts, fee negotiation and project cost control. Jaime has sat on the board of the City and Hackney NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and social enterprise East London Integrated Care. He has also served as an elected governor at the Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

08.45

Opening remarks

Jaime Bishop, Chair, Architects for Health, UK

Jaime Bishop

Chair, Architects for Health, UK

Jaime is a director at Fleet Architects and chair of Architects for Health, and a proven project designer, competition winner and studio leader. During his professional career he has been responsible for multiple projects with values ranging between £8 and £120 million and was one of three associate directors responsible for the management of a 65-person firm under a managing director. He is an experienced all-round designer with specialist skills in healthcare and has sat on the executive board of Architects for Health (AfH) since 2006. He has significant experience as the lead architect in major PFI schemes, including the preparation of a reference project for a $2 billion teaching hospital in Adelaide, Australia. He has been a visiting tutor at various universities since 2002, including Nottingham, Cardiff and London Metropolitan. Since 2012, Jaime Bishop and Richard Henson have been teaching third-year degree level students at London South Bank University and established their studio, the Transpontine Laboratory, based at the university, in 2014. Jaime was educated at the Royal College of Art, Bath University and the TU Delft Highrise Scholarship. He has been ARB registered and a member of RIBA since 2006. He is a recognised figure in the healthcare sector with connections throughout the industry. Jaime has detailed knowledge of traditional and private finance initiative (PFI) contracts, fee negotiation and project cost control. Jaime has sat on the board of the City and Hackney NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and social enterprise East London Integrated Care. He has also served as an elected governor at the Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

09.00

Much more than beds: Reimagining buildings and infrastructure for population health

Nigel Edwards, Chair, advisory group, PPL; Expert advisor, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, UK

Nigel Edwards

Chair, advisory group, PPL; Expert advisor, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, UK

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Much more than beds: Reimagining buildings and infrastructure for population health

Abstract Copy

Hospitals are at an inflection point. Designed for a world of acute, episodic illness, they now face a population dominated by chronic disease, multimorbidity and frailty – conditions that hospitals are often ill-equipped to manage well, and that hospital admission can actively worsen. At the same time, the technology exists to deliver specialist-grade care in patients' homes, to diagnose disease much earlier, and to co-ordinate complex care across entire populations without a face-to-face visit.

This talk examines what these converging forces mean for the hospital as a building and as a system. Drawing on the latest international evidence and the emerging policy of neighbourhood health in the English NHS, it looks at the implications of the emerging view of the hospital as a service, not a building: a specialist node in an integrated care network, extending its reach through digital infrastructure, virtual wards and redesigned pathways rather than through physical expansion.

The talk explores the specific implications for the strategic development of the hospital estate – fewer but more specialist beds, adaptable clinical space designed across three distinct lifecycles, a radically reduced outpatient footprint, and digital infrastructure treated as clinical infrastructure – alongside the community and neighbourhood estate needed to support the shift of care upstream. It concludes with a call for capital investment governance that plans whole systems, not individual buildings, and that evaluates success in population health outcomes rather than construction delivery.

09.25

Resilience, renewal and regeneration: A national perspective on UK healthcare infrastructure

Simon Corben, Director and head of profession, NHS Estates, NHS England and NHS Improvement, UK

Simon Corben

Director and head of profession, NHS Estates, NHS England and NHS Improvement, UK

After some 16 years in the private sector, advising the NHS and successfully growing and managing a team of property, clinical planning consultants and analysts, Simon returned to the public sector in 2017 to lead the Estates and Facilities function across the NHS, which now includes both the secondary and primary care sectors. The role at NHS England is one he relishes, building on the Carter Implementation Programme and Naylor Review. Following initial success delivering the Model Hospital and efficiency savings, he is taking forward and broadening out the NHS Estates agenda. This includes the primary care estate, the ProCure23 construction framework, and delivery of the Health Infrastructure Programmes announced by the prime minister in 2019. Most recently, he led the NHS Estates response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the delivery of seven Nightingale hospitals alongside improved clinical infrastructure resilience across the existing estate. Since joining the NHS in May 2017, Simon has recruited a team aligned to the seven core initiatives of: commercial acumen; policy; workforce; sustainability; operational efficiency; standardisation, strategy and capital; and operational delivery. In doing so, Simon and the team have: • delivered both additional capital funding and investment into the NHS; • reinstated the NHS estates Standards and Guidance programme; • improved assurance of NHS estates safety, effectiveness and governance through the updating and mandatory implementation of the NHS Premises Assurance Model (NHS PAM); and • reconfigured and expanded the NHS Estates Division to cover primary care and regional teams; An accredited Gateway reviewer and project director, Simon understands the need for commercial, innovative and deliverable solutions. In his role at NHS England, he is using his skills and experiences to bring fresh ideas and drive to improve the quality and efficiency of estates and facilities management across the NHS.

+ View abstract

Resilience, renewal and regeneration: A national perspective on UK healthcare infrastructure

Abstract Copy

This keynote will explore how national healthcare systems are embracing long-term, strategic infrastructure planning to build resilience, drive renewal, and generate lasting value. The UK perspective will highlight the £119 billion infrastructure plan, the New Hospitals Programme, and the publication of Estatecode, while the international counterpart will share insights from a system that has successfully made the mindset shift. Together, the speakers will reflect on how healthcare estates can become anchors in their communities, support integrated care, and deliver social and economic value beyond the hospital walls.

The UK’s healthcare estate stands at a pivotal moment. With the Government’s long-term infrastructure plan committing £119 billion over the next decade, £24 billion of which is allocated to the New Hospitals Programme, we have a rare opportunity to reshape the future of healthcare environments. With a four-year capital settlement in place, resilience in planning is not just desirable, it is essential.

This moment demands a shift from reactive, single-year capital allocation to strategic, multi-year development control. Over the past decade, the NHS has spent approximately £80 billion in capital, yet liabilities have increased, underscoring the cost of fragmented investment and the absence of robust planning frameworks. The publication of the new Estatecode marks a turning point, embedding strong development control plans and commercial asset management principles to guide smarter, more sustainable decision-making.

Resilience in this context means designing healthcare infrastructure that can withstand political, economic and environmental shifts. Our planning must transcend electoral cycles, ensuring that the foundations we lay today are resilient enough to support the NHS’s long-term vision, regardless of future shifts in policy or leadership, offering stability and long-term value for the NHS estate. These foundations must also enable delivery of the three major health shifts outlined in the Ten-Year Plan: moving care closer to home; integrating services; and harnessing digital innovation.

Renewal is not just about new buildings; it’s about renewing our mindset. Acute hospitals must evolve into anchor institutions, supporting the development of neighbourhood health centres and integrated care hubs. This wider lens enables us to build not just facilities but communities, embedding social value through local employment, inclusive procurement, and sustainable construction.

Generation speaks to legacy. The capital we deploy today must generate lasting value: digitally enabled, low-carbon, high-productivity environments that serve future generations. Automation and data-driven asset management offer new frontiers for efficiency and resilience. By embracing these tools, we can de-risk current practices and unlock smarter, more responsive estates.

This is a call to action. We must act now: collaboratively, strategically, and boldly, to ensure that our healthcare infrastructure is not only fit for today but ready for tomorrow. Through resilient planning, renewed purpose and generative investment, we can transform the NHS estate into a catalyst for health, equity and sustainability across the UK.

Learning Objectives

• Share strategic approaches to long-term capital planning
• Compare international models of resilient healthcare infrastructure
• Inspire cross-border learning and collaboration

09.50

Panel discussion

10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

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Architects for Health networking programme

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Knowledge + Innovation Theatre programme

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Select a Stream

• Stream 6Planning, partnering and delivery
• Stream 7Intersection of clinical medicine and design
• Stream 8Health planning and investment
• Stream 9Tertiary care
• Stream 10Art and architecture

• Planning, partnering and delivery

  Fleming Room

  Supported by

  

  10.45 - 12.30

  Session 19

   - Delivering national hospital programmes at system scale

  

  Chair: Matthew Holmes, Global solutions director, health infrastructure, Jacobs, Australia

  

  Matthew Holmes

  Global solutions director, health infrastructure, Jacobs, Australia

  Matthew Holmes is a chartered U.K. and French registered architect who leads Jacobs’ Global Health infrastructure business. After completing his professional training in the U.K., he worked in mainland Europe for 10 years working on a range of health projects. With the completion of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Clermont-Ferrand in France in 2011 he relocated to Australia where he has been instrumental in leading the Jacobs’ health advisory and design teams across a wide range of health projects across the world. His more recent work includes new facilities supporting the delivery of health services in rural locations across Australia, New Zealand and Kiribati through to the planning and design of major tertiary facilities such as the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide.

  10.45

  Strengthening service collaboration and sustainability – New Zealand context

  Nick Baker, National clinical lead for health service delivery planning, Te Whatu Ora, New Zealand

  

  Nick Baker

  National clinical lead for health service delivery planning, Te Whatu Ora, New Zealand

  Nick Baker is a Community Pediatrician, and Regional Clinical Strategic Advisor he is based in the Nelson Marlborough Region of New Zealand. He has recently completed secondments to the roles of National Chief Medical Officer and National Chief Health Service Delivery Planning. He is a past President of the Paediatric Society of New Zealand and has been Chair of the New Zealand Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee. His interests include health policy, epidemiology, strategy, clinical governance, health system design and facility design. His current work involves contributions to the development of increasingly regional approaches to health service delivery in Te Waipounamu – South Island NZ.

  + View abstract

  Strengthening service collaboration and sustainability – New Zealand context

  Abstract Copy

  Background: The healthcare landscape in New Zealand faces significant challenges with a widely distributed and often sparse population and varied geography. Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora inherited a large collection of district, regional, and national services that evolved over time independent of one another.
  
  Current position: Challenges with current services often arise where they are not at the right scale for the workload and community they serve. Some are using a model more suited to a larger centre, while others are struggling to manage a workload for which they were never designed.
  
  The impacts of these problems include unstable services with gaps; difficulties accessing care; inequity of health outcomes; inability to meet health targets; high costs of additional duties; difficulties with staff recruitment and retention; problems planning future workforce and training pipelines; missed opportunities for regional and national working; difficulties planning for infrastructure; and high-cost equipment.
  
  Improvement approach: This paper outlines a vision for sustainable, collaborative healthcare delivery that focuses on patient-centred, multi-campus service delivery within programmes of integrated care. The frameworks define a five-step cyclical process to deliver programmes of integrated care to achieve equitable outcomes with smooth patient journeys. Collaboration across teams with defined support and communication obligations supports the workforce to deliver at top of scope. A workforce optimisation process develops the right balance between professional groups, generalism and specialism, and training pipelines. With these elements in place, the geography of care delivery and health infrastructure distribution can be planned.
  
  Results: The service-level framework contains six levels of service, from core primary and community care to tertiary and quaternary care, which must collaborate within each programme of integrated care. Examples of regional and national outcomes that enhance service sustainability, improve access, and support equity of health outcomes are described. A novel Obstetric Services Index was developed to support access to procedural obstetrics.
  
  The implementation of the frameworks is resulting in more stable services, reduced gaps in care, improved equity of health outcomes, and lower costs. A key principle is bringing care as close to home as possible with a model of disseminated care delivery.
  
  Conclusion: This work presents a comprehensive approach to strengthening service collaboration in New Zealand's healthcare system. By addressing current challenges and emphasising integrated care, regional and national planning, and digital investment, the frameworks create a joined-up whole-of-system approach to sustainable and equitable healthcare for the future.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Services that people use together or in sequence must be organized into programmes of integrated care that are easy to use if we are to achieve equity of outcomes
  • The future includes a return to more generalism in health care delivery
  • Health professionals must collaborate to support the care of people they may never see if they are to optimize their effectiveness

  11.00

  Building hospitals better – health infrastructure delivery in New Zealand

  Margo Kyle, Group manager, National Health Facility Planning, Health New Zealand, New Zealand

  

  Margo Kyle

  Group manager, National Health Facility Planning, Health New Zealand, New Zealand

  With over 25 years of experience in the health sector and more than a decade dedicated to health infrastructure, Margo is a passionate and purpose-driven strategic health planner committed to creating sustainable, efficient, and patient-centred healthcare environments. Margo's work is guided by a deep understanding of clinical needs, operational realities, and long-term community outcomes transforming health services through strategic planning and thoughtful infrastructure development. Her focus is on ensuring health infrastructure is standardised, resilient, and future-ready. Margo brings specialist expertise in interpreting and evaluating health services and data to inform strategic briefing and physical planning processes. She excels at aligning clinical requirements with functional design outcomes, ensuring a seamless integration of operational needs into the built environment.

  Simon Trotter, Project director, Health NZ, New Zealand

  

  Simon Trotter

  Project director, Health NZ, New Zealand

  Simon Trotter is a project director in Health New Zealand’s Infrastructure and Investment Group, leading major hospital redevelopment projects across the country. He plays a key role in shaping national procurement and delivery strategies under the Building Hospitals Better framework, with a focus on standardisation, staged delivery, and building long-term strategic partnerships. Simon’s background spans complex capital projects, commercial strategy, and governance. Outside of Health NZ, he serves as deputy chair of the Council for Volunteer Service Abroad, bringing a strong commitment to service and community impact.

  Jorge Anaya, Principal, health architecture, Jacobs, New Zealand

  

  Jorge Anaya

  Principal, health architecture, Jacobs, New Zealand

  Jorge Anaya is a health architect with more than 20 years of experience, based in New Zealand, specialising in the planning and design of healthcare infrastructure across New Zealand and Australia. Working within a multidisciplinary team of architects and health planners, he focuses on programme-based approaches to hospital delivery and the integration of standardised design methodologies. Jorge is currently involved in the development and implementation of Health New Zealand’s Building Hospitals Better programme and its national Kit of Parts across multiple hospital campuses.

  + View abstract

  Building hospitals better – health infrastructure delivery in New Zealand

  Abstract Copy

  New Zealand’s Building Hospitals Better programme has been established by Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) to secure delivery of a large pipeline of health infrastructure in a small, capacity-constrained market. It replaces isolated, bespoke hospital projects with a programme-based model delivering “market-sized” tranches of work across multiple campuses. A core element is a national Kit of Parts – a family of standardised, site-agnostic building typologies, including a flexible, demand-led rural hospital concept designed for phased, scalable development.
  
  Purpose: This paper describes the development and early implementation of the Kit of Parts within Building Hospitals Better and examines how it is being used to align national service planning, clinical models and campus redevelopment at Palmerston North, Tauranga and Hawke’s Bay hospitals, alongside a prototype flexible rural hospital typology.
  
  Methods: A practice-based approach has been adopted, combining national clinical service and campus planning frameworks with programme-level governance and procurement innovations. In partnership with Health New Zealand, we have developed a Kit of Parts comprising standardised building typologies with optimised planning and technical strategies, designed to be independent of specific sites and compatible with modern methods of construction. The typologies are grounded in AusHFG units and standard components and are being iteratively applied and refined through live redevelopment projects. Scaled variants (e.g. S/M/L) and a modular rural hospital configuration enable phased addition of units in response to clinical priorities, demand projections and funding availability, supporting right-sizing of clinical units and standardised clinical and logistics flows.
  
  Results and implications: Although formal outcome data are not yet available, early implementation is demonstrating several practice benefits: greater consistency in planning key clinical functions across campuses; clearer translation of national clinical models into repeatable building forms; and improved feasibility of staged, modular redevelopment on constrained existing sites and rural locations. The approach is also establishing a platform for anticipated reductions in delivery timeframes, improved cost certainty compared with recent new-build trends, and better national alignment of models of care, directly supporting the themes of population health, health planning and investment, and the intersection of design and clinical medicine. Building Hospitals Better illustrates how a small health system can use a programme-based approach and a national Kit of Parts to create a scalable, resilient hospital delivery model under capital and market constraints, offering lessons for other jurisdictions seeking to move from isolated “mega-projects” to portfolio-based investment in tertiary, regional and rural health infrastructure.

  Learning Objectives

  • Describe the rationale and structure of New Zealand’s Building Hospitals Better programme and its relationship to population health, national health planning and investment in a capacity-constrained market
  • Explain the design and technical characteristics of a national hospital Kit of Parts – including a flexible, demand-led rural hospital typology – and how it supports alignment between clinical models of care, campus redevelopment and staged, modular delive
  • Identify governance, procurement and partnership arrangements that enable programme-based delivery using standardised, MMC-compatible building typologies, and consider how these arrangements and tools might be adapted for their own jurisdictions.

  11.15

  Designing resilient healthcare systems in seismic and climatic extremes: Insights from Peru’s National Hospital Programme

  Ignacio Higueras Hare, Ambassador of Peru to the United Kingdom, UK

  

  Ignacio Higueras Hare

  Ambassador of Peru to the United Kingdom, UK

  Stephen Herbert, Regional director of healthcare architecture, AECOM, United Kingdom

  

  Stephen Herbert

  Regional director of healthcare architecture, AECOM, United Kingdom

  As the regional director of healthcare architecture at AECOM, Stephen leads a team of talented architects and designers who deliver innovative and sustainable solutions for a diverse range of healthcare projects in the UK, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He has over 25 years of architectural experience, with a focus on healthcare for more than 15 years.

  Jason Pearson, Director of healthcare and science architecture, AECOM, United Kingdom

  

  Jason Pearson

  Director of healthcare and science architecture, AECOM, United Kingdom

  Jason is passionate about delivering inspirational healthcare architecture that provides the very best therapeutic environments to enhance patient, visitor and staff experiences. He has over 16 years of sector experience working collaboratively with key stakeholders on major healthcare schemes, from masterplanning and concept design to identifying complex healthcare solutions to deliver high-quality and innovative clinical facilities. He has led AECOM’s UK & Ireland healthcare architecture team since 2017, working across the region on a wide range of facilities, including community health centres, acute hospitals, critical care centres, mental health facilities, children’s hospitals, and specialist maternity schemes. Jason led the design team that delivered the overarching estate masterplan vision for Oxford University Hospital; led the winning scheme for the new Moorfields and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology RIBA competition; led a new ambulatory diagnostic centre for Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust; and has provided peer review support on the new Belfast Maternity and Children’s Royal Victoria Hospital in Northern Ireland.

  Michael Toner, Regional director, AECOM, United Kingdom

  

  Michael Toner

  Regional director, AECOM, United Kingdom

  TBC

  Adam Bradshaw, Technical director, AECOM, United Kingdom

  

  Adam Bradshaw

  Technical director, AECOM, United Kingdom

  Richard Mann, Head of Social Infrastructure, AECOM, United Kingdom

  

  Richard Mann

  Head of Social Infrastructure, AECOM, United Kingdom

  Richard has 25 years experience gained while working for client organisations, contractors and design consultants. During this time he has worked in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US, delivering a number of high profile projects across a variety of sectors. He is passionate about good building design. Richard brings the knowledge from the diverse projects he has delivered to ensure process improvement; quality and value driven efficiency in design are at the core of the projects he supports.

  + View abstract

  Designing resilient healthcare systems in seismic and climatic extremes: Insights from Peru’s National Hospital Programme

  Abstract Copy

  In a country where seismic shocks and climate extremes threaten lives and infrastructure, Peru is delivering one of the largest health investment programmes globally, a new generation of acute hospitals designed to withstand earthquakes, floods, and rapid urbanisation, and strengthening population health systems for over 34 million Peruvians.
  
  The hospital designs for Piura, Trujillo, and Abancay, developed collaboratively with PRONIS while drawing on AECOM's major hospital delivery experience, offer an opportunity to redefine how health systems are planned, designed, and governed for resilience at both facility and population-health scales.
  
  This abstract introduces an integrated model for health system resilience, developed through collaboration under the UK–Peru Government-to-Government framework. By combining Peruvian regulatory standards (NTS 119, RNE) with UK healthcare design guidance (HBN/HTM), the programme delivers hospitals that go beyond structural safety. These facilities are conceived as regional health anchors, supporting prevention, emergency preparedness, and continuity of care, while strengthening population health networks and long-term system resilience.
  
  Through risk-aware planning, modular clinical zoning, and climate-smart healthcare design strategies, these hospitals act as adaptive hubs within a broader population-health ecosystem. They strengthen primary care networks, enable rapid emergency response, and maintain uninterrupted operations during earthquakes, heatwaves, and extreme rainfall, delivering resilience at both facility and system levels.
  
  Building system-wide resilience
  
  Beyond physical design, this programme establishes a new paradigm for sustainable health service investment and governance in politically volatile environments. The G2G Agreement between the United Kingdom and Peru provides a stable framework of assurance, transparency, and delivery oversight that reduces systemic risk and enables consistent, evidence-based decision-making across complex, multi-year projects.
  
  This governance model strengthens institutional capacity within PRONIS, enhances quality assurance of national capital investment, and forms a replicable foundation for improving equity, quality improvement and long-term health system resilience.
  
  The paper illustrates:
  
  • integrating population-health planning linking acute care, community health services, telemedicine and preventive programmes;
  • mitigating seismic and climatic risks through strategies including base-isolation, elevated platforms, flood resilience and passive environmental design;
  • enhancing adaptability and operational resilience through modular expansion, flexible clinical adjacencies, digital integration and surge capacity planning;
  • funding, delivery and governance innovations that support transparency, equity and sustainable, long-term system strengthening.
  • replicable lessons for regions globally facing climatic extremes, rapid urbanisation and institutional instability.

  Learning Objectives

  • Demonstrate how seismic and climate resilient design integrates with population health-driven service planning.
  • Present new funding and governance models that reinforce system-wide resilience in uncertain political and climatic contexts.
  • Share practical design strategies for adaptable, prevention-focused hospitals embedded within community health ecosystems.

  11.35

  The future of health design: Lessons learned, from city-shaping public-private partnerships in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

  Priscilla Radice, Chief executive officer, Victorian Health Building Authority, Australia

  

  Priscilla Radice

  Chief executive officer, Victorian Health Building Authority, Australia

  A trusted leader with more than 25 years’ experience, Priscilla is a leader in health infrastructure delivery and reform and a positive catalyst for change in both the private and public sectors across Australasia. She helps to ensure that social infrastructure delivers outcomes for local communities, improving lives and economies while maintaining project efficiencies and driving innovation. Priscilla previously held the role of deputy director-general, Health Infrastructure Queensland and has held senior leadership positions as CEO, Infrastructure Association of Queensland; Principal, Transport & Resources Australasia, Arup; Independent chair, Investment Assurance Committee, Queensland Health; founding executive director, Contribute Consulting Pty; and head of strategic projects, Port of Brisbane Pty.

  + View abstract

  The future of health design: Lessons learned, from city-shaping public-private partnerships in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

  Abstract Copy

  This session examines how the approach to design, delivery and procurement of hospitals is changing to achieve the demands of today and the future, and the opportunities for more national and global alignment.
  
  The Victorian Health Building Authority in Australia is responsible for the planning and rollout of the Victorian Government’s more than AUD $15 billion health capital projects spanning the health, mental health and aged care portfolios across metropolitan, regional, and rural settings.
  
  The session will explore several live case studies of hospital delivery under programme managing contactor and mega-project PPP models and considers:
  • How do we avoid making co-design and design standardisation mutually exclusively?
  • How do we make hospitals flexible to rapidly changing contemporary models of care?
  • What would a fresh approach to risk in contract models look like?
  • How do we improve the digital design, commissioning and implementation of large-scale complex ICT systems?
  • Do we need a global approach to supply chains to achieve industrial-scale ‘kit of parts’ hospital delivery?
  
  By exploring the intersection of design, models of care, technology, construction innovation, funding and risk, this session invites industry leaders to rethink how health infrastructure is conceived and delivered, and what that means for global suppliers and health providers.
  

  11.55

  Panel discussion

  12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, lunch and networking

  + View gallery

  14.00 - 15.30

  Session 20

   - Resilience by Design: The H2.0 Alliance and Partnership model

  

  Chair: Natalie Forrest, Chief operating officer, New Hospital Programme (NHS England), UK

  

  Natalie Forrest

  Chief operating officer, New Hospital Programme (NHS England), UK

  14.00

  Resilience by design – how the H2.0 Alliance and Partnership model is enabling scalable delivery, organisational renewal, and the regeneration of hospital infrastructure across England

  Rick Lennard, Executive commercial director, New Hospital Programme, UK

  

  Rick Lennard

  Executive commercial director, New Hospital Programme, UK

  Emma Whigham, Alliance operations director, New Hospital Programme, UK

  

  Emma Whigham

  Alliance operations director, New Hospital Programme, UK

  + View abstract

  Resilience by design – how the H2.0 Alliance and Partnership model is enabling scalable delivery, organisational renewal, and the regeneration of hospital infrastructure across England

  Abstract Copy

  A senior leadership panel exploring what NHP delivery means for resilience and regeneration in both infrastructure and delivery capability.
  
  The key themes will be focused around:
  • delivery at scale;
  • partnership in action;
  • digital and clinical design integration;
  • sustainable and future-proof hospital design; and
  • regeneration of NHS infrastructure.

  15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

  + View gallery

  16.00 - 17.00

  Session 21

   - Delivering major hospital transformation

  

  Chair: Chris Liddle, Group chair, HLM Group, UK

  

  Chris Liddle

  Group chair, HLM Group, UK

  Chris is HLM Group chair and Strategic director of HLM's custodial, justice and defence sectors. He is hands-on in many of HLM's flagship projects and a champion of social architecture.

  16.00

  John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct 2025

  Kirstie Irwin, Principal, BVN, Australia

  

  Kirstie Irwin

  Principal, BVN, Australia

  BVN principal, Kirstie Irwin has over 20 years’ experience delivering technically complex healthcare projects in Australia and the UK. She is a strong conceptual thinker who has played critical roles in developing designs for many notable health projects. Kirstie has successfully led clinical and architectural teams to deliver projects with clarity and attention to detail. Kirstie's expertise spans master planning, health, aged care, mixed-use residential, and commercial schemes. She brings local and international perspectives to a project's clinical planning and design, meeting key objectives whilst reflecting evidence-based design principles and best global practice. Every health project becomes an opportunity to enable collective thinking and embody a regenerative approach. Her goal is to achieve high-quality design initiatives that improve user experiences while enhancing the physical environment.

  Matthew Blair, Principal, BVN, United Kingdom

  

  Matthew Blair

  Principal, BVN, United Kingdom

  Matthew is an architect, technologist and Principal at BVN, acknowledged for his cross-sector expertise and his ability to apply current and novel technologies and future of work knowledge to redefine spaces across industries such as health, education, and science. With a career spanning Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, North America, and the UK, Matthew now leads BVN’s UK Studio, bringing a global perspective to his work. Passionate about driving change, Matthew also steers many of BVN’s transformational and innovation initiatives, collaborating with universities, start-ups, and other architectural practices to expand the boundaries of what architecture can achieve. His work reflects a deep understanding of how insights from workplace design can inform and enhance other sectors, from healthcare to life sciences, creating environments that foster collaboration, adaptability, and human connection.

  + View abstract

  John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct 2025

  Abstract Copy

  Opening in 2025, the John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct (JHHIP) represents one of the most significant recent hospital redevelopments in Australia, marking a major transformation of one of New South Wales’ busiest tertiary hospitals. This presentation will explore the design and delivery of the new acute services building (ASB) – a seven-storey, 40,000 m² clinical facility that expands and redefines services for a rapidly growing region projected to increase its population by 22 per cent by 2036.
  
  The session will outline how the project responds to increasing demand across emergency, maternity, neonatal and intensive care services. The new ASB increases emergency department capacity by more than 50 per cent, accommodates over 95,000 presentations annually, expands ICU capacity by 60 per cent, and delivers substantial growth in surgical capacity with 50 per cent more theatres. These clinical upgrades are framed within an ambition to create a future-oriented, highly resilient hospital that improves operational flows while strengthening connections to the existing hospital campus and the surrounding community.
  
  A distinctive feature of the John Hunter Health & Innovation Precinct is its research-led, human-centred approach to patient wellbeing, with particular focus on the patient bedroom as the most critical space for recovery. The design process drew on patient, carer, and staff insights to embed emotional support principles without compromising clinical safety. Full-scale prototypes were tested with clinicians, allied health teams, and medical emergency simulations, ensuring functionality while strengthening comfort, dignity, and resilience. Collaborative design strategies – including practice-wide innovation challenges, targeted consultations, and rigorous value assessment – combined to create bedrooms that support emotional wellbeing, demonstrating how evidence-based, creative design can transform healthcare environments.
  
  The presentation will also examine how a 'Designing with Country' approach guided the project’s cultural and environmental outcomes. Drawing on the knowledge and values of the Awabakal people, the design strengthens ecological connections, enhances access to existing cultural pathways, and incorporates materials and landscape gestures that honour Country and community. These principles were instrumental in shaping the architectural identity and the broader precinct vision. Sustainability was central to the project’s intent, with passive design strategies, extensive daylighting, landscape-integrated water management, and reduced operational energy supporting the local health district’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. As a major new hospital opening its doors in 2025, JHHIP provides timely lessons on how contemporary acute facilities can be conceived not only as centres of clinical excellence but also as places of healing, community connection and environmental leadership.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand how the Acute Services Building expands emergency, ICU, maternity and surgical capacity to meet regional growth while strengthening operational flow and connections across the wider hospital campus and community
  • Evaluate how human‑centred, research‑led design uses evidence‑based strategies and interdisciplinary collaboration to shape patient bedrooms and clinical environments that enhance comfort, dignity, resilience and overall wellbeing
  • Analyse how Designing with Country and sustainability principles use cultural knowledge, ecological connections and passive environmental strategies to shape architectural identity, strengthen community integration and guide health precinct development

  16.20

  Architecture of care: Designing a resilient urban hospital for human renewal

  Diego Morettin, Partner, DIALOG, Canada

  

  Diego Morettin

  Partner, DIALOG, Canada

  Diego is an accomplished architect, driven by a strong belief in the transformative power of design to enhance community wellbeing. He specialises in large, complex institutional and healthcare environments, guiding multidisciplinary teams and diverse stakeholder groups towards clear, balanced, and human-centred solutions. His work reflects a deep commitment to addressing complex organisational challenges while delivering meaningful social impact. A collaborative and team-oriented leader, Diego is dedicated to mentoring emerging architects and fostering a culture of shared learning and design excellence. Grounded in a comprehensive understanding of the architectural process, from early visioning through delivery, he integrates diverse perspectives into cohesive, purposeful outcomes. His inclusive leadership style and strategic clarity have earned industry-wide respect and resulted in a body of work that leaves a lasting impact on both communities and the profession.

  Chen Cohen, Partner, DIALOG, Canada

  

  Chen Cohen

  Partner, DIALOG, Canada

  Cohen (who goes by her last name) is an award-winning designer recognised for her expertise in large-scale, complex institutional projects. With a background in both interior design and architecture, she brings a holistic perspective to her work, shaping buildings from the inside out. Her projects are defined by a refined interplay of light, thoughtful material selection, strategic use of colour, and carefully curated furnishings that work in harmony to elevate the overall spatial experience. Known for her methodical, hands-on, and highly collaborative approach from early concept through completion, Cohen translates clients’ visions and aspirations into elevated, enduring design solutions that are both timeless and beautiful. Her commitment to equitable and universal design is integral to her process. She leads explorations around cultural, physical, and gender sensitivities, ensuring that each project meaningfully supports and enhances the user experience.

  Juan Portuese, Partner, DIALOG, Canada

  

  Juan Portuese

  Partner, DIALOG, Canada

  Juan Carlos is an award-winning architect with extensive experience delivering complex institutional projects across healthcare, civic, academic, and community sectors in Canada, the United States, and internationally. Juan’s work is grounded in a deep understanding of architecture as both a technical and cultural discipline. He has led and contributed to projects of significant scale and complexity, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to deliver environments that perform under real operational, regulatory, and social demands. His work focuses on projects where architecture carries real consequence, shaping how care is delivered, how institutions earn trust, and how communities experience clarity, dignity, and belonging. Juan Carlos balances rigour, accountability, and high-performance design with a strong commitment to environmental stewardship, pursuing architecture that endures, responds to climate, and supports a low-carbon future. Known as a collaborative leader, he unites clients, consultants, constructors, and communities around shared goals, creating distinct, context-specific solutions that advance both design excellence and architectural thinking.

  + View abstract

  Architecture of care: Designing a resilient urban hospital for human renewal

  Abstract Copy

  To respond to accelerating clinical complexity, workforce pressures, and rapid technological change, hospitals must be designed for performance, adaptability, and the renewal of human capacity. The Surgical and Patient Tower at Toronto Western Hospital (TWH), designed by DIALOG for University Health Network, offers a case study in how architecture can integrate clinical planning with artful, human-centred design to sustain performance, restore wellbeing, and support complex care in an uncertain future.
  
  TWH occupies a unique role as a quaternary care, research, and teaching hospital while serving as a community hospital embedded within the culturally rich and historic downtown Toronto. The new 15-storey, 380,000 sq ft tower expands surgical and inpatient capacity with 20 ORs, including three hybrid ORs, and 82 inpatient beds supporting complex neuroscience and orthopaedic care. Beyond capacity, the project addresses a deeper question: how can the built environment actively renew the emotional, cognitive, and physical wellbeing of those who give and receive care?
  
  Designing for human renewal: The design centres on shaping the patient and staff journey through form, material, light, art, and spatial experience. Architecture and interior design are used to create clarity within complexity, offering intuitive orientation, visual calm, and moments of relief within high-acuity settings. A welcoming ground plane establishes a civic threshold between city and hospital while warm, tactile materials and soft geometries counterbalance the technical intensity of surgical and inpatient spaces. Carefully choreographed circulation, supported by daylight and views, reduces cognitive load and reinforces dignity for patients, families, and staff alike.
  
  Wellbeing as an operational imperative: Access to natural light, views, and outdoor space extends across patient, clinical, and support areas, acknowledging the role of environment in staff performance, retention, and recovery. Healing gardens, an elevated outdoor terrace, and restorative family spaces are integrated into the hospital’s vertical life, embedding opportunities for pause and reflection within daily clinical routines.
  
  Design-led resilience: Advanced construction methodologies support delivery and long-term adaptability, including a prefabricated modular exterior building envelope that enables schedule certainty without compromising architectural intent. These strategies serve the design vision rather than define it, allowing industrialised systems to co-exist with a humane, contextually grounded architectural language capable of renewing the emotional, psychological, and cultural foundations of tertiary care.
  
  The TWH Surgical and Patient Tower illustrates how clarity of planning, adaptability of space, and sustained attention to human experience together create resilient healthcare environments by continuously supporting the people who must navigate it.

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand how architectural and interior design strategies, through form, materiality, light, art, and spatial experience, can actively support human renewal, wellbeing, and performance in high-acuity tertiary healthcare environments.
  • Examine how design-led integration of clinical planning, patient flow, and staff workflows can create clarity within complex hospital settings, enhancing dignity, efficiency, and resilience for patients, families, and care teams.
  • Explore how architectural intent, supported by adaptable construction and delivery strategies, can enable resilient healthcare environments that sustain emotional, psychological, and cultural foundations of care amid ongoing clinical & technological change

  16.40

  Panel discussion

  End of Planning, partnering and delivery stream

• Intersection of clinical medicine and design

  Westminster Room

  Supported by

  

  08.45 - 10.15

  Session 23

   - Reimagining urgent and emergency care

  

  Chair: Cemal Sozener, Clinical professor, Emergency Department and Emergency Critical Care Center, University of Michigan, USA

  

  Cemal Sozener

  Clinical professor, Emergency Department and Emergency Critical Care Center, University of Michigan, USA

  Dr. Sozener practices as clinical professor in the Emergency Department and Emergency Critical Care Center at the University of Michigan. With fellowship training in the care of neurologically injured patients, he also serves as a member of the stroke and telestroke teams. He leads multiple departmental and institutional initiatives; all aimed at improving operational efficiency and quality clinical care. He is the co-director of the Michigan Comprehensive Stroke Program and associate director of the Michigan Telestroke Program. In addition to rich hospital operations experience, his passion is in lean facility design and the intersection of healthcare engineering, operations, technology and patient safety. He is one of a very small number of practicing physicians internationally with EDAC credentials. As co-principal of Emerging Healthcare Design, the consulting firm he co-founded, Cemal utilizes his extensive clinical and lean operational expertise to optimize care delivery models and design facilities to enhance efficiency, staff satisfaction and improve clinical care.

  08.45

  Urgent treatment centres – the evolving model of frontline care

  Sharon Cook, Architect and healthcare lead, P+HS Architects, United Kingdom

  

  Sharon Cook

  Architect and healthcare lead, P+HS Architects, United Kingdom

  A senior architect at P+HS and one of the practice's healthcare leads, Sharon has over 12 years' experience of working on projects in the healthcare sector. Sharon’s expertise covers a wide range working for a cross-section of NHS trusts and private clients, leading on projects ranging in scale from small refurbishments through to larger new build schemes. Equipped with a broad range of skills Sharon has a passion for stakeholder engagement and also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Construction Project Management. Recent experience includes pathology labs, endoscopy departments, and urgent treatment centres, as well as a new-build health and care academy encompassing a primary care centre, nursing school, training and conference facility, She is also currently working on a new clinical trials unit for cancer research.

  Tom Potter, Associate director and healthcare lead, P+HS Architects, UK

  

  Tom Potter

  Associate director and healthcare lead, P+HS Architects, UK

  With over 20 years of architectural experience, Tom is an associate director and healthcare lead for P+HS Architects. An enthusiastic and conscientious architect, Tom has led an extensive portfolio of projects, focusing on sustainable primary and acute healthcare developments. Recently having worked on some of the practice’s largest acute schemes, Tom has led the architectural delivery of several new urgent and emergency care schemes across the country, while other projects have included paediatric assessment, surgical departments, major trauma wards, and endoscopy services. Alongside acute schemes, Tom has worked on many primary care schemes across the country, working with developers and GPs to adapt existing buildings or provide sustainable, new-build premises. As part of the cross-office team of healthcare leads, Tom is passionate about the sector, promoting exemplary design and emerging trends, sharing best practice and specialist knowledge across the industry.

  + View abstract

  Urgent treatment centres – the evolving model of frontline care

  Abstract Copy

  Part of the current direction for healthcare provision in line with the NHS ten-year plan is the ‘left shift’ – moving the focus away from acute sites to the community; but how does this dynamic relate to the recent trend in development of urgent treatment centres and their relationship with emergency departments on acute sites?
  
  Exploring a selection of recent and completed projects, we will look at this evolving model of frontline care and how these facilities integrate with acute settings, adding adaptability and agility.
  
  The review will look at the completed urgent treatment centre at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, a key development in urgent care services on Teesside, opened to patients in April 2024. This project forms part of a series of developments designed to improve patient flow, ensure patients are seen in an appropriate environment, and reduce pressure on the hospital’s emergency department. The project made use of modular construction to facilitate working on an extremely constrained site, adjacent to the helipad for the regional major trauma centre, and to assist with the challenges of working on a live hospital site, reducing disruption to the existing emergency department front door. Now in use, the scheme is already delivering a huge benefit in easing pressure on emergency care, as well as providing an enhanced patient experience through design of the interiors, creating a calming environment and fostering a sense of place and community connection with internal murals featuring local Teesside landmarks; we will reflect on the project’s success through review of post-occupancy evaluation, which has been carried out.
  
  Additionally, we will look at two urgent treatment centre projects currently under construction: one at Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle; the other at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne. The talk will reflect on how these schemes will improve patient flows at these sites, and how learnings from the previously completed scheme have been utilised.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Look at evolving models of urgent care
  • Review feedback from completed project
  • Look at how models have been applied to currently ongoing projects

  09.05

  Redesign of existing St Mary’s Hospital adult emergency department to support effective, efficient and safe patient flow

  Debbie So, Senior innovation manager, Imperial College Healthcare Partners, United Kingdom

  

  Debbie So

  Senior innovation manager, Imperial College Healthcare Partners, United Kingdom

  Debbie So is a healthcare innovation and strategy leader. Her current role is senior innovation manager at Imperial College Healthcare Partners, with a background in strategy consultancy and partnerships from Deloitte. Debbie is passionate about taking innovations from concept to practice across large-scale public and private organisations to deliver user-centred care, including obesity pathway redesign for NW London, Covid-19 testing pathways, and the Vodafone Centre for Health. Her work was awarded Innovation, Growth & New Business Models Gold by the Financial Times and British Media Interactive Media Association (BIMA) Top 100. Debbie graduated with an MSc in Healthcare Design from Imperial College of London and an MRes from the Royal College of Arts London. Her thesis was on the redesign of a NW London-based trauma emergency department to support effective, efficient and safe patient flow.

  + View abstract

  Redesign of existing St Mary’s Hospital adult emergency department to support effective, efficient and safe patient flow

  Abstract Copy

  St Mary’s Hospital is a major acute hospital with an around-the-clock emergency department, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and one of four major trauma centres in London. Like many emergency departments, St Mary’s is under considerable and sustained pressures, which can impact quality of care, patient flow, and staff and patient experience. These issues are compounded by St Mary’s ageing infrastructure, where piecemeal developments and a growing maintenance backlog over the decades have created complex patient pathways, counterintuitive configurations and limitations of the building to respond to increasing and changing healthcare demands and opportunities.
  
  Given the lack of a near-term redevelopment programme and the risk of service closures due to the current poor estate, our objective was to identify and develop options to redesign the existing St Mary’s adult emergency department to support effective, efficient and safe patient flow.
  
  Research was grounded in human-centred design, a method of designing solutions using a ‘double diamond approach’ that centres the needs of the individuals experiencing the problem, and then ideating, prototyping, and testing the solution in iterative cycles. We used a combination of interviews, site visits, mental maps, functional relationship diagrams, patient journey maps, review of local performance data, and a literature review to develop a deep understanding of the environmental psychology of St Mary’s emergency department.
  
  Outputs include a current state assessment and recommendations on the future state design and design principles. Our future state design provides an improved initial assessment patient journey, enhances treatment and assessment areas in majors, and supports better communication and collaboration between staff using a combined central staff work core. While it is unlikely that the future state design can be executed in its entirety, together with the design principles, it can serve as input to Imperial Trust’s redevelopment strategy and guide piecemeal enhancements.

  Learning Objectives

  • Human centered design
  • Clinical design collaboration
  • Optimising patient flow

  09.25

  A computational BIM-based spatial analysis method for the evaluation of emergency department layouts

  Wassim Jabi, Professor and chair of computational methods in architecture, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

  

  Wassim Jabi

  Professor and chair of computational methods in architecture, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

  Professor Wassim Jabi is course director of the MSc Computational Methods in Architecture at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, UK. He received his MArch and PhD from the University of Michigan and taught at several universities in the United States before moving to the UK in 2008. While in the US, he secured a $250,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant as principal investigator. He has published extensively on parametric and generative design, spatial representation, the role of light in architecture, and building performance simulation. He is the author of Parametric Design for Architecture (Laurence King Publishing, London). In 2013, he obtained £70,000 in internal competitive funding to acquire a six-axis high-accuracy industrial robot for research into digital fabrication processes. More recently, he led a £300,000 Leverhulme Trust–funded project investigating spatial topology in Building Information Modelling (BIM), resulting in the development of the Topologic software library.

  Aysegul Ozlem Bayraktar Sari, PhD candidate / researcher, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

  

  Aysegul Ozlem Bayraktar Sari

  PhD candidate / researcher, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

  Aysegul Ozlem Bayraktar Sari is a PhD candidate at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. Her research focuses on computational Building Information Modelling (BIM) based methods for spatial analysis in healthcare environments. She develops graph-based and visibility-driven workflows integrating Revit, Dynamo, and Python to evaluate accessibility, integration, privacy, and movement patterns in emergency department layouts. Her work aims to embed spatial performance analysis directly within the BIM environment to support evidence-based design decision-making in complex healthcare settings. She has presented her research at international conferences and has published in peer-reviewed journals. Her broader interests include computational design, graph-based analysis, digital twins, and data- and learning-driven approaches in architecture, particularly in relation to healthcare design and performance-oriented environments.

  + View abstract

  A computational BIM-based spatial analysis method for the evaluation of emergency department layouts

  Abstract Copy

  Emergency departments (EDs) are complex, high-pressure settings where spatial layout directly influences operational efficiency, clinical decision-making, patient experience, and staff wellbeing. Despite the central role of spatial configuration, healthcare design practice still lacks integrated, data-driven tools capable of evaluating spatial performance directly within building information modelling (BIM). Current approaches typically rely on exporting geometry to external analysis software, resulting in fragmented workflows, data loss, and limited applicability to early design decision-making. This study addresses these limitations by presenting a BIM-based computational workflow that embeds spatial network analysis within the design environment to support evidence-based evaluation of ED layouts.
  
  The workflow integrates Revit, Dynamo, Python, and the AVA spatial analysis library to analyse accessibility, visibility, connectivity, and privacy. Spatial graphs are automatically extracted from BIM geometry and used to compute a suite of spatial metrics, including step-depth, metric distance, connectivity, integration, visual integration, visual choice, and isovist-based measures. To reflect real operational conditions, key patient and staff pathways – including entrance–waiting–triage–treatment and ambulance-to-resuscitation routes – are modelled to assess how spatial configuration shapes movement, communication, and situational awareness.
  
  Applied to two contrasting real-world ED floor plans in the UK, the workflow demonstrates how corridor alignment, room clustering, door positioning, and sightline interruptions significantly affect movement efficiency, wayfinding clarity, staff visibility, bottleneck formation, and patient privacy. Comparative results highlight that small geometric variations can lead to meaningful differences in travel distance, depth from entrance, visual control of critical spaces, and the protection of sensitive patient areas. The BIM-native implementation enables rapid iteration and scenario testing, eliminating repetitive import–export cycles and ensuring fidelity between design intent and analytical output.
  
  Embedding spatial analysis directly into BIM offers a scalable, transparent, and repeatable approach for evaluating ED layouts. The workflow enhances early-stage design exploration, supports evidence-based investment and planning decisions, and strengthens post-occupancy evaluation by linking performance insights back to the digital model. By integrating spatial reasoning, healthcare design knowledge, and computational modelling, this research contributes a practical method for improving the design and redesign of emergency departments. It also establishes a foundation for future integration with digital twins, simulation models, and machine learning to support continuous performance monitoring and adaptive healthcare environments.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • To demonstrate how a computational BIM-based workflow can evaluate emergency department layouts using evidence-based spatial performance metrics.
  • To show how step-depth, integration, and visibility metrics reveal bottlenecks, flow inefficiencies, and privacy risks along patient and staff pathways.
  • To explain how embedding spatial analysis directly in BIM enables rapid design iteration and supports data-driven decision-making in healthcare architecture.

  09.45

  Panel discussion

  10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

  + View gallery

  10.45 - 12.30

  Session 24

   - Designing modern surgical environments

  

  Chair: Tom Best MBE, MD, Clinical director / Intensivist, King’s College Hospital, UK

  

  Tom Best MBE, MD

  Clinical director / Intensivist, King’s College Hospital, UK

  Tom Best MBE, MD is Clinical director / Intensivist at King’s College Hospital, UK.

  10.45

  Operating in the park: Daylight and adaptability in the surgical environment

  Annette Dörr, Interior architect, heinlewischer, Germany

  

  Annette Dörr

  Interior architect, heinlewischer, Germany

  Annette Doerr is an interior architect and project manager with more than 30 years of experience at heinlewischer. Throughout her career, she has led the conceptual and interior design of numerous projects in Germany and abroad, contributing significantly to the firm’s healthcare and workplace portfolio. Her expertise extends beyond practice to academia and professional discourse; she has taught seminars at the universities of Palermo and Napoli and has presented internationally on topics ranging from interior design principles to the planning and organisation of healthcare facilities. Annette served as the project manager for the surgical suite expansion at the Dortmund Hospital, North Clinical Center.

  Austin Ferguson, Architect, heinlewischer, Germany

  

  Austin Ferguson

  Architect, heinlewischer, Germany

  Austin Ferguson is an American architect based in heinlewischer’s Berlin office, specialising in the design and planning of healthcare facilities. With professional experience in both the United States and Germany, he brings a valuable understanding of the healthcare systems, regulatory frameworks, and design standards in both contexts. His cross-cultural expertise strengthens the firm’s local and international healthcare projects. Beyond his core work in healthcare design, Austin led the expedited planning and implementation of mass vaccination centres for the State of Berlin during the Covid-19 pandemic. He also played a key role in developing a refugee reception centre in Berlin for Ukrainians fleeing the war, contributing urgently needed expertise during a time of crisis.

  Edzard Schultz, Architect / Partner, heinlewischer, Germany

  

  Edzard Schultz

  Architect / Partner, heinlewischer, Germany

  Edzard Schultz is a principal architect and partner of heinlewischer and spokesman for the entire office. He studied architecture at the TU Berlin. To this day, he is also involved in teaching and research, for example, at Clemson University South Carolina (USA) Architecture + Health. He is a member of the “AKG – Architekten für Krankenhausbau und Gesundheitswesen” and is active in the DIN committee. His work covers the broad spectrum of complex building tasks, primarily buildings for health, with a holistic approach from masterplanning through competitions and realisations to evaluation. He is especially interested in the structural and communicative synthesis in the architect's work.

  + View abstract

  Operating in the park: Daylight and adaptability in the surgical environment

  Abstract Copy

  Heinlewischer’s 2023 expansion of the surgical suite at Dortmund Hospital, North Clinical Center advances the firm’s long-standing commitment to innovative surgical suite design and to the incorporation of daylight. The project provides 11 new operating rooms, including two hybrid ORs, all equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows along the exterior wall. Daylight in both support areas and the ORs is carefully moderated through fixed louvres, exterior blackout shades, and translucent window film to ensure privacy for patients and to provide appropriate lighting levels for image-guided procedures. Although research on daylighting specifically in surgical environments remains limited, broader daylight studies suggest potential benefits, such as improved task performance and reduced staff fatigue, stress and errors.
  
  The surgical suite’s modular, cluster-based organisation provides both immediate efficiency and long-term adaptability. The ORs are arranged in clusters of three, each supported by a dedicated induction room and sterile supply area to streamline workflow and resource use. Central to the suite’s flexibility is the 3-metre-deep interstitial “flex-zone”, positioned between each OR and the main circulation corridor. Rather than functioning as a typical alcove for beds or washbasins, this zone currently accommodates equipment and supply storage directly adjacent to the rooms. Additionally, the control rooms for the hybrid ORs are located within this zone.
  
  Tall supply cabinets currently divide the flex-zone to give each OR its own dedicated area. However, these can be reconfigured or removed to create shared space for an entire OR cluster. Looking ahead, the flex-zones can support a wide range of future needs, including enlarging individual ORs, adding control rooms for advanced imaging, or creating dedicated prep or induction rooms. While such changes would require renovation rather than plug-and-play adjustments, the deliberate allocation of these flex-zones ensures that future upgrades can occur without reducing the number or functional capacity of existing operating rooms or support spaces.
  
  Beyond the surgical suite, the overall building expansion and its structural system were planned to enable a future vertical addition to enable possible hospital growth. All mechanical services for the surgical suite are located on the basement level, directly connected to the suite. This placement ensures that a future vertical expansion would not require major service interruptions or relocation.
  
  By integrating abundant daylight, flexible planning, and future-ready infrastructure, the Dortmund Hospital, North Clinical Center surgical suite is well positioned to adapt to evolving surgical techniques, emerging technologies, and new spatial demands for years to come.

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand methods for incorporating daylight in the surgical environment
  • Describe the modular and flexible planning strategies in surgical suite design
  • Recognize how building and infrastructure planning supports long-term clinical adaptability and growth

  11.05

  Enhancing operating theatre resilience through sensor-integrated lighting: Towards agile environmental and patient monitoring

  Richard McAuley, National specification manager, Brandon Medical Co, United Kingdom

  

  Richard McAuley

  National specification manager, Brandon Medical Co, United Kingdom

  Richard McAuley is a highly experienced professional with a comprehensive background in technology, IT and audio-visual systems. His healthcare portfolio includes cutting-edge projects, such as surgical skills labs, integrated operating theatres, MDT facilities, endoscopy suites, and mortuaries across the UK. Notable collaborations include WMSTC, Newcastle Freeman Hospital, Keele University, and Leeds St James’s Hospital. At Brandon Medical, Richard authors master specifications that seamlessly integrate advanced technologies with the needs of healthcare professionals, estate owners, and end users, ensuring optimal outcomes for modern healthcare design.

  + View abstract

  Enhancing operating theatre resilience through sensor-integrated lighting: Towards agile environmental and patient monitoring

  Abstract Copy

  In an era of rapid technological evolution and climate instability, healthcare facilities must prioritise agility and resilience to mitigate disruptions from workforce shortages, cyber risks, and environmental changes. Operating theatres, as high-stakes environments, demand innovative designs that bridge the gap between physical infrastructure and digital transformation. Traditional systems often lack integrated monitoring, leading to inefficiencies in energy use, air quality control, and patient data capture. We examine how advanced sensor-embedded operating theatre lighting can address these challenges, aligning with the conference theme of designing for resilience, renewal and regeneration. By focusing on science, technology, and digital transformation alongside climate-smart healthcare, we highlight opportunities to create adaptive spaces that enhance patient outcomes while reducing carbon footprints.
  
  The study aims to demonstrate the potential of a new generation of operating theatre lights equipped with embedded sensors to enable precise, real-time monitoring of environmental factors (temperature, humidity, CO2, and particulate levels) and patient-specific metrics (body temperature and localised air quality). This integration seeks to optimise theatre efficiency, support sustainable practices, and facilitate data-driven insights for improved clinical resilience.
  
  Drawing from practical implementations in prototype settings, the approach involves embedding multi-sensor arrays into LED-based operating theatre lights positioned directly above the surgical field. These sensors interface with intelligent control panels that unify medical devices, power systems, and building management protocols. Data streams can then be securely transmitted to healthcare databases, ensuring compliance with privacy standards. Testing in simulated operating environments assessed sensor accuracy, integration latency, and energy impacts using standardised metrics for air handling and ventilation control. AI algorithms were applied retrospectively to anonymised datasets to model correlations between environmental variables and procedural outcomes.
  
  Initial findings indicate that sensor integration reduces response times for environmental adjustments by up to 30 per cent, enhancing ultraclean ventilation efficiency and minimising energy waste, key to net-zero carbon goals. Patient data capture showed high fidelity in tracking thermal variations, with healthcare record integration enabling holistic health profiling. AI analysis revealed preliminary trends, such as links between particulate levels and post-operative recovery rates, suggesting predictive models could reduce complications by identifying optimal conditions.
  
  This technology exemplifies agile design by transforming static lighting systems into dynamic monitoring hubs, fostering resilience against climatic and operational uncertainties. Implications include scalable adoption for retrofitting existing theatres, promoting circular economy principles through energy-efficient upgrades, and empowering multidisciplinary teams with actionable insights. By sharing these learnings, attendees can explore adaptable strategies that prioritise patient-centred and sustainable innovation.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand how embedded sensors in operating theatre lighting can enable real-time environmental and patient monitoring to foster resilient healthcare ecosystems.
  • Explore integration strategies for digital technologies with building management systems and patient records to improve operational efficiency and climate-smart practices.
  • Discuss potential AI-driven analyses of collected data to identify trends in patient outcomes, promoting proactive adaptations in surgical environments.

  11.25

  One-size OR? How the ‘normal’ surgical hardware highlights barriers to equity in the operating theatre

  Jessica Mudry, Professor, director, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

  

  Jessica Mudry

  Professor, director, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

  Dr. Jessica Mudry is a Professor and Chair of the School of Professional Communication at Toronto Metropolitan University and the Founding Director of the Healthcare User Experience (HUE) Lab, a collaborative initiative with various healthcare teams in the Greater Toronto Areal. Her interdisciplinary research integrates communication theory, health systems analysis, and user-centered design to transform clinical environments and tools. Dr. Mudry’s current work focuses on advancing equity in healthcare design, including the development of inclusive surgical hardware and patient-centered post-surgical recovery garments. Notably, she leads a New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) project to redesign hospital hallways through modular emergency department seating. Dr. Mudry also serves as an Affiliate Professor at the École des hautes études en santé publique (EHESP) in France, bringing a global perspective to her work on how design-driven methodologies can improve health outcomes and humanize the built environment.

  + View abstract

  One-size OR? How the ‘normal’ surgical hardware highlights barriers to equity in the operating theatre

  Abstract Copy

  Surgical instruments and environments are built around a morphological “normal” that excludes other-sized bodies, undermining surgical performance, training equity, and patient safety. This standardisation – rooted in outdated anthropometric norms – creates systemic ergonomic misfits that create barriers for equity and access for different sized bodies in the operating theatre (OR). This study investigated how these material inequities manifest in the OR and how inclusive design might restore adaptability, safety, and belonging within surgical practice.
  
  This research builds on a completed project whose initial phase collected questionnaire-based testimonies from 140 surgeons across Canada and the United States. Respondents provided written reflections describing how the physical design of surgical tools and environments affected their practice, training, and wellbeing. Responses were coded thematically to identify recurring ergonomic and psychosocial patterns of misfit, exclusion, and adaptation. Collectively, the testimonies illustrate how the material culture of surgery – from instruments to workstations – reproduces gendered and morphological exclusion, creating both occupational health risks and barriers to career progression.
  
  Survey results reveal that ergonomic misfits are endemic rather than exceptional in surgical practice. This paper will provide context and detail and future recommendations to address some of these inequities in the built environment of the OR. The current requirement of having bodies adapt is unsustainable and exclusionary and the goal is a shift from training surgeons to adapt, to redesigning tools and environments that adapt to surgeons. Inclusive, equitable, user-centred design thus becomes a key strategy for resilience and renewal – enhancing surgeon wellbeing, sustaining expertise, and safeguarding patient safety.
  
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Articulate the systemic inequities created by the standard-sized design of surgical instruments and spaces, specifically how they disproportionately compromise patient safety, trainee autonomy, and career advancement for surgeons with smaller hands, often
  • Analyze the operational impacts of ergonomic misfit, identifying how it leads to cognitive disruption, physical strain, and fractured workflow, thereby undermining the overall agility and resilience of the surgical system.
  • Evaluate the potential of participatory, evidence-based design methods—such as surgeon testimonies, Photovoice, and Design Jams—as a critical first step for co-creating equitable surgical tools, spaces, and policies that foster inclusion and safety.

  11.45

  M Wing Modular Operating Room Expansion – advancing surgical capacity through modern methods of construction

  Luke Le, Principal, NORR Architects and Engineers, Canada

  

  Luke Le

  Principal, NORR Architects and Engineers, Canada

  Since joining NORR in 2005, Luke has been instrumental in developing the Health Sciences Studio in Toronto, ON. His commitment to building strong relationships with his clients and understanding their vision and goals has produced creative solutions. Luke is a hands-on Principal with diverse proven leadership experience as a Project Manager and Studio Manager and has led multiple projects across a multitude of healthcare facilities. He has worked to perfect the design process and protocols in partnership with project representatives and clinical leaders to solve operational and clinical challenges. Luke brings a deep understanding of healthcare practices combined with technical knowledge and business acumen, and champions positive transformational change and continuous quality improvement through project execution. Luke is passionate about helping others and reimagining how healthcare design services are executed and delivered.

  + View abstract

  M Wing Modular Operating Room Expansion – advancing surgical capacity through modern methods of construction

  Abstract Copy

  Acute care hospitals across major urban centres face mounting pressure to expand surgical capacity while maintaining uninterrupted operations. Traditional construction approaches often intensify these challenges, introducing noise, vibration, infection-control risks, and workflow disruption – conditions that are especially difficult to manage around active operating theatres. Modern methods of construction (MMC), particularly volumetric modular construction, offer a compelling alternative that can accelerate delivery, while significantly reducing on-site impact.
  
  This case study examines the M Wing Modular Operating Room Expansion Feasibility Study at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, one of Canada’s largest academic hospitals. The study evaluates the potential to deliver a four-suite surgical expansion through a turnkey modular solution within a dense and highly constrained campus. It explores how modular construction can mitigate the risks associated with building next to active ORs, compress schedules, and enable earlier operational readiness while meeting the stringent technical and regulatory requirements of modern surgical environments.
  
  The feasibility process integrated clinical planning, architectural and engineering design, modular fabrication logistics, site constraints assessment, and operational risk modelling. Key focus areas included:
  1. minimising disruption to adjacent ORs and critical support spaces through strategic siting and phasing;
  2. capitalising on factory-controlled fabrication to enhance quality assurance and ensure precise integration of mechanical, electrical, and medical gas infrastructure; and
  3. shifting intrusive construction activities off-site, thereby reducing vibration, dust, noise, and construction traffic in a live hospital setting.
  
  Preliminary findings indicate that a modular approach can reduce on-site duration by up to 40 per cent, limit clinical disruption, and enable earlier commissioning compared to conventional construction. The approach also provides opportunities for future scalability, vertical expansion, and standardised module design, offering strategic advantages for long-term capital planning. Factory fabrication further improves schedule reliability, minimises rework, and enhances co-ordination of high-acuity clinical environments.
  
  The M Wing study demonstrates how volumetric modular construction can redefine the delivery of complex healthcare renovations in operational hospitals – supporting increased surgical capacity without compromising patient safety, infection control, or clinical workflow. As health systems worldwide grapple with surgical backlogs, ageing infrastructure, and limited expansion zones, this case study offers a replicable model for safer, faster, and more adaptable approaches to surgical infrastructure delivery.
  
  The feasibility study will outline the methodology, interdisciplinary collaboration model, challenges encountered, and key outcomes, illustrating how modular innovation can advance the next generation of high-acuity healthcare environments and present a replicable model for future modular surgical expansions globally.
  
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand how Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), particularly volumetric modular construction, can minimize disruption and clinical risk when delivering surgical environments within operational hospitals.
  • Evaluate the design, technical, and operational considerations necessary to deliver modular operating theatres that meet the stringent performance requirements of contemporary surgical environments.
  • Apply a scalable, replicable framework for implementing modular surgical expansions across diverse healthcare contexts.

  12.05

  Panel discussion

  12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, lunch and networking

  + View gallery

  14.00 - 15.30

  Session 25

   - Designing for new models of care

  

  Chair: Sasha Karakusevic BDS, MBA, Project director, NHS Horizons; Senior fellow, Nuffield Trust, UK

  

  Sasha Karakusevic BDS, MBA

  Project director, NHS Horizons; Senior fellow, Nuffield Trust, UK

  Sasha has spent his career working in the NHS, initially in dentistry and maxillofacial surgery. He has spent 20 years at executive level in hospital systems and has a particular interest in the development of integrated systems. He now works for the NHS Horizons team supporting a wide range of change programmes. His current focus is on increasing the role of physical activity in health, working on a commission to support Sport England’s ‘Uniting the Movement’ strategy.

  14.00

  From fragmentation to continuity: A transitional design framework for future care settings

  Tracy Lord, Principal | Health lead, Billard Leece Partnership, Australia

  

  Tracy Lord

  Principal | Health lead, Billard Leece Partnership, Australia

  Tracy Lord is a principal and health lead at Billard Leece Partnership (BLP), one of Australia’s leading architecture firms and global experts in social infrastructure design. An award-winning multidisciplinary practice, BLP designs for a healthy world by delivering people-based solutions that translate evidence-based research. With a career spanning 25 years in health design, Tracy has established her credentials in delivering health projects across multiple scales in Australia and New Zealand. Tracy is the Region IV director of the UIA Public Health Group. In addition to working across architecture and project management, Tracy has a particular interest in contributing to thought leadership in the architecture community. She is passionate about inclusive design, as well as creating healthier built spaces that improve people's lives – whether that be through designing hospitals, looking at the inclusion of healthcare within mixed-use precincts or using biophilic principles to improve commercial and urban environments.

  Azadeh Kazeranizadeh, Architect, Billard Leece Partnership, Australia

  

  Azadeh Kazeranizadeh

  Architect, Billard Leece Partnership, Australia

  Azadeh is a registered architect at Billard Leece Partnership, having joined the firm in 2021. Azadeh has worked with government agencies, local health districts, developers and consultants on complex public projects. Her work engages not only with building design but with the broader systems that shape healthcare and community environments. She advocates for holistic approaches to health design, spaces that support wellbeing clinically, spatially, culturally and emotionally. For Azadeh, healthcare architecture should be restorative, dignified and meaningfully connected to the communities it serves. Azadeh approaches architecture as both a technical discipline and a social project. Born and educated in Iran, she completed a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering where she developed an early understanding that the built environment must respond to how people live, heal, gather and belong. She moved to Australia in 2017 to pursue a Master of Architecture at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 2019.

  + View abstract

  From fragmentation to continuity: A transitional design framework for future care settings

  Abstract Copy

  Background: Contemporary healthcare systems increasingly acknowledge that health is not an episodic event contained within hospital walls but an ongoing, relational and community-based process. Yet the physical environments that support this process remain largely shaped by conventional design process, resulting in facilities that stabilise older models of care long after practice has evolved. This misalignment reinforces fragmentation, as patients navigate discontinuities between home, community, primary care and acute services. Emerging models of care call for care settings capable of supporting fluid transitions rather than fixed service boundaries. However, the spatial and experiential implications of such transitions remain under-examined.
  
  Purpose: This paper proposes a re-imagined conception of care setting as an evolving translational interface, a system of physical and relational thresholds that mediates between clinical intent and lived experience. Rather than positioning design as a prescriptive driver of service models, we explore its role as a facilitator that translates clinical strategy into adaptive environments capable of holding complexity and change. We ask: How can transitional design processes and co-designed thresholds dissolve systemic silos and cultivate a more agile, continuous and relational care ecosystem?
  
  Methods: The study draws on four complementary streams of inquiry:
  • a critical review of literature on transitional care, continuity of care and distributed health delivery models;
  • precedent analysis of facilities that embed care transitions;
  • reflection on design practice through observational insights from recent hospital and community care projects; and
  • a comparative critique of conventional health facility procurement and briefing pathways, identifying points where design currently loses and could regain agency.
  
  Together, these establish a preliminary framework for transitional design as both process and spatial strategy.
  
  Results: Practice-based evidence points to the most impactful design opportunities residing not in large-scale architectural gestures but in the creation of experiential conditions that can absorb change over time: spatial gradients between clinical and everyday life, touchpoints that support multiple modes of interaction, and co-designed thresholds that make transitions navigable and dignified. These strategies enable facilities to accommodate evolving care models while improving relational continuity between settings.
  
  Conclusions: The research demonstrates that designers hold reciprocal agency in shaping systemic agility. Through closer alignment with clinicians, policymakers and communities, transitional design processes help bridge gaps between intent and implementation, enabling the healthcare built environment to evolve with practice rather than lag behind it. This work offers an initial framework for embedding continuity, relational care and adaptive capacity at the intersection of design and clinical medicine.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand systemic fragmentation and transitional care needs
  • Identify design opportunities that support evolving care models
  • Define the concept of a “transitional design framework”

  14.20

  Reimagining hospital pharmacy architecture in England: Designing future-ready systems for medicines access and care

  Fiona Lennon, Deputy clinical director, New Hospital Programme (NHS England), UK

  

  Fiona Lennon

  Deputy clinical director, New Hospital Programme (NHS England), UK

  Fiona Lennon is deputy clinical director in the NHS New Hospital Programme (NHP). An experienced NHS senior manager and registered nurse with a career spanning over 30 years leading complex NHS teams in major acute and specialist trusts. She has worked in strategic health roles at both a regional and national level. Throughout her career she has been involved in various design and build projects, including as a project clinician on the first-ever tripartite private finance initiative (PFI) hospital scheme. Her background gives her an understanding of healthcare management and operational leadership to support the NHP deliver hospitals that are safe, flexible, and efficient for the future.

  Francine de Stoppelaar, Specialist advisor – medicines optimisation, New Hospital Programme (Health Delivery Partnership), UK

  

  Francine de Stoppelaar

  Specialist advisor – medicines optimisation, New Hospital Programme (Health Delivery Partnership), UK

  Francine de Stoppelaar PharmD, MSc, CertBA is an honorary associate professor and digital health and AI innovator. Francine is a seasoned healthcare executive with over 25 years of leadership experience across British, American, Dutch, and UAE health systems. Her career is defined by operational excellence, healthcare innovation, and strategic technology implementation, including AI-driven transformation. With expertise in both internal and consultancy roles, Francine has successfully led large cross-functional teams in delivering hospital activations, greenfield capital projects, and advanced clinical improvement programs. Her initiatives consistently enhance patient outcomes, safety, and medicines optimisation. A pioneer in digital health, Francine has led on the hospital-wide operational activation of Cleveland Clinic London, as well as spearheaded the implementation of the UK’s first Closed Loop Medicines Optimization model at Cleveland Clinic London, now fully operational and nationally recognised. Under her leadership, the initiative earned multiple accolades, including the Cleveland Clinic CEO Team Award and two consecutive nominations for the Laing Buisson Innovation Awards (2022, 2023). Her innovative contributions to healthcare earned her recognition as one of Intelligent Health Top 50 Innovators of 2023. She frequently presents at international conferences and serves on expert panels focusing on digital transformation and AI in medicine. As co-founder of the Asclepius Project, Francine is leading a pan-European initiative to automate and digitally transform hospital medicines optimisation using AI and intelligent automation technologies. She is an honorary associate professor at the University of Leicester and an associate at Deloitte UK. Her academic foundation includes a Doctor of Pharmacy and MSc from Utrecht and Maastricht Universities, a Certificate in Business Administration from Warwick Business School, and executive education in Digital Transformation Leadership from Harvard Medical School.

  Joshua Igbineweka, Clinical fellow and pharmacy SME, New Hospital Programme (NHS England), UK

  

  Joshua Igbineweka

  Clinical fellow and pharmacy SME, New Hospital Programme (NHS England), UK

  Joshua Igbineweka MPharm (Hons), PGDip, IP, is an experienced pharmacist and senior healthcare advisor specialising in strategy, design, and transformation. As clinical fellow in the NHS New Hospital Programme, he is chair of the programme’s patient safety working group. Joshua’s work also centres around harnessing innovation at scale, redesigning the hospital medicines management ecosystem for the future and advancing medicines optimisation in modern healthcare environments, which integrates digital automation, robotics, and new ways of practice. Joshua has spent most of his clinical practice working as a specialist pharmacist in haematology and oncology at a major London teaching hospital, where he acquired his independent prescribing qualification.

  Meera Ruparelia, Senior manager - pharmacy SME, New Hospital Programme (Health Delivery Partnership), UK

  

  Meera Ruparelia

  Senior manager - pharmacy SME, New Hospital Programme (Health Delivery Partnership), UK

  Meera is a registered pharmacist with over a decade of hands-on clinical experience, seamlessly integrated with seven years dedicated to driving digital transformation initiatives. This dual expertise provides a comprehensive understanding of both healthcare operations and technological innovation, enabling the development and implementation of strategic digital solutions that enhance efficiency, optimise patient care, and streamline complex healthcare operations.

  + View abstract

  Reimagining hospital pharmacy architecture in England: Designing future-ready systems for medicines access and care

  Abstract Copy

  Introduction: Hospital pharmacy services in England have remained largely traditional, evolving slowly despite growing complexity in medicines and care delivery. However, the increasing availability of advanced technologies offers an unprecedented opportunity to propel it to a futuristic state of transformed services – improving patient care models and access to medicines, optimising workflows, and enhancing staff experience. In the 24/25 financial year alone, hospitals in England spent over £11 billion on medicines and medical devices, most of which flowed through pharmacy departments, placing immense responsibility on pharmacy teams for safe handling and use.
  
  Investment in the infrastructure underpinning hospital pharmacy services and medicines management has not kept pace with rising costs, sophistication of novel medicines, and operational pressures. This creates a critical need to rethink the system, by connecting the components of physical architecture, digital infrastructure, and clinical practice to meet changing patient needs. Harnessing innovation at scale could redefine hospital pharmacy as a cornerstone of future healthcare design.
  
  Methods: Using the Design Council’s Double Diamond framework, we explored existing principles and pain points in hospital pharmacy workflows to develop a range of future-oriented models. Design research methods including journey mapping, patient interviews, and focused ethnography were employed to identify bottlenecks and leverage points for intervention. Engagement with participants occurred through voluntary participation in both remote consultations and in-person workshops. Insights were synthesised into thematic reports for analysis.
  
  Results: Findings reveal strong demand for radical change in hospital pharmacy practice. Patients and the public prioritised timely, convenient access to medicines, and advocated for greater adoption of automation and digital technologies to reduce delays and improve efficiency. Intelligent use of technology not only streamlines processes but also reshapes spatial requirements within the built environment, influencing how staff practice, interact, and deliver care.
  
  Conclusion: By creatively reimagining hospital pharmacy services, we can deliver a new model of medicines access for patients that enhances experience, supports staff practice, and optimises medicines use. Digital transformation offers a profound opportunity to reduce physical space demands, improve operational resilience, and align pharmacy practice with the future of broader healthcare design.

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand the views of patients and pharmacy professionals on a hospital pharmacy of the future.
  • Identify the key combination of technologies and digital capabilities for transforming a hospital pharmacy system.
  • Determine and select the optimal hospital pharmacy model which integrates the physical architecture, digital infrastructure, and new ways of working.

  14.40

  Co-designing clinical pain communication: Using participatory action methods and boundary objects to enhance patient-clinician dialogue

  Nicole Pope, Implementation support lead, Monash University, Australia

  

  Nicole Pope

  Implementation support lead, Monash University, Australia

  Dr Nicky Pope is an experienced researcher, accredited Implementation support practitioner, and implementation support lead at the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation (MCHRI). With a background in paediatric nursing, she brings strong expertise in clinical practice, research, and systems thinking. At MCHRI, Nicky leads initiatives focused on translating evidence into action to improve health outcomes, equity, and system performance. Her work spans co-design, capacity building, and the application of implementation science frameworks, supporting organisations to embed sustainable change through training, coaching, and strategic guidance. Her expertise includes child and family health, paediatric pain and chronic conditions, caregiver engagement, and digital health innovation. She has led national and international research projects, contributed to policy and programme development, and lectures in implementation science. As chair of the Pain in Child Health (PICH) Australia network, Nicky is dedicated to bridging research, policy, and practice to ensure evidence leads to meaningful system and life-level impact.

  Domenica Landin, Associate lecturer, University of the Arts London, Australia

  

  Domenica Landin

  Associate lecturer, University of the Arts London, Australia

  Domenica is a a design researcher, consultant, and educator working between Bristol and London. Her research focuses on addressing the nature–culture divide and supporting people to close the sustainability value–action gap. She works across writing, spatial interventions, and consultancy, using collaborative and participatory approaches. She has contributed to funded research projects for the University of the Arts London and the Royal College of Art, exploring socio-environmental transitions, including shifts from extractive to regenerative practices in higher education. Her work prioritises relational methods and collective knowledge-making. Domenica's design strategies centre ecosystems and biocultural diversity, recognising the interdependence of nature, culture, and language. She advocates for perspectives that have been historically marginalised, including non-human voices, and seek to embed these into design and decision-making processes. As a freelance consultant with the Place Bureau, Domenica provides research-led insights to support placemaking for city planners and stakeholders, including futures-oriented participatory workshops. As an educator, she takes a facilitative leadership approach, supporting interdisciplinary collaboration and diverse learning methods, including non-human pedagogies.

  Kiara Corso, Research assistant, Monash University, Australia

  

  Kiara Corso

  Research assistant, Monash University, Australia

  Kiara Corso is a health and design researcher with an interdisciplinary background in psychology, physiology and participatory design. She recently completed a Master's in Global Collaborative Design Practice at the University of the Arts London and Kyoto Institute of Technology, where her work explored the use of co-design tools to improve pain communication in clinical contexts. Kiara currently works as a research assistant in neurorehabilitation and neurodisability, contributing to projects in traumatic brain injury, chronic pain and health education. Her work employs mixed-method approaches, including participatory and creative workshops, qualitative interviews and systematic reviews, with a strong emphasis on collaboration with patients, caregivers, clinicians and multidisciplinary teams. Kiara’s research is nestled between healthcare, design and communication, with particular focus on patient-centred care, inclusive research methods and the translation of research into practice. She is predominately interested in developing interventions that enhance healthcare experiences, particularly for vulnerable and underserved populations.

  Peter Hall, Reader, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom

  

  Peter Hall

  Reader, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom

  Dr Peter A. Hall is reader in Graphic Design at Camberwell College of Arts and Chelsea College of Arts. His research focuses on mapping and data visualisation as critical and participatory design practices. He is currently co-writing a critical guide to data visualisation with Bloomsbury Academic. He is the UAL lead for Plastic Justice, a pan-European collaboration involving five art and design institutions that investigates microplastics pollution and the role of design in communicating new knowledge, awareness, and responses to the issue. Previously, Dr Hall has held academic leadership and teaching roles internationally, including course leader of BA Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins; programme director of BA Design and Design Futures at Griffith University Queensland College of Art; senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin; and lecturer in Graphic Design at Yale School of Art. He is co-founder of DesignInquiry, a non-profit organisation dedicated to researching design through intensive, team-based educational gatherings. His writing appears in leading design publications, and his books include 'Else/Where: Mapping – New Cartographies of Networks and Territories' and Sagmeister: 'Made You Look'.

  + View abstract

  Co-designing clinical pain communication: Using participatory action methods and boundary objects to enhance patient-clinician dialogue

  Abstract Copy

  Pain is a subjective, individual sensory experience that does “not simply resist language but actively destroy it” (Scarry, 1985). In clinical contexts, the challenge of pain language can lead to miscommunication, hindering information sharing (Müller et al., 2023), diminishing trust in clinicians (Gu et al., 2022) and contributing to poor health outcomes (Lim et al., 2024), and Our research sits at the intersection of design and clinical medicine, aiming to enhance pain dialogues through co-designed, human-centred methods, and the use of boundary objects (Star & Griesemer, 1989).
  
  A participatory action-based approach engaged a diverse group of patients aged 8-78 with chronic and acute pain, clinicians (pain specialists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, podiatrists, psychologists, paramedics), researchers and designers. Visual ethnography and cultural probes provided insights into daily challenges and coping mechanisms, and a series of one-on-one semi-structured interviews explored the multifaceted nature of pain communication. Co-design workshops using clay modelling and object-making enabled participants to externalise pain through tactile engagement. These approaches facilitated both verbal and non-verbal pain dialogues, fostering a deeper understanding of pain and how it is communicated.
  
  Four key insights were generated through thematic analysis: 1) malleable materials, such as clay, allowed participants to externalise inner experiences, fostering a sense of detachment, creating a safe therapeutic outlet and enabling non-verbal expression; 2) participants developed distinct physical representations, forms, textures, and patterns that communicate diverse attributes of pain, including radiation and intensity; 3) integrating malleability and physical representations was clinically valuable, enabling both literal and abstract depictions of pain; and 4) ethnographies demonstrated the influence of time on memory and pain perception. These insights informed the iterative prototyping and development of three distinct pain communication tools.
  
  This study is the first to explore how participatory action and co-design methods can reimagine clinical pain communication. Our findings show that involving people with lived experience deepens understanding of the nuances of pain, enriching patient-clinician dialogue and improving how pain is understood, managed and treated. The study also demonstrates the value of unconventional, sensorial tools, such as malleable body parts, which challenge universalist approaches to ergonomic design. As boundary objects, these tools help to externalise internal experiences, providing autonomy and alternative modalities of communication, which support the co-construction of the meaning of pain. This enables pain to be more clearly understood and seen (Eccleston et al., 2021), reducing reliance on verbal description and facilitating bi-directional knowledge exchange that enhances communication and clinical outcomes.

  Learning Objectives

  • Examine how co-design, participatory-action methods can enhance pain communication by integrating patient, clinician, designer and researcher perspectives.
  • Describe the role of malleability, materials and boundary objects to facilitate bi-directional pain communication, making pain visible and understandable to improve health outcomes.
  • Gain insight into how physical representations and communication tools can provide alternative, non-verbal modes of pain communication through the externalision of pain experiences.

  15.00

  Panel discussion

  15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

  + View gallery

  16.00 - 17.00

  Session 26

   - Design for infection control

  

  Chair: Ganesh Suntharalingam OBE, Intensivist, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, UK

  

  Ganesh Suntharalingam OBE

  Intensivist, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, UK

  Ganesh is an intensive care consultant with a specialist interest in leadership, service design and development. He is Honorary secretary and forthcoming President-elect of the Intensive Care Society.

  16.00

  Co-designing Ireland’s National High-Level Isolation Unit: A case example of how collective leadership and collaborative practice has helped to develop a world-class facility

  Deirdre Moreley, Clinical lead, National High Level Isolation Unit, Consultant Infectious Disease and Intensive Care Medicine, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Ireland

  

  Deirdre Moreley

  Clinical lead, National High Level Isolation Unit, Consultant Infectious Disease and Intensive Care Medicine, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Ireland

  Deirdre is clinical lead for the National High Level Isolation Unit at the mater Miseriordiae University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. She is a consultant in infectious disease and intensive care medicine. She completed FJFICMI and EDIC examinations and is on the specialty register of Intensive Care Medicine since 2020. She completed Higher Specialist Training in Infectious Disease in 2017.

  Kevin Bates, Director, Scott Tallon Walker Architects, Ireland

  

  Kevin Bates

  Director, Scott Tallon Walker Architects, Ireland

  Kevin is a director of Scott Tallon Walker Architects (STW), with 25 years’ national and international experience, and is a recipient of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland Triennial Gold Medal Award, which is the highest honour in Irish Architecture. Kevin specialises in the design of complex, innovative healthcare, science, and research buildings and he leads the healthcare sector across the practice. He has played a key role in the design and delivery of award-winning projects, such as the University College London Hospital Grafton Way Building, the National Forensics Mental Health Service in Dublin, and the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, recognised as Europe’s leading research centre in integrated Information and Communications Technology. Kevin established and managed STW’s Middle East office from 2010 to 2014 and was design director in our London practice from 2014 to 2021, securing STW’s place on the University of Oxford’s Framework for large-scale projects. He is passionate about supporting and guiding the next generation of architects and has been a visiting tutor in Schools of Architecture in Cork and Waterford and King Saud University in Riyadh. He has also chaired the RIAI Scott Tallon Walker Student Excellence Award, and in 2016, he was a UCD Alumni guest speaker, celebrating the contribution UCD architecture graduates have made in London.

  Úna Cunningham, Head of transformation and executive lead, strategic projects, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Ireland

  

  Úna Cunningham

  Head of transformation and executive lead, strategic projects, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Ireland

  Úna is head of transformation and strategic projects at one of Ireland’s largest academic teaching hospitals. Together with her team, she promotes a culture of inter-professional collaborative practice and collective leadership, adopting a lean, person-centred philosophy and design principles. In 2021, Úna completed her PhD as part of the Co-Lead programme (https://www.ucd.ie/collectiveleadership/). Through application of her research findings to practice, she continuously demonstrates how interventions to improve quality and safety of care can be made more effective when conditions are created for interdisciplinary teams to flourish. Úna lectures on transformational systems-level change and team interventions at University College Dublin and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She is also a leadership mentor with the Irish Management Institute. Her work has been published in BMC Health Services Research, BMC Medical Research Methodology, BMC Medical Education, BMJ Open and the International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health.

  + View abstract

  Co-designing Ireland’s National High-Level Isolation Unit: A case example of how collective leadership and collaborative practice has helped to develop a world-class facility

  Abstract Copy

  Ireland’s National High-Level Isolation Unit (NHLIU) is a bio-containment facility that has been specifically designed and commissioned for the care of patients with high-consequence infectious diseases (HCIDs). These are rare conditions that pose a risk to close contacts and healthcare workers, have limited treatment options, and can carry a high risk of severe illness or death (e.g. Ebola virus disease, MERS-CoV). When fully operationalised, the NHLIU will play a pivotal role in containing potential future public health crises, thereby protecting the public and supporting the safe delivery of state-of-the-art care for patients with HCIDs.
  
  This presentation will outline the design and implementation journey for the project. The executive, clinical and architect leads will share practical project insights on behalf of the wider team that will help inform the development of future HLIUs. They will detail the collaborative process between frontline healthcare workers, laboratory and infection control leads, architects, engineers and contractors, which resulted in a carefully considered clinical design brief. Drawing on European best practice guidelines (e.g. STAKOB, Germany & UK HCID guidance); regulatory guidance (e.g. World Health Organization (WHO); European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDPC); National Emerging Special Pathogen Training and Education Centre (NESPTEC)) and lessons learned from past outbreaks, presenters will outline the comprehensive framework for the planning, design, and operation of this facility.
  
  Underpinned by co–design and collective leadership principles, the team problem solved their way through challenges in a timely and practical manner. The resultant outcome is a world-class facility with the capability to care for two critically unwell patients with viral haemorrhagic fever or high-consequence respiratory pathogens within a single secure footprint.
  
  Importantly, from an infection prevention and control perspective, there is clear unidirectional flow for staff and waste. The NHLIU also encompasses a Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory (BSL3) for near-patient diagnostics. When not in activation, the unit will function as a national hub and spoke HCID training and education centre and a critical care simulation laboratory.
  
  The audience can expect an overview of how the project was approached with detail of regulatory compliance, biosafety and bio-containment standards, architectural and engineering considerations, innovative equipping solutions, staff training, workflow optimisation and integration with broader hospital and public health emergency systems.
  
  This presentation will stimulate interest for those involved in designing healthcare facilities and is of relevance to colleagues in the fields of bio-containment design and implementation science.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • To demonstrate the benefits of a collective leadership and co-design approach including collaboration with internal, external and international partners to ensure a world class output.
  • To help the audience understand the importance of adherence to international best practice and standards.
  • To demonstrate how the project team aligned project implementation with Ireland's National Health Protection Strategy and the need for integration with transport agencies, public health, Health Service Executive & key agencies in Health Protection.

  16.20

  Designing resilient water and wastewater safety systems in healthcare: Past lessons, current strategies, and future directions

  James Gordon, Associate director, P+HS Architects, United Kingdom

  

  James Gordon

  Associate director, P+HS Architects, United Kingdom

  James is associate director and healthcare lead at P+HS Architects with over 20 years’ experience in healthcare design and delivery. He has led complex acute and diagnostic projects across multiple NHS trusts, including critical care expansions, hybrid theatres, emergency departments and cancer facilities . His work draws on lessons learned across live hospital programmes, with a focus on patient flow, infection control, technical compliance, and ensuring the built environment actively supports safe, efficient clinical operations.

  Michael Weinbren, Consultant medical microbiologist; Infection control doctor, UK

  

  Michael Weinbren

  Consultant medical microbiologist; Infection control doctor, UK

  Michael is a consultant medical microbiologist and infection control doctor with over 40 years’ experience in the NHS. Currently working as specialist advisor for microbiology to the New Hospital Programme, his key areas of interest include water and wastewater systems, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and occupant safety. His publications include membership of national guidance groups, including the NHS England technical bulletin on Mycobacterium abscessus, and he is author of 'Safe Water in Healthcare'.

  Rachelle McDade, Director of healthcare planning, Currie & Brown, UK

  

  Rachelle McDade

  Director of healthcare planning, Currie & Brown, UK

  Rachelle is a Director in the Healthcare Advisory Team at Currie & Brown, with 30 years of experience delivering major healthcare projects in the UK and internationally. She specialises in large‑scale master planning, reconfiguration programmes and the redesign of healthcare pathways, driving improvement through extensive stakeholder collaboration. Rachelle leads complex healthcare estate programmes to successful, timely and cost‑effective completion. Rachelle is part of the BEIPI committee, committed to raising awareness of infection control within the built environment.

  + View abstract

  Designing resilient water and wastewater safety systems in healthcare: Past lessons, current strategies, and future directions

  Abstract Copy

  Water and wastewater safety is a critical component of population health, extending well beyond individual patient protection in hospitals. New approaches in acute care environments are informing a broader, integrated strategy that strengthens both hospitals and emerging neighbourhood health centres. Hospital wastewater is a major source of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), carrying resistant bacteria, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals into local systems. Healthcare facilities are primary contributors to AMR contamination in urban areas, with research indicating higher concentrations of AMR determinants in hospital wastewater than other local sources.
  
  Traditional reliance on pharmaceutical innovation has not successfully curbed AMR’s spread, as resistance mechanisms rapidly counter new antibiotics. This signals the urgent need for innovative solutions that focus on the built environment rather than on pharmaceuticals alone. Prevention and intervention must begin at the point of patient care – by restricting antimicrobials from entering wastewater – rather than depending solely on centralised treatment. In certain cases, outbreaks have only been contained by eliminating water and wastewater sources from critical care areas.
  
  England’s New Hospital Programme, the largest global healthcare facility construction initiative, underscores the importance of designing hospitals to reduce AMR dispersal through infrastructure. A significant cultural shift is required, such as reducing clinical handwash stations with alternative mitigations. The concept of ‘water-free care,’ first introduced in a Dutch ICU in 2017, is since being adopted worldwide in response to persistent multidrug-resistant organism outbreaks, especially in critical settings like neonatal ICUs. Some modern hospitals now feature single-room occupancy and no handwash stations in or near patient rooms. However, the more holistic term “water/wastewater-safe care” better captures the strategy of risk assessing every route by which water or wastewater may reach patients – including indirect sources like floor scrubbers and bottled water – and implementing robust controls.
  
  As healthcare delivery shifts closer to communities, rigorous water safety approaches must be extended to neighbourhood health centres. Applying hospital-based strategies – comprehensive risk assessments, dedicated water safety groups, and careful sanitary fixture placement – can proactively address water safety at the community level, reducing outbreaks and safeguarding vulnerable populations.
  
  In conclusion, a comprehensive, ecosystem-driven approach to water and wastewater safety is vital for advancing population health and combating antimicrobial resistance. By integrating acute care lessons into community health infrastructure and prioritising resilient design, healthcare systems can protect individuals and communities, foster sector collaboration, and adapt to evolving public health challenges.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Lessons from Acute Healthcare: Water Safety Challenges and Their Broader Implications
  • Designing for Resilience: Qualitative Approaches Over Pharmaceutical Reliance
  • Translating Insights to Community and Neighbourhood Health Centres

  16.40

  Panel discussion

  End of Intersection of clinical medicine and design stream

• Health planning and investment

  St James Room

  Supported by

  

  08.45 - 10.15

  Session 27

   - Evaluation, standards and guidance

  

  Chair: Jonathan Erskine, Director, European Health Property Network, UK

  

  Jonathan Erskine

  Director, European Health Property Network, UK

  Jonathan Erskine is the Executive director of the European Health Property Network (www.euhpn.eu) and a researcher at the Centre for Public Policy and Health (CPPH), School for Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, UK. His research interests are in the areas of health service reform, the boundaries between primary and secondary care, and the relationship between the design of health service systems and the built healthcare environment. Jonathan has had a long association with the European Health Property Network and, until recently, was also a non-executive director with NHS Stockton Primary Care Trust, and vice-chair of the Board. He has co-authored chapters in two books, ‘Investing in Hospitals of the Future’, and ‘Capital Investment for Health: case studies from Europe’, produced in collaboration with the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. His research at the CPPH, Durham University, has recently focused on the use of Lean in healthcare systems, particularly in relation to the ‘North East Transformation System’ – a region-wide quality improvement programme, which encompasses commissioning and provider NHS organisations. The report on this research was published in December 2014.

  08.45

  Standardisation of evaluation: The planning and construction process of hospitals in Norway

  Lilian Leistad, Hospital planner, Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency), Norway

  

  Lilian Leistad

  Hospital planner, Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency), Norway

  Lilian has been working in Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency) since 2017. The job covers early planning of hospitals (including estimating future hospital activity and capacity needs) and pre- and post-evaluation of hospitals and monitoring through the phases of a project. Additionally, the job includes developing evaluation tools and guidelines, in co-operation with internal and external actors, including health authorities and other relevant institutions. Previous work has been related to research within molecular medicine and epidemiology, including health registries and health studies, as well as biological material and contribution to public reports (e.g. National health and hospital plan). She has a Master's degree in Cell Biology and holds a PhD in Molecular Medicine from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. Her thesis was about the role of inflammatory mediators in rheumatic diseases.

  Unni Dahl, Hospital planner, Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency), Norway

  

  Unni Dahl

  Hospital planner, Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency), Norway

  Unni has been working in Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency) since 2015. The job covers early planning of hospitals, pre- and post-evaluation of hospitals and monitoring through the phases of a project. Additionally, the job includes developing evaluation tools and guidelines. Previous work includes collaboration between hospital and primary health care services, developing specialist healthcare services for patients with chronic diseases, patient education programmes and patient participation. Unni has a background as a nurse and has a Master’s degree in Pedagogics, for which her thesis was a study of the doctor – patient communication. She also holds a PhD in Medicine, for which her thesis was about co-ordination of healthcare services and follow-up among elderly and chronically ill patients after hospital discharge.

  + View abstract

  Standardisation of evaluation: The planning and construction process of hospitals in Norway

  Abstract Copy

  Background: The Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency, Sykehusbygg HF, has recently published an updated guideline for the evaluation of hospital projects. The guideline defines three evaluation stages: pre- and post-occupancy evaluation, and evaluation of the planning and construction process.
  
  The evaluation of the planning and construction process assesses the success of project management and implementation, identifies contributing factors, and explores challenges encountered during the process.
  
  The first objective of this study is to present the updated guideline, emphasising the evaluation of the planning and construction process. The second objective is to present results from recent evaluations conducted in accordance with the revised guideline.
  
  Methods: A project group consisting of representatives from all four regional health authorities in Norway, together with Sykehusbygg HF, reviewed 16 evaluations of Norwegian hospital projects conducted between 2018 and 2025, as well as interim measurements from several ongoing construction projects. The purpose of this work has been to refine and update the evaluation guideline.
  
  In 2025, the updated guideline was applied to evaluate the early-phase of the planning process for three hospital projects. The team developed and used a standardised questionnaire, conducted interviews, and analysed relevant project documentation.
  
  Results: The updated guideline provides clearer specifications regarding when evaluations should be conducted, who is responsible for financing and implementation, and how results should be used for organisational learning and continuous improvement.
  The review revealed a previous lack of common methodology, tools, and timing for evaluations of the planning and construction process.
  
  Findings from the three early-phase evaluations show that structured evaluation can contribute to improvement of the phase. The following success factors were identified for future projects:
  • clear project mandate and leadership;
  • well-defined roles and responsibilities;
  • effective information flow;
  • use of lessons learned from previous evaluations;
  • interdisciplinary collaboration toward shared goals; and
  • timely communication of required premise changes to the appropriate level (steering committee or project owner).
  
  Conclusions
  • standardise timing for evaluations of the planning and construction process;
  • standardise evaluation methods and tools;
  • follow-up survey findings with improvement-focused dialogue within the project team.
  
  Implications
  • evaluation results should be used for improvement in the current and subsequent project phases, as well as in future hospital construction projects.
  • standardised evaluations enable comparison and shared learning across different projects.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Framework for evaluation of hospital projects
  • Evaluation of the planning and construction process
  • Lessons learned from early-phase evaluations

  09.05

  Dynamic design standardisation: Leveraging post-occupancy evaluations to evolve design standards

  Stephanie Costelloe, Principal, BVN, Australia

  

  Stephanie Costelloe

  Principal, BVN, Australia

  Stephanie is a Principal at BVN, working at the intersection of architecture, health planning, and complex systems design across Australia, Asia, and the UK. She is passionate about exploring how large -scale healthcare environments can move beyond institut ional models to become more adaptable, legible, and responsive to human behaviours and sensory experience. Stephanie approaches hospitals not simply as buildings of function, but as evolving networks of people, processes, and technologies. She focuses on s implifying complexity, enhancing clinical workflows, and creating spaces that are intuitive and supportive for both staff and patients. She values stakeholder engagement as an active design tool - challenging assumptions, surfacing insights , and exploring opportunities to create healthcare environments that are resilient, flexible, future -ready, and bring joy to those who inhabit them.

  + View abstract

  Dynamic design standardisation: Leveraging post-occupancy evaluations to evolve design standards

  Abstract Copy

  Health jurisdictions have capitalised on the benefits of standardisation in healthcare design for decades, with the goal of delivering high-quality, efficient outcomes that optimise patient and staff safety with streamlined operations. Historically, these standards were published documents which, owing to the volume of content and detail, struggled to keep up with contemporary and emerging models of care and service delivery models, patient expectations, building codes, and the constant shifts in technology and equipment. This has resulted in the move towards a dynamic model of delivering design standardisation guidelines using live documents, which are reviewed and updated frequently. These are developed from the outcomes from newer approaches to post-occupancy evaluation that focus on specific, repeatable health planning units across multiple hospitals, rather than an individual hospital.
  
  This presentation will focus on BVN’s findings from our experience designing large acute hospitals, which have used iterative design standards, plus lessons learnt from undertaking a post-occupancy evaluation across inpatient units in five recently completed hospitals in Australia, and how the findings have been applied to update design standards as well as the development of a new standard inpatient unit design. The study provides cross-facility insight into how ward design affects staff wellbeing, workflow efficiency and patient safety – issues highly relevant to all health systems, including the UK’s New Hospital Programme and other NHS sites. Across the five hospitals, several consistent themes emerged including single-corridor circulation, visibility, staff travel distances, bedroom configurations, and storage.
  
  One of the significant outcomes was the recommendation to discontinue or substantially revise the relevant design guidance, which was shown to reinforce patterns that undermine both staff workflow and patient-centred care. The POE identified the need for new planning models and structural grids capable of supporting diverse acuity levels, multidisciplinary collaboration, and the increasing complexity of inpatient mental health presentations.
  
  The findings highlight how design directly contributes to workforce sustainability. Improved access to daylight, better acoustic separation, distributed support spaces, separated circulation paths and clearer lines of sight were repeatedly linked to reduced cognitive load, improved morale and a greater sense of safety. Adaptable bedroom modules also emerged as essential for long-term resilience, enabling spaces to evolve with changing clinical needs.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand why dynamic, frequently updated design standards improve alignment with evolving models of care, technology, patient expectations and post occupancy evidence.
  • Evaluate how cross facility post occupancy insights inform inpatient unit design, influencing workflow efficiency, staff wellbeing and patient safety
  • Analyse how new planning models, adaptable bedroom modules and environmental design strategies support workforce sustainability and long term clinical resilience

  09.25

  A tale of two cities: A case study on how overarching network design standards combined with different local input influenced the design and construction of two major concurrent hospital developments

  Tim Hoffman, Director – redevelopment, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Australia

  

  Tim Hoffman

  Director – redevelopment, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Australia

  Tim Hoffmann is a director – redevelopment at the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, based in Westmead, New South Wales. He has extensive experience in both clinical nursing and operational management positions within NSW Health. Over the last 13 years, he has transitioned into planning, redesign, and redevelopment-focused roles. Tim has qualifications in nursing, health management, and public administration, and is passionate about transforming the healthcare system. He joined the Network in 2011, leading clinical planning and later redesign and integrated care portfolios. In 2016, he was appointed as director of planning and has since been working as an executive team member leading planning and redevelopment. His role involves leading the planning and redevelopment programme across the Network, utilising the programme to deliver new models of care and facilities that enable research-led care, education, and excellence.

  Tara Veldman, Managing director and principal health lead, Billard Leece Partnership, Australia

  

  Tara Veldman

  Managing director and principal health lead, Billard Leece Partnership, Australia

  Tara is the managing director and health sector leader instrumental in the expansion of BLP. She brings 25 years of experience and a dedication to designing a healthy world in a cross-section of spaces, including hospitals, health hubs, education precincts, high-tech research labs, and residential communities. Combining her interests in psychology, art, and architecture, Tara is fascinated by how buildings and spaces make people feel. Her passion for sustainable architecture is inspired by her time living in Australia, the Netherlands, Frankfurt, and the Middle East. These life experiences have driven her to create designed environments and places that work and complement their urban setting while using and integrating nature and the natural landscape where possible. Underpinning projects with evidence-based design, Tara's work exemplifies innovation, strategic thinking, and best practice. She is a regular contributor to health design conferences and seminars, presenting alongside some of the world's most respected thought leaders in the sector both at home and abroad. Grounded in research and insight, Tara's human-centred design approach and active stakeholder engagement allow the voices of those who will occupy the spaces to be heard. Design outcomes are considered and impactful and exceed both her clients' and the end users' expectations. In 2025, Tara was honoured with the inaugural Australian Health Design Council Gold Medal in recognition of her visionary leadership, a commitment to excellence, and her significant contribution to the healthcare design industry.

  + View abstract

  A tale of two cities: A case study on how overarching network design standards combined with different local input influenced the design and construction of two major concurrent hospital developments

  Abstract Copy

  In 2020, the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network (SCHN) and Health Infrastructure New South Wales (HINSW) embarked on an ambitious $1.3b journey to concurrently redevelop two flagship campuses: Westmead Children’s Hospital (WCH) and the Sydney Children’s Hospital (SCH). Both projects have recently been completed.
  
  These redevelopments followed the networking of children’s health care across NSW for better patient outcomes; the stakes were high in achieving a successful clinical network, while maintaining each location’s community focus.
  
  This case study examines the key processes and design tools used to ensure both projects were strategically aligned, but unique, including:
  
  • standardisation across the network using research around best practice spatial principles and frameworks;
  • strategic local clinical services inclusion, with network specialisations; and
  • local design outcomes – serving place, consumers, and community.
  
  What is now the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network started with two paediatric hospitals operating on separate campuses from the late 1800s. In 2010, these two organisations merged to form the largest networked paediatric health service in Australia caring for the children and families of NSW and beyond.
  
  This clinical strategy, coupled with the concurrent redevelopment of both campuses, provided the opportunity to deliver standardised brand new, state of the art ‘sibling’ buildings – each with their own personality.
  
  • key for Westmead Children’s hospital, located in a vibrant, developing multi-cultural community, was to provide services and access for the local community;
  • for SCH, located in an inner-city area close to transport and amenities and co-located with a children’s cancer centre, the top issues were integration into the already dense campus and provision of a place of respite.
  
  Both hospitals have similar clinical layouts but the design response is specific to each.
  
  Key attributes of the rigorous processes included:
  
  Network considerations:
  • a culture of strategy first;
  • best for project approach;
  • standards on space allocations and principles = equality; and
  • clear governance – strategic oversight.
  
  Local considerations:
  • local ability to customise application of design principles;
  • clear structure and design framework for project teams; and
  • flexibility to include consumers and communities’ input.
  
  These processes and the ‘all in’ team approach, the advocacy from the top, and the strategic planning frameworks throughout these redevelopments have resulted in spectacular and focused outcomes for the SCHN network and its communities.
  
  Future practice can learn from a successful networked redevelopment programme – utilising standardisation, networked services, and local input – and the successful design outcomes achieved.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Network Standardisation and Local Customisation
  • Strategic Processes for developing Network Design Guidelines
  • Successful Consumer Consultation - local input to realisation

  09.45

  Panel discussion

  10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

  + View gallery

  10.45 - 12.30

  Session 28

   - Strategies for healthcare estates renewal

  

  Chair: Dan Gibson, Director, MJ Medical; Principal consultant and director, Healthcare Design Leadership, UK

  

  Dan Gibson

  Director, MJ Medical; Principal consultant and director, Healthcare Design Leadership, UK

  10.45

  How do you renew your estate when there’s no capital?

  Matthew Custance, Partner, Burrum River Advisory, United Kingdom

  

  Matthew Custance

  Partner, Burrum River Advisory, United Kingdom

  Matt is the founder of Burrum River Advisory, a specialist firm advising on the financing, structuring, and delivery of major healthcare infrastructure. He has over 30 years’ experience in hospital business cases, private finance, and commercial strategy, working with both public- and private-sector clients on complex capital programmes. His work includes the new Royal Papworth Hospital and the proton-beam therapy centres in London and Manchester. He has advised on numerous PFI and privately financed schemes, as well as wider healthcare portfolio and corporate structures. Before founding Burrum, Matt was a partner at Grant Thornton and KPMG, where he led advisory teams on large-scale healthcare and infrastructure projects across the UK.

  + View abstract

  How do you renew your estate when there’s no capital?

  Abstract Copy

  Most NHS organisations are sitting on a decaying acute estate, a tight Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) envelope and a lot of noise about weird and wonderful funding models that never seem to arrive. The default response is either to hope for a full rebuild or to spread limited capital too thinly across too many failing buildings. Neither is realistic. This session sets out a practical, long-term route to renewing your estate when there is effectively “no capital” – at least, not at the scale or pace you would like.
  
  The argument starts from a simple admission: you are not getting a shiny new hospital that fixes everything. Instead, you need to make deliberate choices about what your most expensive site is actually for, and that means a ruthless triage of the current estate, using standard condition categories and risk to identify what can be cheaply lifted to “good enough”, and what is unsalvageable.
  
  From there, the session describes a different end-state: a defined anchor core hospital, focused on high-acuity, time-critical work, and a network of trust-run hubs in high-street or local-centre locations for most outpatient, diagnostic, elective and “medically fit” activity. The acute site shrinks in scope but improves in quality; the community presence grows in a way that is more convenient for patients and more useful to the local economy.
  
  Crucially, this is not an accounting trick. It is a programme. The session will outline how to build a multi-year estates and digital plan that stays within realistic CDEL limits, uses PPP and leases for neighbourhood-scale schemes where appropriate, and treats technology and logistics as part of the estate strategy, not an afterthought. It will also cover how to phase moves so you minimise double-running and avoid pouring money into buildings you already know you should close.
  
  The emphasis throughout is on what will stand up when the chief financial officer, the auditors and the regulators start asking questions: clear logic for what stays and what moves; a coherent funding story; and a credible link to national policy goals around moving care into the community, making better use of digital, and doing more on prevention. Attendees should leave with a practical framework they can adapt to their own organisation, rather than another theoretical capital wish list.

  Learning Objectives

  • Accounting and regulatory rules
  • New ways to think about the core acute site
  • Health on the High Street

  11.05

  Building resilience: One size doesn’t fit all, but one space can

  Emily Leonard, Healthcare planner, Mott MacDonald, United Kingdom

  

  Emily Leonard

  Healthcare planner, Mott MacDonald, United Kingdom

  Emily is a healthcare planning consultant with a scientific background in biomedical sciences and an MSc in Public Health. Emily has contributed to a number of large-scale healthcare planning projects across the UK and internationally, including four years working with the UK New Hospital Programme and supporting the development of a paediatric healthcare facility in Canada. Emily is experienced in developing schedules of accommodation, clinical briefs, standardised room designs, and facilitating clinically led hospital departmental design workshops. She also holds a Certificate of Professional Development in the TAHPI Health Facility Planning Course (CPD and IHEEM certified). Passionate about embedding best practice and clinical expertise into the future design of healthcare facilities, Emily focuses on optimising efficiency, productivity, and the experience for both patients and staff. With a strong commitment to resilience and flexibility, she strives to build towards future-ready facilities that deliver long-term value and adapt to evolving healthcare needs.

  Pollie Boyle, Senior healthcare planner, Mott MacDonald, United Kingdom

  

  Pollie Boyle

  Senior healthcare planner, Mott MacDonald, United Kingdom

  Pollie is a qualified doctor and a consultant working for the healthcare planning team at Mott MacDonald. She has more than 25 years of healthcare strategy and planning consultancy experience. She fuses this knowledge and her clinical background to deliver solutions and improve pathways for both patients and staff on a number of high-profile projects, including two years working with the UK New Hospital Programme. Pollie’s areas of expertise include stakeholder engagement, demand and capacity modelling, clinical briefing, decant planning, estates strategies, evidence-based clinical pathway redesign, and the development of schedules of accommodation. Pollie has a particular interest in data analysis and will use her clinical expertise to interpret trust data intelligently.

  + View abstract

  Building resilience: One size doesn’t fit all, but one space can

  Abstract Copy

  The only certainty we face in healthcare design is that the needs of the hospital will continually evolve. The bed and specialty mix that we plan for now are unlikely to represent that required on opening, and will continue to change day to day, month to month, and decade to decade. By embedding resilience into every stage of planning and construction, we can design hospitals that thrive in this uncertainty. This paper will demonstrate that designing facilities for patient pathways rather than specialties produces savings, achieves resilience, improves the productivity of the estate, and promotes flexibility.
  
  Current hospitals often provide similar services from multiple locations. In an audit we completed for one trust, we discovered outpatient services were provided from more than 120 separate locations across two sites, with the vast majority being specialty-specific. This approach drives inefficiency: increased workforce demand, multiple receptions, complex wayfinding, poor utilisation, and space that cannot flex when speciality demand shifts. Departments often close when clinics aren’t scheduled, wasting resources and increasing operational costs.
  
  Our evidence shows that flexible, multispecialty spaces deliver transformative benefits:
  • Space savings: Consolidating outpatient services into a single adaptable hub can save trusts approximately 30 per cent of outpatient space, with associated capital savings;
  • Operational efficiency: Reduced workforce demand, simplified wayfinding and improved patient safety by delivering the same type of care in co-located spaces; and
  • Future-proofing: Facilities and accommodation that can adapt seamlessly to changing specialty mixes without costly rebuilds.
  
  Applying these principles beyond outpatients to acute assessment, day surgery, theatres, and administrative areas has the potential to save 5-10 per cent of overall area, due to increased operational parameters and consolidated support facilities. Added benefits include increased patient safety (e.g., administrating general anaesthesia in one location), reduced peaks in activity minimising congestion, and increased staff interactions.
  
  The benefits extend into the future. Pathway-focused design creates estate that can evolve with clinical innovation and unforeseen changes in service demand. We will also explore how our approach has implications for community hospitals, other non-acute sites, and existing estate, where similar principles can unlock further efficiencies. In this session, we will present:
  • evidence-based strategies for embedding resilience in hospital design;
  • real-world data demonstrating space and cost savings; and
  • future-ready models that improve productivity and patient safety.
  
  By creating healthcare facilities that are flexible, efficient and resilient, we can build estates that stand the test of time and deliver better care for decades to come.

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand how speciality-specific spaces create inefficiencies and inflexibility, reducing the resilience of the estate
  • Understand how pathway-focused design improves flexibility, increases utilisation, and reduces overall area requirements
  • Visualise how these principles scale across hospitals and estates to deliver lasting adaptability, and explore how this can be delivered across non-acute sites and existing estate to unlock further efficiencies

  11.25

  DAISY: AI-driven early stage design for net-zero healthcare estates

  Matthew Palmer, Director, building structures, WSP, United Kingdom

  

  Matthew Palmer

  Director, building structures, WSP, United Kingdom

  Matthew Palmer is a fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers and a passionate multidiscipline project director. Over his 25-year career, he has designed and led the engineering of a number of landmark regional, national and international healthcare schemes. His passion for holistic design has led Matthew to adopt WSP’s award-winning early-stage optimisation platform, Daisy, and elevate its healthcare specific capability to create a step change in the performance led design of healthcare buildings and estate optimisation.

  + View abstract

  DAISY: AI-driven early stage design for net-zero healthcare estates

  Abstract Copy

  Optimising capital expenditure and enhancing workforce performance, while advancing net-zero strategies, through the implementation of WSP’s early-stage design tool, DAISY, powered by an AI engine at its core.
  
  The need for healthcare estates to embrace the latest thinking in AI has never been greater in driving forward NHS net-zero strategies. Significant rework can often be avoided if decisions made at Stage 0: strategic assessment and Stage 1: strategic outline case are optimised, and if Trust boards are fully informed and equipped with the rationale behind prioritising certain parameters over others.
  
  This is why we are developing DAISY, a user-led digital tool built around an AI engine capable of assessing and comparing thousands of potential building design options. DAISY evaluates a broad range of parameters, including embodied and operational carbon, energy use, MMC, clinical adjacencies, travel distances, FM, and site logistics. It provides trusts with the ability to quantify these factors and understand the strengths and risks of potential designs early in the project lifecycle.
  Our clinical and engineering-led architectural approach greatly reduces, and often eliminates, the need for value engineering at later design stages. This ensures far fewer compromises, as the design and cost model are closely aligned from the outset, safeguarding the net-zero principles underpinning the design philosophy from late-stage changes.
  
  What does this mean for the trust’s or board’s balance sheet? By optimising and de-risking designs early, capital funding can be redirected from costly rework towards subsequent capital projects. From the start of design development, DAISY incorporates lifecycle requirements and proactive maintenance alongside operational carbon impact, reducing long-term energy and maintenance costs. This, in turn, helps cut backlog maintenance and revenue spend.
  
  Ultimately, the efficiencies DAISY delivers enable more funding to be retained for enhancing clinical services and investing in broader decarbonisation strategies.

  Learning Objectives

  • How AI-driven tools optimise early-stage healthcare estate design
  • Analyse sustainability and operational parameters in design optimisation
  • Assess the financial and operational impact of early design decisions

  11.45

  Integrated Data Platform (IDP) for specialist outpatient clinic

  Ting Wang, Senior manager, National University Health System, Singapore

  

  Ting Wang

  Senior manager, National University Health System, Singapore

  Wang Ting is a senior manager in the engineering division of the NUHS Corporate Infrastructure office, specialising in smart and digital healthcare with a focus on building operational smart applications that translate innovative technology into daily hospital operation and maintenance practice. With her background as a mechanical engineer by training, she integrates and turns data into actionable insights with AI/ML, designing applications that streamline workflows to solve real-world challenges in space and resource allocation, hospital operation optimisation, and predictive maintenance. She piloted an integrated data platform (IDP) for NUH Medical Centre L18&19 in 2025 and saw big opportunities in scaling up to other hospital functions and operations in future infrastructure development.

  Lee Boon Woei, Director, National University Health System, Singapore

  

  Lee Boon Woei

  Director, National University Health System, Singapore

  He is a director of NUHS Infrastructure Office and leads improvement and strengthening of engineering resilience, formulating solutions that enhance the resilience of services and optimise efficiencies. He is also deputy chief sustainability officer of NUHS Office of Sustainability. He is tasked to steer the NUHS Green Plan to meet the evolving development in sustainability, and roll-out sustainability initiatives so that healthcare facilities can transit towards a low-carbon economy. Having worked in building consultancy for over three decades and witnessed the evolution of green, digital technologies and increased awareness of sustainability in the industry, he understands the importance of adopting innovation in health facilities to capitalise on technological advancement to improve building operational efficiency and decarbonise healthcare operations. IDP is a pilot project where digital solutions are adopted in building operation to develop machine learning operating algorithms that identify operating patterns, detect operational abnormalities, and predict potential failures of equipment and systems.

  Jordan Chow, Senior assistant manager, National University Health System, Singapore

  

  Jordan Chow

  Senior assistant manager, National University Health System, Singapore

  Jordan is working in the NUHS Corporate Infrastructure Office under the engineering team, where he focuses on integrating diverse building systems and elevating them through advanced digital technologies, such as data analytics, machine learning, preventive maintenance, digital twins, and AI applications. The aim is to improve operational efficiency and system reliability, and better inform decision-making across healthcare facilities. Recently, Jordan piloted the implementation of the integrated data platform at NUH Medical Centre, Levels 18 & 19. This project involves integrating multiple building systems into a unified environment, enabling real-time monitoring and deeper insights, and improving system efficiency. This pilot helps pave the way and sets the foundation for expansion and new hospitals in future.

  + View abstract

  Integrated Data Platform (IDP) for specialist outpatient clinic

  Abstract Copy

  Background: Singapore Green Plan 2030 and GreenGov.SG aim to save energy and achieve decarbonisation within the public healthcare sector. As the healthcare sector is responsible for 4 per cent global greenhouse gas emissions, it targets to push the technology boundary by embracing innovative digital solutions that reduce both operational and embodied carbon emissions.
  
  Purpose: We piloted an integrated data platform (IDP) for two floors of specialist outpatient clinics (SOC). The IDP harvests data from building management system (BMS) and IoT sensors and conducts data analytics to develop operational insights and optimisation strategies to improve operational efficiency, space and resources utilisation, and minimise services disruption.
  
  Methodology:
  1. Automate data collection across different operational systems through integrative middleware.
  2. Apply data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) for real-time monitoring, identify operational patterns, and develop predictive maintenance coupled with automated control to maximise space utilisation and achieve energy and resources optimisation.
  
  Results:
  1. Real-time system efficiency, energy and water consumption tracking with anomaly detection insights enables evaluation of resource distribution among departments and building systems, including their correlation with space utilisation. It also enriches the database and refines design parameters for future buildings.
  2. Space utilisation analytics provide real-time space occupancy insights and usage patterns. Identify most/least used spaces using heatmap data analytics. This leads to increased caseload per space unit and better crowd management. This scientific approach helps in guiding space design and optimising resource allocation (including embodied carbon) in infrastructure development.
  3. AI/ML automated zonal control of air conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) based on real-time indoor air quality (IAQ), occupancy and outdoor conditions data can save energy without compromising occupants’ thermal comfort. AI optimisation, simulation and forecasting provide holistic understanding on how building systems should react to space usage patterns and how flexible optimal control and design should be captured to achieve better efficiency.
  4. The in-built domain knowledge and ML rules shift maintenance from routine to predictive with fault detection that stretches equipment’s useful lifespan, eliminating unnecessary preemptive parts replacement, self-diagnostics and root cause analytics capabilities, leading to reduced disruption, higher operational efficiency, and lower carbon emissions.
  
  Conclusion:
  1. IDP enables optimal usage of existing infrastructure and sets benchmarks for future projects.
  2. Optimise space, energy, and resource allocation (including embodied carbon), achieve operation and maintenance cost avoidance by real-time system optimisation and shifting towards predictive maintenance.
  3. Inspire innovations to simplify operations SOP, which leads to manpower and time savings.

  Learning Objectives

  • Decarbonization with Data Analytics
  • Digital Transformation
  • Energy and resource optimization

  12.05

  Panel discussion

  12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, lunch and networking

  + View gallery

  14.00 - 15.30

  Session 29

   - New models for public private partnerships

  

  Chair: Matthew Custance, Partner, Burrum River Advisory, United Kingdom

  

  Matthew Custance

  Partner, Burrum River Advisory, United Kingdom

  Matt is the founder of Burrum River Advisory, a specialist firm advising on the financing, structuring, and delivery of major healthcare infrastructure. He has over 30 years’ experience in hospital business cases, private finance, and commercial strategy, working with both public- and private-sector clients on complex capital programmes. His work includes the new Royal Papworth Hospital and the proton-beam therapy centres in London and Manchester. He has advised on numerous PFI and privately financed schemes, as well as wider healthcare portfolio and corporate structures. Before founding Burrum, Matt was a partner at Grant Thornton and KPMG, where he led advisory teams on large-scale healthcare and infrastructure projects across the UK.

  14.00

  Strengthening national laboratory and research systems in fragile settings: A PPP model for operationalising Somalia’s National Reference Laboratory and National Research Certification System

  Shakir Ahmed Adem, Public–private partnership (PPP) co-ordinator, Ministry of Health & Human Services, Federal Government of Somalia, Somalia

  

  Shakir Ahmed Adem

  Public–private partnership (PPP) co-ordinator, Ministry of Health & Human Services, Federal Government of Somalia, Somalia

  Shakir Ahmed Adem serves as the PPP co-ordinator in Somalia's Ministry of Health & Human Services, specialising in the development and execution of strategic health infrastructure projects. Leveraging innovative public-private partnership (PPP) models tailored to fragile settings, Shakir plays a crucial role in enhancing Somalia’s healthcare landscape. His decade-long experience spans healthcare, infrastructure, logistics, and investment, allowing him to expertly bridge public policy with sustainable private-sector outcomes. He spearheads the design and implementation of frameworks for Somalia’s National Reference Laboratory and the Research Certification System, with a strong focus on regulatory reform and financing mechanisms aimed at bolstering national health security. Beyond his governmental work, Shakir is an entrepreneur engaged across East Africa and the Middle East, actively fostering institutional transformation and nurturing sustainable partnerships. His leadership and vision contribute significantly to advancing health-sector resilience and capacity in challenging environments, ensuring long-term impact and progress.

  + View abstract

  Strengthening national laboratory and research systems in fragile settings: A PPP model for operationalising Somalia’s National Reference Laboratory and National Research Certification System

  Abstract Copy

  Somalia faces longstanding gaps in laboratory capacity, research governance, and quality assurance systems critical for disease detection and public health security. Despite increased investments by government and development partners, the country continues to rely heavily on external diagnostics, fragmented private laboratories, and limited regulatory oversight. To address this, the Ministry of Health & Human Services has initiated two flagship reforms: 1) the operationalisation of the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) under a public–private partnership (PPP) framework; and 2) the establishment of the Somalia National Research Certification System (SNRCS) in collaboration with the National Institute of Health.
  
  This abstract outlines a dual-track PPP model that strengthens national laboratory networks while creating a unified research certification and accreditation platform. The NRL PPP introduces a sustainable model combining public stewardship, private-sector investment, digital connectivity, and nationwide sample-collection units. The model draws on regional and global best practices adapted from Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, India, and Turkey – countries that have leveraged PPPs to rapidly scale diagnostics, biosafety capacity, and quality systems.
  
  The SNRCS complements this by establishing a structured framework for certifying research activities, approving research institutions, supporting digital registration, and enabling ethical oversight. The system integrates technical governance from the National Institute of Health with private-sector technology providers to ensure transparency, standardisation, and long-term financial sustainability.
  
  Together, the NRL and SNRCS initiatives represent one of Somalia’s most ambitious efforts to modernise public health infrastructure through PPP-driven innovation. The proposed model enhances diagnostic accessibility, reduces cross-border testing costs, supports local job creation, and provides a long-term regulatory mechanism for research governance.
  
  This paper will present the PPP design, financial model, governance structure, digital architecture, and implementation roadmap, while highlighting lessons relevant to fragile and post-conflict health systems. The model demonstrates how hybrid public–private approaches can accelerate health system recovery and advance universal health coverage in low-resource settings.

  Learning Objectives

  • To demonstrate how PPP models can strengthen national laboratory systems and diagnostic capacity in fragile and post-conflict states.
  • To present a scalable research certification framework adaptable to low-resource health systems.
  • To share evidence, global benchmarks, and lessons for integrating public stewardship with private-sector innovation.

  14.20

  Can a public–private partnership (PPP) hospital project be agile and resilient?

  Sannah McColl, Principal, Architectus, Australia

  

  Sannah McColl

  Principal, Architectus, Australia

  As a principal at Architectus, Sannah brings more than 25 years' experience in designing and delivering major hospitals across Australia. She is a strategic thinker and meticulous planner who is focused on both the practical and the beautiful in all her projects to drive innovation and best practice outcomes.

  + View abstract

  Can a public–private partnership (PPP) hospital project be agile and resilient?

  Abstract Copy

  PPP hospital projects often have gestation periods of up to a decade. They emerge from extensive contractual frameworks – thousands of pages of paper; schedules and technical requirements issued by government describing the functions, regulations and performance outcomes expected of a contemporary hospital from masterplanning through its first 25 years of operation and beyond.
  
  Beyond these obligations, a PPP hospital must be many things to many stakeholders:
  • a robust, efficient asset for government;
  • a viable long-term investment for financiers and builders;
  • a commercially sustainable enterprise for the operator;
  • a place of healing and dignity for patients;
  • a contemporary, supportive workplace for staff; and
  • a piece of architecture that sings.
  
  Taken together, this can appear highly prescriptive, rigid and overwhelmingly complex. Yet our most successful PPP hospitals achieve all of this – and more. They remain light on their feet, able to adapt, regenerate and respond to change because they are designed from the outset with an unambiguous focus on flexibility and the future.
  
  In this presentation, we will take a deep dive into two recent Architectus PPP hospital projects – the New Melton Hospital on a greenfield site, and the Frankston Hospital redevelopment on a brownfield site – to explore how we reconciled contractual requirements with the need for agility and resilience from masterplan through to delivery.
  
  We will step through the strategies that underpin this approach, including:
  • designing for future flexibility;
  • responding to evolving models of care and acuity profiles;
  • creating interchangeable (generic and bespoke) spaces;
  • designing for workforce change;
  • embedding spatial flexibility at multiple scales;
  • enabling scalability over the life of the asset;
  • building resilience for patient cohorting and pandemic response;
  • integrating circular economy principles; and
  • designing for rapid technological change.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • How a prescriptive PPP brief can yield agility in design response
  • How PPP projects embed future flexibility/ scalability into hospital design (greenfield and brownfield project examples)
  • How PPP projects bake in resilience for patient cohorts, workforce change and future technology (greenfield and brownfield project examples)

  14.40

  De-centralised hubs of care

  Elisa Cecilli, Strategic Foresight Lead , Perkins&Will and Portland Design, United Kingdom

  

  Elisa Cecilli

  Strategic Foresight Lead , Perkins&Will and Portland Design, United Kingdom

  Elisa Cecilli is a Strategic Foresight strategist at Perkins&Will and Portland Design with over 15 years of experience decoding socio-cultural change and its implications for business. With a background in economics, she distills complex trends into actionable strategic recommendations for the built environment. Her client portfolio includes the UK Government, Chatham House, Moody's, CNN, Samsung, Diageo, LinkedIn, and Transport for London. She leads international research and discovery programmes, applying futures thinking and design methodologies to unlock growth opportunities and help companies respond strategically to emerging shifts in technology, culture, and end user behaviours.

  Valentina Chisci, Senior associate architect, healthcare project lead, Perkins&Will UK, United Kingdom

  

  Valentina Chisci

  Senior associate architect, healthcare project lead, Perkins&Will UK, United Kingdom

  Valentina Chisci is a senior Associate at Perkins&Will with more than 20 years of international experience in healthcare architecture spanning the UK, Italy, and Chile. Her work is driven by a commitment to establishing strong design foundations from the earliest stages of a project, ensuring that clinical needs, patient experience, and operational efficiencies are embedded from the start. Valentina collaborates closely with clinicians, healthcare organisations, and multidisciplinary teams to create environments that genuinely support healing, enhance staff wellbeing, and enable high‑quality care delivery. Specialising in early‑stage strategic planning and concept design, she helps clients articulate clear project visions and transform them into spaces that are functional, future‑ready, and rooted in evidence‑based design principles. Valentina brings a thoughtful, analytical, and human‑centred approach to every project, ensuring that design solutions respond intelligently to context, complexity, and the evolving demands of modern healthcare.

  + View abstract

  De-centralised hubs of care

  Abstract Copy

  Healthcare is evolving beyond the walls of traditional hospitals. The future lies in distributed, community-based systems that make health services accessible to everyone, regardless of location or income. This shift is not just about convenience. It’s about creating a healthier society through prevention, education, and integration.
  
  Imagine walking down your local high street and finding not only shops and cafes but also therapy centres and primary care clinics integrated within commercial activities. This model brings healthcare closer to daily life, reducing barriers and encouraging people to seek care early. By embedding health services in familiar environments, we normalise preventive care and make it part of everyday routines.
  
  A cornerstone of this vision is health education for all generations. Teaching children, adolescents, adults and elderly people about prevention empowers them to make informed choices, reducing future health risks. Schools, community centres, and even retail spaces can become hubs for educational products and programmes, from interactive apps and games to wellness workshops and branded health campaigns. These tools make learning about health engaging and accessible.
  
  Economic accessibility is equally critical. Affordable care options ensure that no one is excluded from essential services. Public-private partnerships can play a vital role here, combining resources and expertise to deliver high-quality care at sustainable costs. Such collaborations can also drive innovation, creating new models for basic diagnostics, preventive care, chronic disease management, physiotherapy services, and minor procedures outside hospitals.
  
  Reducing unnecessary hospital visits is another priority. By shifting basic diagnostic procedures and routine therapies to community clinics, we can decrease patient loads in hospitals, improve the patient-to-staff ratio, and prevent overcrowding. Hospitals can then focus on complex cases, while local centres handle preventive care and minor treatments. This approach not only improves efficiency but also enhances patient experience.
  
  Branded health services is an emerging trend that supports this transformation. Associating wellness with recognisable brands can make healthcare more approachable and appealing. When health becomes part of lifestyle branding, it encourages proactive engagement rather than reactive treatment.
  
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Distributed care models bring therapy and basic diagnostics to high streets
  • Public-private partnerships ensure economic accessibility and scalability
  • Branded Health enhances trust and encourages community participation, commercial products used for the prevention care

  15.00

  Panel discussion

  15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

  + View gallery

  16.00 - 17.00

  Session 30

   - Estatecode in action: Embedding resilience in NHS Estates

  

  Chair: Simon Corben, Director and head of profession, NHS Estates, NHS England and NHS Improvement, UK

  

  Simon Corben

  Director and head of profession, NHS Estates, NHS England and NHS Improvement, UK

  After some 16 years in the private sector, advising the NHS and successfully growing and managing a team of property, clinical planning consultants and analysts, Simon returned to the public sector in 2017 to lead the Estates and Facilities function across the NHS, which now includes both the secondary and primary care sectors. The role at NHS England is one he relishes, building on the Carter Implementation Programme and Naylor Review. Following initial success delivering the Model Hospital and efficiency savings, he is taking forward and broadening out the NHS Estates agenda. This includes the primary care estate, the ProCure23 construction framework, and delivery of the Health Infrastructure Programmes announced by the prime minister in 2019. Most recently, he led the NHS Estates response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the delivery of seven Nightingale hospitals alongside improved clinical infrastructure resilience across the existing estate. Since joining the NHS in May 2017, Simon has recruited a team aligned to the seven core initiatives of: commercial acumen; policy; workforce; sustainability; operational efficiency; standardisation, strategy and capital; and operational delivery. In doing so, Simon and the team have: • delivered both additional capital funding and investment into the NHS; • reinstated the NHS estates Standards and Guidance programme; • improved assurance of NHS estates safety, effectiveness and governance through the updating and mandatory implementation of the NHS Premises Assurance Model (NHS PAM); and • reconfigured and expanded the NHS Estates Division to cover primary care and regional teams; An accredited Gateway reviewer and project director, Simon understands the need for commercial, innovative and deliverable solutions. In his role at NHS England, he is using his skills and experiences to bring fresh ideas and drive to improve the quality and efficiency of estates and facilities management across the NHS.

  

  Chair: Fiona Daly, National deputy director of estates, and director of estate sustainability and workforce, NHS England, UK

  

  Fiona Daly

  National deputy director of estates, and director of estate sustainability and workforce, NHS England, UK

  As the national deputy director of estates for NHS England, Fiona is tasked with leading the strategies, policies and national programmes to decarbonise the NHS estate, improve operational resilience and patient experience, and develop the 100,000 strong estates and facilities workforce; driving innovation, engagement and delivery, and providing healthcare organisations with the critical support they need to implement their plans. Fiona has 17 years’ experience of working in estates and facilities management and is passionate about reducing health and social inequalities, establishing an estate that supports the transition to sustainable models of care throughout the NHS. She is focused on driving the delivery of a healthy, resilient healthcare estate; tackling organisational leadership, investment in the built environment, and developing the skills and capacity of the current and future NHS workforce. In 2018, she was made an honorary professor at University College London (UCL) for her contribution in supporting the development of students in her field.

  16.00

  Estatecode in action: Embedding resilience and strategic control in NHS estates

  Simon Corben, Director and head of profession, NHS Estates, NHS England and NHS Improvement, UK

  

  Simon Corben

  Director and head of profession, NHS Estates, NHS England and NHS Improvement, UK

  After some 16 years in the private sector, advising the NHS and successfully growing and managing a team of property, clinical planning consultants and analysts, Simon returned to the public sector in 2017 to lead the Estates and Facilities function across the NHS, which now includes both the secondary and primary care sectors. The role at NHS England is one he relishes, building on the Carter Implementation Programme and Naylor Review. Following initial success delivering the Model Hospital and efficiency savings, he is taking forward and broadening out the NHS Estates agenda. This includes the primary care estate, the ProCure23 construction framework, and delivery of the Health Infrastructure Programmes announced by the prime minister in 2019. Most recently, he led the NHS Estates response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the delivery of seven Nightingale hospitals alongside improved clinical infrastructure resilience across the existing estate. Since joining the NHS in May 2017, Simon has recruited a team aligned to the seven core initiatives of: commercial acumen; policy; workforce; sustainability; operational efficiency; standardisation, strategy and capital; and operational delivery. In doing so, Simon and the team have: • delivered both additional capital funding and investment into the NHS; • reinstated the NHS estates Standards and Guidance programme; • improved assurance of NHS estates safety, effectiveness and governance through the updating and mandatory implementation of the NHS Premises Assurance Model (NHS PAM); and • reconfigured and expanded the NHS Estates Division to cover primary care and regional teams; An accredited Gateway reviewer and project director, Simon understands the need for commercial, innovative and deliverable solutions. In his role at NHS England, he is using his skills and experiences to bring fresh ideas and drive to improve the quality and efficiency of estates and facilities management across the NHS.

  Fiona Daly, National deputy director of estates, and director of estate sustainability and workforce, NHS England, UK

  

  Fiona Daly

  National deputy director of estates, and director of estate sustainability and workforce, NHS England, UK

  As the national deputy director of estates for NHS England, Fiona is tasked with leading the strategies, policies and national programmes to decarbonise the NHS estate, improve operational resilience and patient experience, and develop the 100,000 strong estates and facilities workforce; driving innovation, engagement and delivery, and providing healthcare organisations with the critical support they need to implement their plans. Fiona has 17 years’ experience of working in estates and facilities management and is passionate about reducing health and social inequalities, establishing an estate that supports the transition to sustainable models of care throughout the NHS. She is focused on driving the delivery of a healthy, resilient healthcare estate; tackling organisational leadership, investment in the built environment, and developing the skills and capacity of the current and future NHS workforce. In 2018, she was made an honorary professor at University College London (UCL) for her contribution in supporting the development of students in her field.

  + View abstract

  Estatecode in action: Embedding resilience and strategic control in NHS estates

  Abstract Copy

  This workshop will unpack the principles and practical application of the new Estatecode, focusing on how it supports multi-year development control, commercial asset management, and strategic capital deployment.
  
  Participants will explore the mindset shift required to move from reactive investment to proactive planning, and how acute hospitals can act as anchor institutions within wider health and care systems. The session will include scenario-based discussions and peer exchange.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Deepen understanding of Estatecode and its strategic implications
  • Explore practical tools for embedding resilience and productivity
  • Facilitate peer learning among estates leaders

  End of Health planning and investment stream

• Tertiary care

  Abbey Room

  08.45 - 10.15

  Session 31

   - Reimagining rehabilitation design and care

  

  Chair: Nirit Pilosof, Head of research in innovation and transformation, Sheba Medical Center; Faculty member, Tel Aviv University, Israel; Associate, Cambridge Judd Business School, UK

  

  Nirit Pilosof

  Head of research in innovation and transformation, Sheba Medical Center; Faculty member, Tel Aviv University, Israel; Associate, Cambridge Judd Business School, UK

  Nirit Pilosof, PhD, is an architect and researcher exploring the intersection of healthcare, technology and architecture. She is a Faculty member at the Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University, and an Associate of Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS) at the University of Cambridge in the UK. She is also Head of research in healthcare transformation at Sheba Medical Center, a Fellow of Cambridge Digital Innovation (CDI) at the University of Cambridge, and the Executive Member of Israel at the International Union of Architects (UIA) Public Health Group. Dr Pilosof holds a PhD from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, a Post-Professional MArch from McGill University, and an Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) from the Center for Health Design in the USA. She gained experience in the design process of major medical facilities as a project manager at leading architecture firms in Israel and Canada and won international awards, including the prestigious American Institute of Architects (AIA) Academy of Architects for Health Award, the American Hospital Association (AHA) graduate fellowship, the McGill graduate fellowship and the Azrieli Foundation fellowship.

  08.45

  National Rehabilitation Centre – a new era for rehabilitation

  Paul Bell, Principal, Ryder Architecture, United Kingdom

  

  Paul Bell

  Principal, Ryder Architecture, United Kingdom

  Paul completed his architectural education at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow in 1992 and has led several high-profile urban design, health and infrastructure projects. In 2006, he established Ryder’s Glasgow office and led the early development of the Hong Kong office. Prior to joining Ryder, he worked with Terry Farrell for 11 years in London and Hong Kong. Paul has spoken around the world on sustainable healthcare design and blurring the boundaries of healthcare to address health equity. Paul brings his expertise of leading integrated project teams to successfully deliver major healthcare projects. His passion for delivering design of the highest quality is recognised by excellent client testimonials and project award nominations.

  + View abstract

  National Rehabilitation Centre – a new era for rehabilitation

  Abstract Copy

  The country’s first NHS National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), based in Nottinghamshire, will soon open its doors to patients, heralding a new era for rehabilitation. The NRC is a 70-bed, state-of-the-art specialist centre for NHS patients who have experienced life-changing illness or injury and is run by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH).
  
  NUH has developed a clinical model to deliver more intensive treatments earlier in a patient’s journey and created a bespoke workforce and training to support this. The facility is co-located with the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) on the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate (SHRE) near Loughborough.
  
  The NRC incorporates groundbreaking technology, providing earlier access and more intensive treatments to help people regain ability following serious illness or injury. It is home to the most comprehensive robotics suite in the NHS and the first 360 hoist in Europe. The integrated clinical and research environment will support a highly skilled workforce to deliver bespoke rehabilitation programmes for each patient.
  
  The NRC is digitally advanced with a silent nurse call system and intelligent bedside screens to promote independence. Real-time location technology ensures staff safety and patient autonomy, including unlimited access to the 365-acre Stanford Hall Estate with a 5km trim trail, hand-cycle track, fishing lake, and pitch-and-putt golf course. Each patient bedroom has unobscured views across the estate.
  
  As part of the Government’s New Hospital Programme, it is the NHS’s first operationally carbon-neutral building.
  
  The NRC will lead rehabilitation research and innovation, and provide training through an NRC Academy in collaboration with 26 universities. Patients can take part in research during their stay, aiming to reduce the time between identifying effective treatments and benefiting patients. Clinical staff will also be encouraged to participate in research and education.
  
  What happens at the NRC is anticipated to be of international significance – the research, innovation and evolution in rehabilitation technology and treatment are expected to have global impact. The long-term ambition is for the NRC to be the national ‘hub’ in a future ‘hub and spoke’ model, with regional units (‘spokes’) across the country to widen impact and benefit as many patients as possible.

  Learning Objectives

  • Lessons from designing a new approach to support a new era in major trauma rehabilitation
  • Lessons from designing an environment that supports research, innovation and evolution in rehabilitation
  • 3 Lessons from delivering a digitally advanced facility

  09.05

  Starting from worst case: Resilience through the eyes of a Ukrainian surgical rehabilitation centre

  Katie Wood, Director, Archus, United Kingdom

  

  Katie Wood

  Director, Archus, United Kingdom

  An experienced programme manager, project director and technical advisor, Katie has successfully led the development of strategy, business cases, planning and delivery for a wide variety of programmes and projects across the UK, Australia, Canada, Peru, Africa and Central Asia through her 34-year career. She is recognised as a leader in international healthcare infrastructure development. Katie brings together technical, people and process expertise and combines local capability with global best practice. Her project experience includes: • business cases, planning, design and implementation for large, complex healthcare facility developments; • international Public Private Partnership (PPP) and design-build delivery routes; • establishing and successfully implementing national healthcare programmes; • transformational change covering organisations, people, processes and digital systems; and • technical guidance leadership, including World Bank IFC as well as UK Health Building Notes and Health Technical Memoranda.

  Alex Senciuc, Associate director, Archus, United Kingdom

  

  Alex Senciuc

  Associate director, Archus, United Kingdom

  An experienced healthcare planner and architect, Alex has led the development and delivery of major healthcare infrastructure and transformation programmes across the UK, Europe, Africa, and North America. With over 11 years in the healthcare sector and a PhD in strategic healthcare planning, Alex specialises in system-wide transformation through data-driven, collaborative approaches that align clinical, workforce, infrastructure, and financial strategies. With a portfolio of more than 63 projects totalling over £6bn, Alex brings a blend of design thinking, system data modelling, and stakeholder leadership. Through his PhD at UCL, he pioneered the use of simulation modelling in integrated care system (ICS) planning, enabling health systems to make evidence-based decisions across organisational boundaries. A skilled facilitator and project leader, Alex is valued for the ability to unite diverse stakeholder groups around shared goals and deliver innovation at scale.

  + View abstract

  Starting from worst case: Resilience through the eyes of a Ukrainian surgical rehabilitation centre

  Abstract Copy

  In stable democracies, healthcare resilience is often treated as an optional add-on rather than an operational priority. Major emergencies are perceived as infrequent, and business continuity plans frequently exist as a “file on a shelf”. Healthcare estates are typically planned around incremental growth, predictable demand, and stable service configurations. As a result, long-term investment decisions tend to prioritise immediate performance over future adaptability, leaving infrastructure vulnerable to systemic shock. Yet, the last decade has demonstrated that uncertainty, be it geopolitical, climatic, technological, or epidemiological, is increasingly the norm rather than the exception.
  
  But what happens when we start from the worst case? The First Voluntary Surgical Hospital (FVSH) in Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine, is a modest yet mighty 14-bed surgical unit receiving wounded soldiers from frontline and regional hospitals. For the clinical and management teams, war is not a hypothetical scenario; it is the daily context in which care is delivered. FVSH now plans to expand urgently with a new 40-bed rehabilitation centre to relieve constant system pressure and re-establish structured care pathways.
  
  This expansion forces a fundamental rethinking of resilience: how do you design infrastructure that must simultaneously function in war and be immediately valuable in a future peacetime context?
  
  The methodology included workshops, mapping current and future patient flows, and translation of real operational pressures into a clinical brief and functional requirements for the new centre. This process revealed a dual operating model. In wartime, the facility is a high-throughput healing machine delivering intensive inpatient rehabilitation on a 21-day pathway, supported by physiotherapy, outdoor recovery spaces, mental health services, and immediate access to surgical capacity next door. In peacetime, the same infrastructure could shift towards outpatient-led services, community follow-up, virtual wards and targeted outreach – enabled in part through repurposing military assets, such as secure communications technology, drones, or retrofitted vehicles for community outreach.
  
  This demonstrates that planning from the worst case generates a different set of architectural, operational and strategic design priorities: ones that emphasise flexibility, adaptability, dual-use spaces, rapid reconfiguration and investment longevity. Similar initiatives are already emerging in regions such as Israel, Moldova and Scandinavia, where protective capacity is built from day one.
  
  The insights gained are now informing the redevelopment of UK technical guidance, challenging assumptions embedded in current Health Building Notes that presuppose stability. This presentation invites delegates to question how resilience planning should evolve from planning for emergencies to planning with emergencies as a given.

  Learning Objectives

  • Resilience planning scenarios
  • Planning with duality of purpose in mind
  • Emergency and disaster recovery strategies

  09.25

  Designing a self-rehabilitation model for geriatric inpatient care

  Tal Amalia Sicsic, Product and service designer, Modus Health, Israel

  

  Tal Amalia Sicsic

  Product and service designer, Modus Health, Israel

  Tal Amalia Sicsic is a product and service designer and an architect, specialising in the development of assistive technologies and environments for individuals with disabilities and war-related injuries. She works as a rehabilitative designer in hospitals on patient challenges, in close collaboration with multidisciplinary clinical teams. She develops and leads user-centred, inclusive and empathic design processes grounded in co-design methodologies and a holistic perspective. Her main focus is translating patients' needs and wishes, as experts on their own lives, into tailored physical and environmental solutions. Her leading approaches considers objective medical criteria as equivalent to “soft” and emotional criteria that promote independence and participation. Tal has a BArch degree in Architecture and City Planning and a MDes degree in industrial design, in the design and innovation management track, from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.

  Sue Peleg, CEO, Modus Health, Israel

  

  Sue Peleg

  CEO, Modus Health, Israel

  Sue Peleg is a service and systems designer and founder of a health design consultancy advancing new operating models for patient activation within complex healthcare settings. Working at the intersection of strategic design, behavioural insight, and change management, she partners with hospitals to transform inpatient and rehabilitation services from passive, clinician-led care into structured, self-directed recovery ecosystems. With 20 years of experience in qualitative research, innovation development, and strategic consulting, Sue has spent the past three years leading system-level transformation initiatives across rehabilitation inpatient settings. Using co-design methods, she integrates spatial interventions, structured family training programmes for care partners, and workflow redesign into cohesive operating models. Sue holds an MDes in Design and Innovation Management from Bezalel Academy of Arts and an MA in History from Tel Aviv University. At European Healthcare Design, she will present a framework for embedding self-rehabilitation into routine care, demonstrating how design-led strategy improves patient engagement, staff connectivity, and system efficiency.

  + View abstract

  Designing a self-rehabilitation model for geriatric inpatient care

  Abstract Copy

  Rehabilitation treatment time is limited in inpatient settings due to a shortage of professional staff, overwhelming reliance on clinical interventions, and limited patient motivation to engage in independent, self-directed practice. As a result, patients spend “idle time” between treatments, adopting a passive approach that leads to poor motivation that delays rehabilitation (Pamka Finestra, 2020). Equally essential to promoting a proactive rehabilitation is the establishment of an ongoing rehabilitation pathway that equips patients and caregivers with the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary for safe and independent practice, during hospitalisation and later at home.
  
  This project, conducted at a geriatric rehabilitation hospital in Israel, set out to develop a structured self-rehabilitation model as an integral component of the clinical treatment plan. The model is based on two principles: designing environments that encourage self-practice and embedding self-practice procedures into daily professional workflows. Initial user-focused research revealed recurring barriers. Patients often lacked clarity about what and how to practice, felt insecure about unsupervised activity, and struggled to maintain motivation and a positive attitude during unstructured time. Staff reported limited ability to provide ongoing support. Caregivers emerged as an untapped resource, often willing to help but lacking the competence and confidence to support practice safely.
  
  In response, an integrated intervention was co-designed with the hospital’s team, including customised self-practice kits, structured intake for patients and family caregivers, a monitoring and physical feedback mechanism for the patient and others, and the design of dedicated self-practice areas embedded directly within the ward. These stations were intentionally designed to be warm, inviting, visible, and accessible, and to create a dedicated space for self-practice, supporting autonomy while ensuring a sense of safety and therapeutic reliability. A pilot in two orthopaedic departments tested the implementation process based on ten designed motor and cognitive “self-practice stations”.
  
  The results showed increased self-practice time, higher motivation, and significant involvement of caregivers. Patients and relatives reported a greater sense of self-confidence and willingness to continue self-practice after discharge, strengthening the treatment continuum. Hospital staff reported satisfaction with the presence of practice spaces in the inpatient departments and their contribution to an active atmosphere, without burdening the work of the staff.
  
  Following the successful pilot, the hospital decided to expand the model, and in 2026, the project will be implemented in two neurological rehabilitation departments, which will mark a significant step towards establishing a self-rehabilitation approach throughout the hospital.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • A case study for a rehabilitation model that reinforces an active patient approach and reduces reliance on therapist one on one led treatments
  • In a chaotic and spatially tight inpatient setting, a placemaking design strategy encourages patients to engage in self-practice in the inpatient department
  • A demonstration of an internal,collaborative, interdisciplinary process for applied healthcare innovation, designed to ensure fit with clinical practice and effective implementation

  09.45

  Panel discussion

  10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

  + View gallery

  10.45 - 12.30

  Session 32

   - Designing environments for women and children

  

  Chair: Chetna Bhatia, Senior assistant director, Corporate Infrastructure Office, National University Health System, Singapore

  

  Chetna Bhatia

  Senior assistant director, Corporate Infrastructure Office, National University Health System, Singapore

  Chetna Bhatia is Senior Assistant Director at National University Health Services (NUHS) Corporate Infrastructure Office. She is responsible for leading on Hospital Planning, Design & Research within the NUHS cluster, including all new developments of regional integrated Tengah General & Community Hospital and redevelopment of NUH Academic Medical Campus. She is an advocate for using design as a tool to optimize rising costs in healthcare and actively seeks opportunities to use evidence-based design research to improve patient experience and staff productivity, enhancing the quality of patient health outcomes. In the past 2 decades, Chetna was involved in the development of large-scale Public Hospitals in Singapore, which includes Ng Teng Fong General Hospital & Jurong Community Hospital, Sengkang General and Community Hospitals, and Woodland Health Campus.

  10.45

  Sabará Children’s Hospital: Caring for children and their family with professionalism, efficiency, quality and empathy above everything

  Lara Kaiser, Healthcare design leader and principal, Perkins&Will, Brazil

  

  Lara Kaiser

  Healthcare design leader and principal, Perkins&Will, Brazil

  An architect and urban planner with over 25 years of experience in healthcare architecture, Lara is a principal and chief operating officer at Perkins&Will’s São Paulo studio. She holds a Master’s in Building Design for Health (London South Bank University) and a post-graduate degree in Project Management (Poli-USP). She spent ten years working in the United Kingdom and taught in the post-graduate programme at Faculdade Albert Einstein. Co-author of the book 'Healthcare Buildings' and certified as a LEED GA by GBC Brasil, she is a frequent speaker at specialised events in the US, Latin America, and Europe. Lara has led multidisciplinary teams in major, internationally recognised projects, including the Albert Einstein Teaching and Research Center, Prevent Senior Morumbi, Albert Einstein Vila Mariana General Hospital, and Sabará Children’s Hospital.

  + View abstract

  Sabará Children’s Hospital: Caring for children and their family with professionalism, efficiency, quality and empathy above everything

  Abstract Copy

  Sabará is the first Latin American hospital fully dedicated to paediatric care, operating as a non-profit institution that combines medical excellence, innovation, and a human-centred approach. With a record of positive impact, it now enters a new phase by expanding its capacity to treat people up to 21 years old. Its original location, in a traditional São Paulo neighbourhood 13km from the new site, occupies 5500 sqm and manages around 95,000 consultations per year, reaching 95 per cent of the institution’s service capacity. This scenario prompted an expansion plan and the design of the new building, developed by Perkins&Will São Paulo.
  
  The new structure represents a major transformation for the city while remaining dedicated to caring for children and their families with professionalism, efficiency, and empathy. Currently under construction along one of São Paulo’s main corridors, Avenida Rebouças, the hospital will broaden access to advanced treatments within an organically designed, rational, and responsive building. The architecture adapts to local conditions and capitalises on contextual characteristics to create sensory experiences essential to the development of children and adolescents.
  
  The project’s key objective is to offer a robust structure that properly accommodates users, considering that nearly half of all patients are under five years old – an age group that requires increased attention and often longer hospital stays. To address these needs, dedicated support spaces were created to facilitate parental work, leisure, visits, breastfeeding, meal preparation, and hygiene routines.
  
  Alongside treatment environments, areas for interaction and education support the hospital’s focus on efficient circulation and streamlined flows across all floors. This organisation directly improves systemic operations, emergency response times, and quality of life for patients and staff. The solution emerged from preliminary research that measured the daily distances traveled by healthcare professionals. Based on these findings, the programme was optimised with decentralised nursing stations, private areas for meetings, and open spaces for patients and companions.
  
  Scheduled to open in 2027, the new Sabará Children’s Hospital will have a 42,000 sqm structure capable to support up to 130,000 annual visits while preserving strong performance indicators. Designed to enhance patient comfort and autonomy, it will offer 120 inpatient beds and 60 ICU beds, with permeable facades and a central atrium connecting users to nature and enable visual interaction. The project also advances sustainability through natural light, energy-efficient systems, and adaptable spaces that ensure operational flexibility.

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand the architectural and operational strategy of the new Sabará Children’s Hospital
  • Analyze how hospital design can address the specific needs of pediatric patients and young adults up to 21 years old
  • Identify architectural and programmatic solutions that optimize performance and quality of life for healthcare teams

  11.05

  Integrating mind and body: A unified model for child and youth mental health and paediatric medicine at the Shah Family Hospital

  Claire O’Donnell, Principal, Parkin Architects, Canada

  

  Claire O’Donnell

  Principal, Parkin Architects, Canada

  Claire is a healthcare planner and project manager with over a decade of experience delivering complex health infrastructure projects. She brings deep expertise in specialized medical environments, including behavioural health and cardiac care, with a strong focus on operational planning, clinical workflows, and patient experience. Claire leads comprehensive user engagement processes, facilitating workshops, interviews, and working sessions that meaningfully involve patients, clinicians, and administrators in shaping project outcomes. Her background in architecture and project management enables her to translate clinical requirements into clear functional programs and efficient spatial solutions. Claire is known for building trust with stakeholders, creating environments where diverse voices are heard and aligned around shared goals. Through structured planning, clear communication, and collaborative decision-making, she ensures projects are grounded in evidence-based design and operational realities. Claire is committed to human-centered healthcare environments that support wellness, dignity, and high-quality care delivery.

  Cathy Walker, Manager clinical planning, Trillium Health Partners, Canada

  

  Cathy Walker

  Manager clinical planning, Trillium Health Partners, Canada

  Cathy Walker is a Registered Nurse and Manager of Clinical Planning for Trillium Health Partners overseeing the clinical planning and design of what will be the largest hospital in Canada, The Peter Gilgan and Shah Family Hospital for Women and Children in Mississauga. Cathy has had a variety of front line and leadership roles within the Women’s and Children’s program at Trillium Health Partners. Prior to moving into management in 2014 Cathy spent approximately 20 years working in the Quality and Risk Management Department where she provided leadership in an array of quality initiatives in Women’s and Children’s Health, Emergency Department and Mental Health Programs. Cathy led the work for Trillium Health Partners in their successful designation as a Baby Friendly Organization in 2017. Cathy is passionate about quality improvement, and the implementation of evidence based best practices to improve the quality of care, and patient safety. Embracing a learning environment Cathy has a deep commitment to providing the best experience for patients, staff and the community.

  Kathy Skelly, Director of Women’s and Children’s Program, Trillium Health Partners, Canada

  

  Kathy Skelly

  Director of Women’s and Children’s Program, Trillium Health Partners, Canada

  Kathy Skelly is the director of the Women’s and Children’s Program at Trillium Health Partners, bringing more than 25 years of experience in healthcare focused on advancing the wellbeing of women, children and youth. Throughout her distinguished career, she has developed extensive expertise across paediatrics, neonatal intensive care, birthing services, women’s reproductive health, oncology, and emergency care. Her leadership is rooted in values-based principles and a deep commitment to fostering strategic partnerships that drive meaningful, system-wide improvements while championing integrated, patient-centred approaches that address the diverse needs of women and children.

  Michelle Draper, Director of mental health and addictions, Trillium Health Partners, Canada

  

  Michelle Draper

  Director of mental health and addictions, Trillium Health Partners, Canada

  Michelle Draper is the director of the Mental Health and Addictions Program, bringing more than seven years of dedicated experience in mental health, alongside a distinguished 25-year career in healthcare leadership. Her journey has spanned acute care and long-term care settings, with previous leadership roles including director of flow and director of the emergency department. Michelle is a progressive and compassionate leader, deeply committed to enhancing patient care through meaningful engagement with individuals who have lived experience. She champions evidence-based practices and fosters environments that prioritise recovery, dignity, and holistic support for both patients and their families. Michelle leads with empathy, innovation, and a relentless focus on designing therapeutic spaces and experiences that promote healing.

  + View abstract

  Integrating mind and body: A unified model for child and youth mental health and paediatric medicine at the Shah Family Hospital

  Abstract Copy

  The Shah Family Hospital for Women and Children introduces a transformative model of care by integrating child and youth mental health services with paediatric inpatient medicine – a first in the region. This innovation responds to critical gaps in access and rising demand for holistic care (population health solutions) within Mississauga’s rapidly growing and diverse population. Historically, paediatric medicine and mental health services have operated in silos, creating barriers for children with co-existing medical and mental health needs. The Shah Family Hospital addresses this challenge through a dynamic, collaborative approach that unites clinical teams and physical environments to deliver whole-person care.
  
  Central to this integration is a flexible care model co-designed by paediatric and mental health leadership. Data-driven planning identified a substantial need for dedicated child and youth mental health beds, which could be accommodated without impacting regional capacity. The resulting model enables shared space, staffing, and clinical expertise, allowing units to flex in response to fluctuating paediatric volumes while maintaining continuity of care. This approach reduces transfers outside the community and supports early intervention for complex cases – advancing tertiary care capabilities within the region.
  
  The design team translated this vision into a built environment that prioritises adaptability, connectivity, and a unified experience for patients and families. Adaptable layouts allow spaces to shift between medical and mental health functions, while shared staff resources optimise operational efficiency. A cohesive design language – consistent materials, colour palettes, and integrated wayfinding – reinforces safety and continuity, reducing stigma and creating a calming, family-friendly environment. Every element, from emergency department planning to inpatient flexibility, was developed to align with the hospital’s whole-person care philosophy, demonstrating the intersection of design and clinical medicine.
  
  This presentation by both the design and clinical teams will examine the demographic and clinical drivers behind this integrated model, the collaborative process that shaped it, and the design innovations that make it possible. By aligning clinical and architectural strategies, the Shah Family Hospital sets a new benchmark for family-centred care, advancing equity, access, and excellence for children, youth, and families.

  Learning Objectives

  • Explore Clinical Integration Strategies Understand how paediatric medicine and child/youth mental health teams collaborated to create a unified inpatient care model.
  • Analyze Design Solutions for Dynamic Care Identify architectural and operational design principles—flexibility, shared resources, and cohesive aesthetics—that enable seamless integration.
  • Evaluate Impact on Patient and Family Experience Assess how integrated clinical and design approaches improve continuity, reduce transfers, and create a supportive environment for holistic care.

  11.25

  Global trends in labour and delivery influencing one the UK’s fastest growing communities

  Alejandro Iriarte, Health planning principal, HDR, United Kingdom

  

  Alejandro Iriarte

  Health planning principal, HDR, United Kingdom

  In his more than 28 years of experience, Alejandro has designed/planned/built more than 2.6 million square feet of healthcare-related facilities, including renovations and greenfield hospitals. His experience includes several years of facilities’ evaluation and strategic/conceptual planning for leading hospital campus organisations across the globe.

  Jacqueline Foy, Global health director, HDR, USA

  

  Jacqueline Foy

  Global health director, HDR, USA

  Jacqueline is a healthcare architect with more than 23 years of experience designing environments that advance healing, equity and well-being. Known for her empathetic leadership style and collaborative approach, Jacqueline brings deep expertise in paediatric design as well as research and translational health sciences facilities. Across her career, she has built a reputation for championing design excellence while aligning architectural solutions with the missions of healthcare organisations and the communities they serve. Jacqueline serves as the global health director for architecture, leading HDR's worldwide healthcare design practice. Based in its Kansas City, Missouri, architecture studio, she collaborates closely with health architecture directors and leaders across design, operations, marketing and business development to strengthen HDR's integrated, multidisciplinary approach to healthcare design. Her focus includes advancing quality and innovation, fostering high‑performance teams and supporting clients as they plan and deliver resilient, people‑centred healthcare environments around the globe. Certified by the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA), Jacqueline is an active member of the Center for Health Design Pediatric Environment Network and a respected thought leader within the healthcare design community. She is deeply committed to mentorship, talent development and creating collaborative cultures that enable teams and the people they serve to thrive.

  + View abstract

  Global trends in labour and delivery influencing one the UK’s fastest growing communities

  Abstract Copy

  “We know that, while the birth rate in the UK has gone down, the complexity and needs of pregnant women have increased exponentially. Every woman and family deserve to leave maternity services safe, happy and healthy, and maternity staff – midwives, maternity support workers, obstetricians and anaesthetists – want to be able to provide them with a safe, positive experience." Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives
  
  This decrease in birth rate and converse increase in birth complexity is not unique to the United Kingdom. Trends in labour and delivery in developed nations have evolved significantly in recent years to include more hospitable environments and cutting-edge technologies, despite decreasing birth volumes overall. The rise of more natural birthing options and midwifery have created challenges for hospital planners and designers worldwide. Birthing suites that include amenities like birthing tubs and more relaxing delivery environments are becoming increasingly common, but they are also juxtaposed by facilities to support the emerging complexities in utero, including resuscitation rooms, nesting rooms, and other spaces to support antepartum needs.
  
  How does one incorporate this rising patient expectation into the seemingly contradictory constraints of the New Hospital Programme and its desire for efficiency and standardisation? And how does one do so economically, to maintain proper utilisation of space and operations, even during downtimes?
  
  In this session, delegates will learn about some of the recent and emerging trends in labour and delivery environment design from across the globe, including examples from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. A case study will then be presented to explore how these ideas are being considered at the New Milton Keynes University Hospital's (MKUH) new Women's and Children's facility, one of the first designed in accordance with the latest "Hospital 2.0" guidelines. With the highest increase in birth rate in the South East of England, MKUH is poised to lead the next generation of labour and delivery environments and establish a new standard of care in the UK.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand global drivers and trends in labor and delivery environments.
  • Learn about the singular structural grid and standardized "kit-of-parts" in NHS' Hospital 2.0 Programme.
  • Apply global best practices in labor and delivery to Hospital 2.0.

  11.45

  Redefining healthcare in Oman: Patient-centred care for women and children

  Andrew Ardill, Director, Hopkins Architects, United Kingdom

  

  Andrew Ardill

  Director, Hopkins Architects, United Kingdom

  Andrew joined Hopkins Architects in 2000 and became a director in 2015. He studied Architecture at Queen’s University Belfast, where he was awarded the RSUA Silver Medal for his final-year thesis. He has significant international experience on major Hopkins Architects projects, including a mixed-use skyscraper in Tokyo, the Dubai World Trade Centre One Central district, and the World Expo 2020 Dubai Thematic Districts, a highly complex development comprising more than 87 pavilion buildings and an extensive public realm. Working alongside Hopkins’ principal, Simon Fraser, Andrew has co-led several major healthcare buildings, including the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute, now under construction, and the masterplan and concept design for the National Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Sultan Haitham City, Oman. The latter features an innovative courtyard-based approach that creates a strong sense of community for each patient group.

  Jeremy Cox, Partner, Strategic Healthcare Planning, United Kingdom

  

  Jeremy Cox

  Partner, Strategic Healthcare Planning, United Kingdom

  Jeremy is a seasoned expert in healthcare infrastructure development, with decades of experience delivering transformative hospital solutions in the UK and across the globe. Specialising in public-private partnerships (PPP), Jeremy has a proven ability to integrate design, construction, facilities management, and finance into cohesive, successful projects. His expertise in bridging public- and private-sector collaboration has been instrumental in addressing strategic planning, phased construction logistics, and long-term operational challenges. Jeremy has played a key role in numerous high-profile hospital projects, including Bart’s & The Royal, Derby General, and the Karolinska Solna Hospital in Stockholm. Internationally, he has worked with Ministries of Health in Oman, Turkey, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Singapore, and Thailand, contributing to the development of cutting-edge healthcare facilities. His notable achievements include leading the feasibility study for Medical City in Oman, advising on hospital developments in Salalah and Khasab, and supporting Turkey’s development of 22 acute and mental health hospitals. With a track record of delivering projects worth billions, Jeremy is recognised for his ability to manage complex developments, foster collaboration, and navigate challenging environments. His leadership, strategic insight, and commitment to excellence have made him a trusted partner in creating world-class healthcare infrastructure that meets the needs of diverse communities.

  Paul Yeomans, Director, Medical Architecture, United Kingdom

  

  Paul Yeomans

  Director, Medical Architecture, United Kingdom

  Paul has over 19 years of experience in healthcare design. He has substantial knowledge of the sector in areas of strategy, planning, design and construction and a proven track record of delivery. He has led the design of numerous healthcare buildings with a project portfolio receiving awards from the RIBA, Building Better Healthcare, Design in Mental Health and European Healthcare Design. Paul is a director, leading Medical Architecture's Newcastle Studio alongside Lianne Knotts. He is a design ambassador for the Design in Mental Health Network and member of its advisory group and design awards jury. Through this role, he contributes to best practice guidance in mental health facility design to raise standards across the sector and improve the experience of patients and staff across the UK and internationally. In 2022, he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts for his leadership in healthcare design. Paul is a regular speaker at conferences and uses this platform to promote good quality healthcare design. He is currently leading the design of a new regional hospital in Moldova and a major new women and children’s hospital.

  + View abstract

  Redefining healthcare in Oman: Patient-centred care for women and children

  Abstract Copy

  The 500-bed National Women and Children’s Centre (NWCC) in Sultan Haitham City represents a fundamental shift in how healthcare is conceived in Oman. More than a hospital, it is a new model for patient-centred care – one that places dignity, wellbeing and community at the heart of the health campus.
  
  A revolution in approach to a nation’s healthcare: Planned to serve Muscat’s growing population, Sultan Haitham City is the first project within an Omani Government programme to implement a paradigm shift in sustainable urban development. This provides an opportunity to redefine healthy city living, including the role of healthcare facilities in improving population health.
  
  Strategic Healthcare Planning worked closely with the Oman Government and Ministry of Health, drawing on international best practice to establish the healthcare planning parameters that informed the masterplan and concept design by Medical Architecture and Hopkins Architects.
  
  A connected and forward-thinking masterplan: The hospital masterplan integrates the NWCC with the site’s next phase, the Seeb Tertiary Hospital, while forging connections with neighbouring health research hubs. The campus consolidates complex clinical requirements into a simple, cohesive entity, while maintaining distinct identities for each patient group.
  
  A unified framework was created around a network of courtyard ‘pavilions’, linked by glazed atria to form a connected healthcare campus. This arrangement optimises arrival experience, circulation and clinical efficiency, while allowing for phased delivery and long-term adaptability.
  
  Adapting a standardised model for distinct needs: The NWCC comprises three distinct identities and communities – paediatrics, cancer and women – expressed through three linked courtyard pavilions, each with its own ‘heart’. These courtyards respond to specific patient needs, fostering community and providing generous natural daylight for key spaces. Each pavilion is defined by a dedicated character: paediatrics is play, offering distraction and adventure; cancer is hope, welcoming and positive; and women is calm, private and reassuring. These themes inform early concepts for bespoke interior design and artwork strategies tailored to each patient cohort.
  
  The hospital facade features deep horizontal overhangs that provide shade without obscuring outward views. Softly curved forms create a recognisable identity, reinforcing a sense of calm and a light touch within the landscape.
  
  Setting the standard in place-based healthcare design: As the first major healthcare project in Sultan Haitham City, the NWCC establishes a national benchmark, combining world-class clinical excellence with architecture deeply rooted in Omani culture, climate and landscape.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • How healthcare planning can promote healthy city living by integrating hospital plans with wider urban and population health strategies.
  • How thoughtful masterplanning ensures both functional performance and long-term resilience of healthcare campuses.
  • How the clinical planning and design of hospitals according to patient needs and identity can improve patient engagement and wellbeing.

  12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, lunch and networking

  + /programme/video-poster-gallery

  14.00 - 15.30

  Session 33

   - Innovation in cancer care design

  

  Chair: Richard Mann, Head of Social Infrastructure, AECOM, United Kingdom

  

  Richard Mann

  Head of Social Infrastructure, AECOM, United Kingdom

  Richard has 25 years experience gained while working for client organisations, contractors and design consultants. During this time he has worked in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US, delivering a number of high profile projects across a variety of sectors. He is passionate about good building design. Richard brings the knowledge from the diverse projects he has delivered to ensure process improvement; quality and value driven efficiency in design are at the core of the projects he supports.

  14.00

  Navigating precision: Co-ordinating the implementation of the Valencian Proton Therapy Center within Spain’s National Deployment Programme

  Iván Paul Martín Jefremovas, Architect | Lead advisor for healthcare infrastructure projects, Valencian Regional Department of Health, Spain

  

  Iván Paul Martín Jefremovas

  Architect | Lead advisor for healthcare infrastructure projects, Valencian Regional Department of Health, Spain

  Ivan is an architect with a Master’s Degree in Hospital Engineering and Architecture, He is also a civil servant in the Spanish regional administration, with over ten years of experience in public social infrastructure, co-ordinating the planning and supervision of complex facility projects. Since 2021, he has specialised in healthcare infrastructure projects at the Valencian Regional Department of Health, contributing to flagship projects such as the implementation of a proton therapy unit at La Fe University Hospital in Valencia and the new Campus for the Clinic University Hospital in Valencia, as well as providing cross-cutting support for the Infrastructure Service’s broader portfolio. In the field of research and dissemination, he is an active member of the Spanish and Valencian Associations of Hospital Engineering and specialises in surgical block design.

  + View abstract

  Navigating precision: Co-ordinating the implementation of the Valencian Proton Therapy Center within Spain’s National Deployment Programme

  Abstract Copy

  Background: The introduction of proton therapy marks a transformative milestone in Spain’s oncology landscape, with ten units being implemented nationwide through an unprecedented public–private initiative. Within this programme, the Valencian Proton Therapy Center represents one of the most technically demanding healthcare infrastructure projects undertaken in the region. Proton therapy requirements are measured in millimetres, yet must be built within the context of large-scale hospital construction, where conventional tolerances operate at the centimetre scale. Unusually for the Spanish health system, the national programme has catalysed sustained technical collaboration across several regional health authorities, creating a shared learning ecosystem rarely seen in Spain.
  
  Purpose: This paper presents a practice-based case study of the technical coordination of the Valencian Proton Therapy Center implementation that started in 2021. It examines how early planning, procurement strategies, design supervision and interregional technical co-operation were orchestrated to reconcile strict vendor specifications, public-sector requirements and accelerated construction timelines defined at the national level.
  
  Methods: The study draws on five years of direct project leadership within the regional health authority, combining:
  1) preliminary feasibility analyses defining scope, adjacencies, shielding strategies and budget;
  2) management of competitive procurement processes for design and construction;
  3) iterative technical guidance to design teams to align architectural, structural, MEP and vendor constraints;
  4) continuous on-site coordination since the beginning of construction in January 2025; and
  5) structured exchanges with technical services from other regions developing parallel proton therapy centres.
  
  Results: Early integration of vendor requirements reduced design inconsistencies, while cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional reviews improved accuracy in critical areas such as bunker geometry and embed elements, HVAC stability and radiation shielding. Interregional collaboration strengthened troubleshooting capacity and helped align technical criteria across the national programme. Persistent challenges included adapting hospital-scale construction processes to sub-millimetric tolerances, managing sequencing constraints, and modifying standard procedures to achieve the required precision. By mid-2026, construction will be nearing completion and meeting major installation-readiness milestones.
  
  Conclusions: The implementation of the Valencian Proton Therapy Center illustrates the need for hybrid technical leadership bridging architecture, engineering, procurement and clinical planning. It also highlights the strategic value of interregional collaboration in delivering highly specialised healthcare infrastructure – an uncommon yet necessary practice for complex innovation in Spain. Insights drawn from this process lay the groundwork for establishing national technical guidelines for proton therapy facilities, addressing a current gap in Spanish healthcare infrastructure standards and offering a replicable framework for future advanced radiotherapy projects.

  Learning Objectives

  • Designing and building for complex equipment integration
  • Fostering cross-regional, multi-stakeholder project governance
  • Shaping future proton therapy design standards

  14.20

  Designing for tomorrow: Surrey’s all-electric smart hospital as a model for integrated and resilient community-centred care

  Kyle Basilius, Principal, Parkin Architects, Canada

  

  Kyle Basilius

  Principal, Parkin Architects, Canada

  Kyle is a principal and dual-licensed architect (Canada and Us), as well as a board-certified healthcare architect. With nearly 20 years of experience, he collaborates closely with clinicians and clients, specialising in the programming and masterplanning of healthcare facilities across the United States, Denmark, and Canada. Kyle is deeply engaged in the global healthcare design community. He serves on the Board of Regents of the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA); is helping to launch the North American chapter of the UK-based Design in Mental Health Network (DiMHN); and sits on the board of Rum for Æstetik, a Copenhagen art gallery that advances equitable access to experimental art for people of all ages and backgrounds. He has contributed as the volunteer technical architect for the International Federation of Healthcare Engineering (IFHE) on the WHO and WFP-led INITIATE² Infectious Disease Treatment Module (IDTM) project, which creates a patient-centred design approach for rapidly deployable emergency modules; serves on the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Health Care Facilities Standards Working Group; and has guest lectured at Texas A&M University on cultural and ethical considerations in global architectural practice.

  Megan Angus, Senior vice-president, strategy and digital services, H.H. Angus & Associates, Canada

  

  Megan Angus

  Senior vice-president, strategy and digital services, H.H. Angus & Associates, Canada

  Megan Angus, RN, MBA, Lean, EDA is a registered nurse, healthcare strategist, and digital innovation leader whose work bridges clinical practice, technology, and capital redevelopment. As vice-president of strategy and digital services at Angus Connect, she brings close to 25 years of experience guiding hospitals through digital transformation, IMIT strategy, and the planning of next-generation care environments. Grounded in clinical insight and systems thinking, Megan specialises in translating emerging technologies – AI, virtual care, digital twins, and real-time sensing – into practical, compassionate, and sustainable models of care. She has led digital strategy and operational readiness planning for major acute, paediatric, mental health, and oncology projects across Canada, helping organisations design smart hospitals that anticipate patient needs and support frontline teams. With a background in Lean methodology and a strong foundation in evidence-based design principles, Megan is a sought-after speaker on AI-readiness, smart hospital planning, and the digital infrastructure required for resilient healthcare systems. She is deeply committed to shaping care environments that are agile, equitable, and profoundly human.

  Elizabeth van den Brink, Principal, ZGF Architects, United States

  

  Elizabeth van den Brink

  Principal, ZGF Architects, United States

  With over 27 years of experience designing, planning, and programming healthcare facilities across the US and internationally, Elizabeth sees architecture and design as a way to leave a positive and lasting impact and to breathe life into projects that might otherwise strive to simply be functional or efficient. As a lead healthcare planner with a certified Lean Green Belt, Elizabeth integrates functionality and operational efficiencies with her proficient knowledge of project delivery, BIM, and Lean workflow. As a leader of the clinical team, she incorporates the latest trends and technology to provide for future generations of healthcare users. Elizabeth has built a reputation around quality project delivery and a focus on clients’ goals and objectives by providing innovative care delivery methods, adaptability, and design excellence. Her project experience ranges from initial stages in developing functional briefs, programming, masterplanning, stakeholder engagement, concept design, clinical planning, end-user engagement, detail, and technical design, as well as project management.

  + View abstract

  Designing for tomorrow: Surrey’s all-electric smart hospital as a model for integrated and resilient community-centred care

  Abstract Copy

  In response to the healthcare needs of British Columbia’s fastest-growing city, the decision to build an integrated cancer and community hospital embedded within the Surrey community represents a transformative approach to healthcare renewal. For families who have long travelled across multiple cities for care, the realisation that “my entire journey can finally happen close to home” is more than convenience – it is dignity restored. This pioneering facility addresses a critical gap in accessible, compassionate care south of the Fraser River, bringing specialised oncology and medical services directly into the neighbourhoods where people live and heal. By co-locating the BC Cancer Centre within a community hospital, the project reimagines what seamless care can look like: diagnosis, emergency needs, treatment, and recovery co-ordinated within one integrated campus designed around the patient, not the system.
  
  Patient vignette: When David, a 62-year-old Surrey resident, learned that his imaging, oncology consults, and surgical care would occur in a single co-ordinated setting, he described the moment as “the first time the system felt built for someone like me”.
  
  The integration of cancer and acute services is not simply co-location – a shift to a continuous, intelligence-supported care model enabled by shared digital platforms, unified triage, and co-ordinated data environments. Housing one of the province’s largest cancer centres – 50 exam rooms, 54 systemic bays, and six linacs – alongside 168 beds, a 55-space emergency and five smart operating rooms strengthens regional capacity while alleviating pressure on Surrey Memorial, BC’s busiest hospital. This creates an “aha” moment: when tertiary and acute care operate as one, patients experience clearer pathways and faster access.
  
  Staff vignette: For Jaspreet, an oncology nurse, the change is profound: “For the first time, the hospital feels designed so I can focus on patients – not chasing equipment.” Shared workflows, digital co-ordination, and efficient spatial design reduce cognitive load and support sustainable practice.
  
  Beyond service integration, the hospital exemplifies climate-conscious regeneration. As one of Canada’s first fully electric hospitals, it eliminates fossil-fuel reliance while meeting or exceeding LEED Gold standards. Circular economy principles further strengthen long-term environmental and operational resilience – an increasingly urgent priority for global health systems.
  
  As a smart hospital, integrated virtual intake, remote monitoring, and virtual postoperative care extend access beyond the building’s walls. AI-enabled triage and data-driven decision-making enhance patient experience and operational adaptability. Together, these innovations create a health system that is agile, resilient, and deeply patient-centred.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Participants will analyze the strategic rationale and operational benefits of co-locating specialized tertiary services, such as cancer care, within community hospital settings. Learners will assess how integrated care models eliminate traditional barriers
  • Participants will explore the implementation of sustainable building practices and low-carbon strategies in healthcare facilities, with particular focus on all-electric hospital design and circular economy principles. Learners will evaluate how environment
  • Participants will investigate the system-wide adoption of digital health platforms, artificial intelligence, and data-driven decision-making tools in modern healthcare facilities. Learners will examine how smart hospital innovations enhance patient experie

  14.40

  Beyond function: Designing the Marie Curie Medical Campus for Children through emotional architecture and community-centred design

  Raluca Șoaita, Founder Architect of the TESSERACT Architecture, TESSERACT Architecture, Romania

  

  Raluca Șoaita

  Founder Architect of the TESSERACT Architecture, TESSERACT Architecture, Romania

  Arh. Raluca Șoaita is the founder of TESSERACT ARCHITECTURE, the only architecture studio in Romania specialized in the medical sector. Together with her team, she has signed off on over 1 million square meters of hospitals and medical clinics, including some of the most significant recent large hospital projects in Romania. Raluca consistently promotes topics such as the humanization of medical spaces, the optimization of healthcare processes, and sustainable hospital design solutions in the public sphere. In fact, the entire approach of TESSERACT ARCHITECTURE is based on innovation, long-term vision, and a multidisciplinary approach throughout the entire hospital design process for the future of healthcare in Romania. Raluca has been part of the technical expert team involved in a large-scale World Bank project in Romania, "Healthcare Sector Reform – Improving the Quality of the Medical System in Romania." In addition to her collaboration with the World Bank, she has also provided consultancy and expertise to other major international institutions, including the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), contributing to the development and modernization of healthcare infrastructure across the region.

  + View abstract

  Beyond function: Designing the Marie Curie Medical Campus for Children through emotional architecture and community-centred design

  Abstract Copy

  The Marie Curie Medical Campus for Children in Bucharest is one of Romania’s most transformative projects of the past decades: in a country where modern healthcare infrastructure has been severely underfunded, and where social activism practices are still in their infancy, this project brings together architects, clinicians, researchers and an NGO to build the country’s first integrated paediatric oncology and critical care campus.
  
  It challenges conventional hospital design in Eastern Europe by placing emotional wellbeing, community support and humanistic clinical environments at the core of care delivery: specialised departments, such as oncology, bone-marrow transplant, intensive care, radiotherapy, surgery, imaging and haematology, are intertwined with generous family, education and play spaces – creating a cohesive ecosystem for treatment, prevention and recovery.
  
  In a healthcare system long marked by rigidity, underfunding and outdated infrastructure, such a project represents a significant paradigm shift, demonstrating how architecture can transform outcomes for children, families and medical teams – in the process becoming a national benchmark and a model of good practice for the East European scene and the wider region.
  
  The project embodies emotional architecture and family- and community-centred design. Its conceptual foundations were established through an extensive research framework – anthropological studies, workshops and participatory processes –summarised in the publication 'The Connections of the Healing Architecture'.
  
  This paper presents the design of the Oncology and Technical Buildings (Phase I), the developing campus vision (Phases II–III), and their implications for future healthcare spaces. Interviews, surveys and post-occupancy analyses revealed essential user needs: more community support, improved family reconnection areas, and environments that ease stress and boredom.
  
  Methods included participatory design with medical stuff and families, full-scale mock-ups, BIM co-ordination and VR testing. Implementing the project in an active hospital demanded phased construction and the conversion of residual ‘junk-spaces’ into terraces and observatories.
  
  Post-occupancy insights show strong outcomes: improved reconnection between children and families, enhanced staff wellbeing, increased patient autonomy and notable psychological benefits. Testimonials include children who did not want to return home because the environment felt safe and supportive.
  
  The project advances many Congress themes, showing how human-centred environments, digital integration and ecosystem thinking can elevate care. In Romania’s historically outdated paediatric system, the Marie Curie Campus marks a radical shift, proving that healing environments can transform clinical realities even in challenging contexts. Its impact extends across Eastern Europe, setting new standards for hospitals and demonstrating that architecture can restore safety, dignity and joy.

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand how a research-based, human-centered design methodology can shape pediatric oncology environments that improve emotional wellbeing, family cohesion and clinical outcomes.
  • Analyse the implementation strategies—phased construction, participatory design, BIM coordination and VR testing—used to deliver a complex medical campus within a functioning hospital, and evaluate their applicability to future healthcare projects.
  • Recognize how the Marie Curie Campus offers a replicable model for improving pediatric healthcare environments in Eastern European countries through community-centered, digitally integrated and human-supportive design.

  15.00

  Panel discussion

  15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

  + View gallery

  16.00 - 17.00

  Session 34

   - Design for mental and neurological health

  

  Chair: Charmaine Hope, Chief estates and facilities officer, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, UK

  

  Charmaine Hope

  Chief estates and facilities officer, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, UK

  Charmaine joined Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust as chief estates and facilities officer in March 2024. Prior to this, Charmaine worked at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where, most recently she was director of estates, facilities and capital development, having joined OUH in 2018. Among many highlights in her previous role, Charmaine led on delivering an award-winning 48-bed critical care new building. She began her NHS career at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust in 2010 before joining Mace’s public-sector consultancy team in 2013, predominantly supporting NHS trusts with delivery of major capital business cases and programmes of work. Charmaine is a qualified architect and has a masters in leadership and management.

  16.00

  Prince Edward Island steps up: A bold leap towards the future of mental healthcare

  Lianne Knotts, Director, Medical Architecture, United Kingdom

  

  Lianne Knotts

  Director, Medical Architecture, United Kingdom

  Lianne is a director of Medical Architecture and a senior healthcare architect with 18 years of experience shaping complex clinical environments. She brings deep sector knowledge across stakeholder engagement, health planning, feasibility studies, and full design-to-construction delivery. A specialist in mental health facility design, Lianne serves as a trustee of the Design in Mental Health Network, contributing to global thought leadership in therapeutic environments. Her strength in user consultation has led her to collaborate closely with local architects and clinical teams internationally, including recent work in Toronto and Prince Edward Island. Lianne’s portfolio spans award-winning projects recognised by RIBA, Building Better Healthcare, the Design in Mental Health Network, and the International Academy for Design & Health, reflecting her commitment to creating safe, dignified, and healing spaces for patients and care teams.

  Wayne Walker, Executive director, mental health and addictions capital planning, Government of the Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada

  

  Wayne Walker

  Executive director, mental health and addictions capital planning, Government of the Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada

  As executive director, capital planning, mental health & addictions for the Government of Prince Edward Island, Department of Health and Wellness, Wayne offers over 30 years of healthcare expertise in driving strategic planning frameworks, building government relationships, and delivering top stakeholder satisfaction. With SickKids Hospital for 23 years, and previously as the COO at the Confederation Centre of the Arts and director of capital & facilities planning at Grand River Hospital, he demonstrated exemplary leadership in strategic operational planning, budget management, and stakeholder engagement. His experience as both a development lead for mental health facilities and his past work with patients with lived experience brings a fully-rounded perspective to his approach for a recovery model of care.

  Barbara Miszkiel, Health director, Canada East and vice-president, HDR Architecture Associates, Canada

  

  Barbara Miszkiel

  Health director, Canada East and vice-president, HDR Architecture Associates, Canada

  As director of HDR’s Canada East health practice and a leading voice in mental health design, Barbara is internationally recognised for creating therapeutic environments that balance safety, dignity, and joy. Her work advances a model of care that supports freedom of movement while ensuring the highest standards of protection and clinical excellence. She brings deep expertise from award-winning projects, including CAMH, Lutherwood Mental Health Centre, Sunnybrook’s Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre, and the Hillsborough Acute Mental Health and Life Skills Centre with its Transitional Housing Pavilion. Barbara’s influence extends beyond project delivery: she is a sought-after global speaker, a contributor to the Design in Mental Health Network, and is cited in Stephen Verderber’s recent book 'Innovations in Behavioral Health Architecture'. Her leadership continues to shape the future of mental health environments across Canada and internationally.

  Bill Saul, Principal architect, SableARC Studios, Canada

  

  Bill Saul

  Principal architect, SableARC Studios, Canada

  Bill Saul is a Principal Architect and LEED® Accredited Professional at SableARC Studios in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Bill has more than 25 years of experience designing mental health, civic, post-secondary, residential, education, healthcare, and urban design projects across Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. His international portfolio has shaped a thoughtful, human-centred approach to mental health design, grounded in safety, dignity, and therapeutic engagement. Bill is also recognized as a leader in net-zero-ready, future-focused architecture, advancing sustainable strategies that balance environmental responsibility with exceptional patient care. His work brings forward new standards and best practices – from enhancing patient experience to supporting long-term greenhouse gas reduction targets – positioning him as a key voice in the evolution of resilient, sustainable healthcare environments.

  + View abstract

  Prince Edward Island steps up: A bold leap towards the future of mental healthcare

  Abstract Copy

  Imagine a place driven by safe freedom of movement, inspired by patients with lived experience, and by international innovation; a place that patients, staff and families embrace as a healing oasis, along the road to recovery.
  
  With the Hillsborough Mental Health and Addictions Centre and Transitional Housing Pavilion, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), design innovation meets a client to match. PEI is the smallest Canadian province, but with one of the boldest visions for mental health: to transform care delivery from a “revolving door” model into a continuum of interwoven pathways that support recovery and long-term success. Patients often ask how they will cope once they leave hospital. Hillsborough is designed so that question no longer needs to be asked.
  
  This transformation was made possible through storytelling, relationship building, and a truly international collaboration. HDR Architecture Associates(Canada) partnered with PEI’s clinical leaders to design the facility. Medical Architecture (UK) alongside Cumulus Architects (Canada) had led the earlier masterplan visioning for the site and were retained as technical advisor to Health Prince Edward Island. The design team challenged the status quo and created a facility where the traditional image of “hospital” disappears. Safety and treatment are harmonised with freedom of movement, and community is woven in as a genuine partner in care.
  
  The design is agile by intent: adaptable spaces that evolve with changing care models, net zero-ready sustainability measures, and environments that regenerate hope through daylight, nature, and cultural connection. This provides a replicable blueprint for mental healthcare in the region, promoting meaningful renewal and long-term resilience.
  
  What makes Hillsborough stand out is its ability to bridge borders and disciplines. It’s a project that proves collaboration across continents can deliver groundbreaking impact, that evidence-based design can regenerate trust in mental health systems, and that architecture itself can embody resilience by supporting both immediate recovery and long-term community integration.
  
  This is more than a building. It’s a new vision in how to think about mental health, how to deliver care, and how design can inspire renewal. Eyes wide open, PEI is taking a big leap forward.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Experience how a client’s province-wide vision was realized through revolutionary stakeholder support.
  • Explore how international inspiration can be translated to a local context.
  • Discover how EBD was applied for positive mental health outcomes for all – patients, caregivers, and the entire community

  16.20

  Designing for a constantly changing world – the Rare Dementia Support Centre

  Sebastian Crutch, Professor of neuropsychology, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, United Kingdom

  

  Sebastian Crutch

  Professor of neuropsychology, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, United Kingdom

  Sebastian Crutch PhD CPsychol is professor of neuropsychology at the Dementia Research Centre, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, and director of the Rare Dementia Support service (www.raredementiasupport.org), which aims to empower, guide and inform people living with a rare dementia diagnosis and those who care for and about them. His research focuses on rare and young onset dementias, especially posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), the so-called ‘visual variant’ of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The work has led to improved understanding of dementia-related visual impairment and the causes and consequences of atypical AD more generally. He has developed several interdisciplinary research themes collaborating with experts in social science, environmental engineering, occupational health and ophthalmology (to ameliorate the effects of vision loss in dementia), computational statistics, virtual environments and human-computer interaction (to enhance cognitive assessment), neurorehabilitation (designing an app to facilitate reading), neurophysiology, engineering and neuro-otology (to understand balance problems in AD), and artists, scientists and people with dementia (directing the Created Out of Mind residency at the Hub, Wellcome Collection). Seb was awarded the 2015 Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Research Leader Award and 2012 British Neuropsychological Society 10th Elizabeth Warrington Prize.

  Ewan Graham, Partner, Health & Science lead, Hawkins\Brown, United Kingdom

  

  Ewan Graham

  Partner, Health & Science lead, Hawkins\Brown, United Kingdom

  Ewan Graham is an architect and the Health and Science lead at Hawkins\Brown Architects. His work crosses traditional sector boundaries and regardless of geographic location focuses on developing healthy and sustainable places that concentrate on improving access to health and reducing health inequalities. He has led some of the most ambitious projects in London that combine health, research and education and speaks openly about the potential for good design and architecture to positively influence health outcomes. His aspiration is to raise awareness of and improve the way designers, contractors, building commissioners and policy-makers consider the impacts of the built environment on population health.

  + View abstract

  Designing for a constantly changing world – the Rare Dementia Support Centre

  Abstract Copy

  The Rare Dementia Support service offers specialist guidance, information, and community support for individuals and families affected by uncommon forms of dementia. Those living with young onset and non-memory-led dementias face clinical, emotional, and social challenges that demand an architectural response beyond traditional healthcare environments.
  
  The Rare Dementia Support Centre addresses this critical gap by creating a dedicated, inclusive space that exemplifies person-centred design, integrating specialist support, research collaboration, and engagement to improve quality of life and reduce isolation by building communities through support.
  
  Located in two interconnected Grade II listed Georgian townhouses at Woburn Square, Bloomsbury, the centre has been made possible by a comprehensive reimagination and refurbishment project. Informed by dementia-friendly principles, yet conceived as a ‘home away from home’ close to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, the design prioritises dignity, accessibility, and psychological comfort.
  
  Key features include a communal kitchen and social spaces for decompression and informal connection; flexible event and training spaces for outreach and education; therapy suites and art workshops for creative engagement; and a reimagined garden designed by Charlie Hawkes, incorporating insights, design principles and some original features from the National Brain Appeal’s ‘Rare Space Sanctuary Garden’, which not only won a gold medal but was also awarded ‘best sanctuary garden’ and ‘best construction award (sanctuary garden)’ at Chelsea Flower Show 2023.
  
  The centre serves as a prototype for future support environments, challenging conventional notions of healthcare architecture. Its design demonstrates how agility and resilience can be embedded in physical space to respond to uncertainty and change – whether in clinical practice, technology, or user needs. Multi-functional spaces enable adaptability and inclusivity, while the integration of the service’s own community-led research fosters a regenerative ecosystem that bridges care, innovation and therapy.
  
  The Rare Dementia Support Centre exemplifies how healthcare design can and should move beyond fragility towards resilience, renewal, and regeneration. It offers a blueprint for agile, human-centred environments in a world defined by uncertainty.

  Learning Objectives

  • Rare dementias present huge physical, mental and emotional challenges for people with a diagnosis and their families, designing with domesticity in mind and using a language of non-clinical architecture helps to remove uncertainty.
  • Prioritising emotional wellbeing and social connection through materiality, colour, scale of space and using the landscape as core design drivers. Co-locating support and knowledge exchange with visitor spaces helps strengthen the community.
  • Combining retrofit strategies with designing around the needs of people not just with dementia-related memory problems but also vision, language and personality changes provides enduring relevance, regenerative development and much reduced carbon use.

  16.40

  Panel discussion

  End of Tertiary care stream

• Art and architecture

  Moore Room

  Supported by

  

  08.45 - 10.15

  Session 35

   - Designing in-patient environments

  

  Chair: Liesbeth van Heel, Advisor and researcher, Erasmus University Medical Center, The Netherlands

  

  Liesbeth van Heel

  Advisor and researcher, Erasmus University Medical Center, The Netherlands

  Liesbeth van Heel studied Facility Management and Business Economics. Healthcare and complex organisations always had her interest. She worked in the FM department, was an administrator at the department of Paediatric Surgery, and supported the Executive Board of Erasmus MC as the junior Board secretary, before joining the project management team developing a newly built hospital in 2001. She combined the role of project secretary for this 20-year endeavour with leading a small expertise team (PMO) within the Real Estate directorate. In 2014, she left this management position to direct her focus to the co-ordinating effort to align the various strategic programmes within Erasmus MC towards the preparations for a safe relocation to the newly built hospital building, with fitting work processes, logistics and IT-support, as the programme secretary for the Our New Erasmus MC (ONE) programme organisation. Liesbeth’s special attention has always been directed towards patients’ needs, stakeholder engagement and creating a "healing environment", using (inter)nationally acquired evidence and experience-based design knowledge. She propagates knowledge sharing and network building for 'informed clients' in the Netherlands and beyond. In April 2026, she will defend her PhD thesis on stakeholder engagement in the transformative process for a newly built hospital. Since 2020, she is a Board member of the European Health Property Network (EuHPN). In 2022, she chaired the Organizing Committee of the 5th Architecture, Research, Care & Health (ARCH) conference in Delft and Rotterdam. Since 2023, she has co-ordinated a ‘living lab’ for bachelor students of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences within the Real Estate directorate. In June 2025, she received the Susan Francis Design Champion award at the European Healthcare Design conference in London. In 2025-2026, she is also working as a visiting research fellow with the “Next Generation HealthScapes” theme at the Pufendorf Institute of Lund University, Sweden.

  08.45

  Designing a human-centred patient room: Evidence-based, practice-driven model for enhanced wellbeing

  Barbara Linowiecka, Assistant professor, Poznan University of Technology, Poland

  

  Barbara Linowiecka

  Assistant professor, Poznan University of Technology, Poland

  Dr Barbara Linowiecka is an interior architect, researcher and assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Poznań University of Technology. She specialises in healthcare interior architecture, evidence-based design, universal and ecological design, and place identity. In her research and practice, she applies methods such as eye-tracking, user behaviour analysis and participatory design to translate scientific evidence into practical design solutions. Her current work focuses on model patient rooms and hospital inpatient areas that enhance patient wellbeing, family comfort and staff efficiency. She has authored numerous scientific publications on interior design, sustainability and inclusive spaces for diverse users. Dr Linowiecka has completed more than 60 interior projects, ranging from private apartments and public buildings to healthcare facilities. She combines academic research and teaching with collaboration with industry partners, physicians and engineers, enabling her to implement and test design solutions in real-world settings.

  Magda Matuszewska, Assistant professor, Poznan University of Technology, Poland

  

  Magda Matuszewska

  Assistant professor, Poznan University of Technology, Poland

  Dr Magda Matuszewska is an architect, researcher, and assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Poznań University of Technology, specialising in healthcare architecture. She leads the interdisciplinary postgraduate programme “Investments and Design in Healthcare”, developed in collaboration with Poznań University of Medical Sciences, integrating design, clinical, and investment perspectives. Her doctoral research developed methodological frameworks for evaluating hospital environments, contributing to the advancement of evidence-based assessment in healthcare design. The work was recognised with a prize from the Polish Ministry of Development and Technology for excellence in architecture-related doctoral research. She holds degrees from the Royal College of Art in London, Poznań University of Technology, and SWPS University. Her work integrates design, research, and emerging technologies to advance therapeutic, inclusive, and participatory healthcare environments. She develops original methodologies incorporating AI to support the evaluation and transformation of healthcare settings. Her research is presented and published internationally, strengthening evidence-informed approaches to the design of healthcare environments.

  + View abstract

  Designing a human-centred patient room: Evidence-based, practice-driven model for enhanced wellbeing

  Abstract Copy

  A practice-based project grounded in evidence-based design (EBD) has been undertaken at the University Clinical Hospital in Poznań to develop a model patient room that advances contemporary approaches to hospital architecture. It demonstrates how empirically collected user insights can shape spatial concepts that meet both clinical demands and the experiential needs of patients and staff.
  
  During the design process, user-experience research involving patients and clinical staff across several wards was conducted, supported by a custom mobile application (“Patient Experiences”). Over a three-month period, more than 200 evaluations of spatial elements were collected, capturing perceptions of comfort, dignity, emotional wellbeing, and functional adequacy. The analysis identified key factors affecting the quality of inpatient stay – particularly in relation to ergonomics, privacy, environmental comfort and the psychological impact of the physical setting.
  
  On the basis of these findings, the design team developed a two-bed patient room with an en-suite bathroom, integrating clinical requirements with emotional and psychological needs of users. The spatial layout was refined to facilitate staff workflow while preserving patient dignity and autonomy. Specific design solutions include: optimised natural and artificial lighting; a biophilic lighting installation replacing the conventional clinical ceiling; materials selected for their calming, domestic character; individual control of lighting at each bed; and high-quality ergonomic furniture. Additionally, an art-therapy wall opposite the patient beds provides a flexible medium for displaying nature-based and artistic imagery, supporting patient mental wellbeing and recovery.
  
  The model room is currently being implemented within the hospital, initiated with strong institutional backing. It will enter active clinical use, providing care for patients, while enabling ongoing post-occupancy evaluation. The solutions developed constitute a transferable and scalable design framework, supported by validated methods and tools – including the “Patient Experiences” mobile application – allowing adaptation in other healthcare facilities. This approach aligns with international best practice observed in leading European hospitals, where mock-up testing is integral to pre-implementation evaluation.
  
  The project offers an empirical demonstration of how evidence and participatory research may be translated into spatial strategies that enhance patient wellbeing, support staff performance, and promote more human-centred healthcare environments.

  Learning Objectives

  • Demonstrate how EBD and participatory research can inform design decisions in hospital architecture.
  • Illustrate the process from data collection to design implementation in a real hospital context.
  • Present a transferable patient-room model that balances clinical functionality with psychological and experiential well-being.

  09.05

  Hospitalisation Syndrome: A psychological, sociological and neuroarchitectural approach to prolonged hospitalisation including first-hand users’ perspective

  Elke Reitmayer, Senior research and lecturer, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Austria

  

  Elke Reitmayer

  Senior research and lecturer, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Austria

  Elke Reitmayer is an architect and senior researcher/lecturer specialising in architectural psychology and neuroarchitecture. She studied Architecture at Graz University of Technology and holds a MAS in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design from IUAV Venice. She has contributed to research projects in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, including participatory design of acute psychiatric wards and dementia-friendly hospital environments, integrating psychological and neuroscientific insights into evidence-based design. She teaches in Switzerland and Austria and is establishing a PSN-based Architecture research field at Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, combining psychology, sociology and neuroscience to better understand how people perceive and experience space. Her work focuses on architecture’s impact on health, behaviour and wellbeing and on participatory design approaches. She is also co-founder of the Hamburg-based company raumDNA, which developed “Architectural Profiling,” a method that analyses conscious and unconscious user needs and translates them into evidence-based spatial strategies that emotionally, socially and cognitively support users.

  Jente Pauwels, Architect, Jente Pauwels Architectuur, Belgium

  

  Jente Pauwels

  Architect, Jente Pauwels Architectuur, Belgium

  Jente Pauwels is a Belgian architect with a Master's in Architecture and a specialisation in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design. Her work explores the relationship between architecture, cognition, and behaviour, focusing on environments that support mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. She works on care and trauma-informed environments for people in vulnerable situations, translating psychological and therapeutic principles into spatial conditions aligned with how the brain and nervous system adapt, regulate stress, and heal. Her research-informed approach examines how sensory stimuli and stress shape emotional regulation, autonomy, and behaviour, and how architecture reinforces or counterbalances these. After witnessing the cognitive and emotional decline of two women close to her during prolonged isolated hospitalisation, she became driven to investigate how design can protect autonomy, identity, and resilience through balanced sensory environments that prevent both overstimulation and deprivation. The built environment is never neutral: it can undermine health or actively safeguard it.

  + View abstract

  Hospitalisation Syndrome: A psychological, sociological and neuroarchitectural approach to prolonged hospitalisation including first-hand users’ perspective

  Abstract Copy

  Background: Patients undergoing prolonged hospitalisation are profoundly affected by the interplay of mind, body and environment. They are particularly vulnerable to stress, anxiety, depression, apathy, passivity, post-traumatic stress and complex trauma. Specific risk factors influence their behaviour, emotional state, and psychological wellbeing. Patients’ reports reveal that confinement, social isolation, disrupted routines, and sensory monotony can undermine autonomy, emotional stability and cognitive clarity. This research highlights a critical gap between the intended supportive role of healthcare environments and their actual impact on patients’ health and lived experience.
  
  Purpose: The aim of this study was to characterise a previously undefined phenomenon, which we term Hospitalisation Syndrome, through clearly defined symptoms and identify its underlying neural, cognitive and behavioural mechanisms. Understanding these causes allows us to determine how to improve or prevent the syndrome’s development. A further objective was to show why and how design can be a crucial component of care during prolonged hospitalisation, influencing autonomy, DMN-related identity processes, and human interactions.
  
  Methods: A multi-method review examined similar theories, symptomatology, and stressors associated with prolonged institutionalisation. Risk factors were categorised into medical, social, identity-related, and environmental domains, with their impact on the HPA axis and allostatic overload examined. The Five Gs Model from cognitive behavioural psychology served as the analytical framework linking stress to behavioural outcomes. After defining the syndrome, we reviewed architectural design strategies aimed at preventing or mitigating symptom development.
  
  Results: Stressors associated with prolonged hospitalisation disrupt health, cognitive functioning, emotional stability, and dependency levels. Environmental factors, especially social isolation and sensory deprivation, intensified symptoms and contributed to lasting neural and cognitive changes beyond discharge.
  
  We developed a design proposal for a patient room for prolonged hospitalisation. By implementing enactivism and affordances as core design principles, the room enables patients to actively engage with their environment and regain a sense of control and autonomy. The design encourages social interaction without imposing it, supporting healthier cognitive and emotional responses.
  
  Conclusions / implications: Patient-centred design is critical in preventing or mitigating Hospitalisation Syndrome. The environment becomes a key tool, influencing stress, cognition, behaviour, and self-perception. Incorporating user involvement and interdisciplinary expertise ensures spaces that promote autonomy, protect cognitive functioning, and foster healthier behaviour. Ultimately, by shifting from cure- to care-focused design, healthcare facilities can transform prolonged hospitalisation from a source of stress into an opportunity for recovery, supporting autonomy and enhancing patient experience and overall health outcomes.

  Learning Objectives

  • Defining the hospitalization syndrome.
  • Allostatic overload and HPA-axis dysregulation, due to prolonged hospitalization exposure
  • Patient room design specific for prolonged hospitalization to prevent or mitigate the hospitalization syndrome, promoting autonomy, sense of control, positive self-perseption and social connection.

  09.25

  Architectural levers: Balancing wellbeing and carbon in designing inpatient environments

  Peter-Willem Vermeersch, ir. arch. Partner, archipelago architects | KU Leuven, Belgium

  

  Peter-Willem Vermeersch

  ir. arch. Partner, archipelago architects | KU Leuven, Belgium

  Peter-Willem Vermeersch is engineer-architect partner at archipelago architects, Belgium in the Research & Innovation Circle, and visiting professor at KU Leuven in the Research[x]Design group. He obtained his MSc and PhD degrees in Engineering: Architecture from KU Leuven. His research focuses on how the lived experience of (disabled) people can inform architectural design practice, via ethnographic research methods, co-design and post-occupancy evaluation. He investigates how to connect lived experience and wellbeing with sustainability frameworks of sufficiency and performance-based design to lower the environmental impact.

  Laurent Grisay, ir. arch. Chairman, archipelago architects, Belgium

  

  Laurent Grisay

  ir. arch. Chairman, archipelago architects, Belgium

  Laurent Grisay is an architect and civil engineer with more than a decade of experience in healthcare design, covering all project phases from the strategic vision or masterplan to the monitoring of the construction site. He is chairman of the board at archipelago Brussels and is responsible for some of the largest projects in the company’s broad healthcare portfolio, such as the CHU Helora network, the new Tarbes-Lourdes hospital, the new CHR Centre-Sud (Vivalia), the extension of CHwapi in Tournai, the circular reconstruction of IZZ Bracops, etc. He obtained in 2014 an Executive Master in Management of Large Construction Projects and cultivates his interest for innovation by regularly participating and sharing his experience in healthcare congresses.

  Giulia Scialpi, arch. Partner, archipelago architects | UC Louvain, Belgium

  

  Giulia Scialpi

  arch. Partner, archipelago architects | UC Louvain, Belgium

  Giulia Scialpi is an Italian architect based in Brussels. She holds a postgraduate master’s from CRAterre-ENSAG laboratory, a centre of excellence that manages the UNESCO Chair “Earthen architecture, construction cultures and sustainable development” in Grenoble’s School of Architecture. She is currently working in Belgium for archipelago architects and its R&I team, supporting many research projects with her expertise in circular design. She also works as a researcher and PhD candidate in the Urban Metabolism Lab at the Louvain research institute for Landscape, Architecture, Built environment (LAB) and as teaching assistant at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Studies (LOCI) of UCLouvain.

  + View abstract

  Architectural levers: Balancing wellbeing and carbon in designing inpatient environments

  Abstract Copy

  Architectural decisions are not cosmetic; they are binding contracts between buildings and users. Choices about glazing, window-to-wall ratio, shading, ventilation and thermal mass jointly shape user wellbeing and a buildings carbon footprint. This link is critical in hospitals, where inpatient room performance affects recovery, operations and energy loads.
  
  Our research for the EU-funded Horizon project 'Caring Nature' supports more sustainable and circular healthcare buildings. We focus first on inpatient units which, despite a reduction in beds due to telemedicine and shorter stays, still occupy some of the largest conditioned floor areas and account for large building envelope surfaces. Combining performance-based design, evidence-based design and self-determination theory, we start from a detailed analysis of a prototypical patient room. Using more than 10,000 dynamic simulations in four climates, we systematically vary orientation, glass type, window-to-wall ratio, fixed and movable solar shading, natural ventilation, user control and thermal mass. Rather than optimising one metric, we seek compromises that satisfy wellbeing, thermal comfort and daylight needs while substantially reducing operational energy and carbon emissions.
  
  We process the simulations in two complementary ways. First, we examine the cumulative effect of all strategies under a worst-case baseline scenario to show the maximum potential reduction in net energy demand. Second, by isolating each variable, we identify the relative impact of single strategies per climate: when high-performance glazing dominates, when solar shading becomes decisive, or when natural ventilation offers the strongest leverage. These results are linked to our wellbeing framework, which provides qualitative feedback on the design variables most closely connected to our dynamic simulation parameters, and for which reliable evidence exists that wellbeing is supported and consequentially healing is improved.
  
  This structured approach clarifies which levers are most effective per climate and supports robust decision-making when compromises are required to safeguard patients. We illustrate how we can then translate the technical outcomes of this research into practical room and facade design decisions for the Helora hospitals in Belgium, including cost implications, annual energy savings and life cycle cost benefits.
  
  Finally, we extend the analysis from room scale to whole inpatient-unit archetypes – central corridor, double corridor and compact courtyard – to quantify how room-level choices affect departmental energy use, patient wellbeing and potential carbon savings. The findings show that early, evidence-based collaboration between design, engineering and hospital management can align patient wellbeing with meaningful carbon reductions across the entirety of a hospital building.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • energy performance
  • embodied carbon
  • well-being

  09.45

  Panel discussion

  10.15 - 10.45Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

  + View gallery

  10.45 - 12.30

  Session 36

   - Art and interior design

  

  Chair: Laura Waters, Director, National Arts in Hospitals Network, United Kingdom

  

  Laura Waters

  Director, National Arts in Hospitals Network, United Kingdom

  Laura Waters is Co-Director of the National Arts in Hospitals Network UK, the membership network for arts managers working in UK hospitals. In this role, Laura leads on national arts in health projects and promotes arts in hospitals throughout the UK and internationally. With a dual background in Environmental Psychology and Music Performance, Laura combines these two areas of expertise in her work as Head of Arts for the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, providing high quality artistic and cultural experiences for staff and patients across five hospital sites. As a member of the University of Bristol Sensing Spaces of Healthcare project, Laura champions these guidelines to incorporate latest research on the senses into modern hospital design.

  10.45

  Our places, our spaces

  Fiona Smith, Arts in health curator, Children’s Health Ireland, Ireland

  

  Fiona Smith

  Arts in health curator, Children’s Health Ireland, Ireland

  Fiona Smith is the arts in health curator with Children’s Health Ireland (CHI). She has over 15 years’ experience in delivering large‑scale participatory arts projects across Ireland and the UK in a range of multifaceted settings. In her current role with CHI, she works in acute healthcare and across multi‑stakeholder partnerships with artists, children, young people, families and clinicians to design and deliver meaningful, creative and impactful arts in health projects in these complex settings. She champions ambitious artistic practice with the highest quality provision for those taking part and has a particular commitment to how creativity and curiosity amplify the voices of children and young people. Providing strategic leadership across both artwork commissioning for healthcare spaces and participatory and collaborative programmes, she advocates for the arts as a powerful and transformative influence on the delivery of excellent, patient-centred care in these settings.

  + View abstract

  Our places, our spaces

  Abstract Copy

  Background: The Alders Child and Adolescent Sexual Abuse Unit in Children's Health Ireland (CHI), is a specialist assessment and therapy unit for children, adolescents and their families.
  
  The Alders moved to a new space in September 2019. The move provided a purpose-built, contemporary clinical space, but for the staff who carry out sensitive clinical work, it became evident that the space neither reflected the intention of their work nor did it respond to the therapeutic needs of clients. Across the community of the Alders, the feedback was the same: while modern, the space was clinical, cold, and lacking colour, texture and warmth.
  
  Methodology: In 2022, the CHI Arts in Health Team led on a collaborative art project with the Alders community and experienced arts-in-health practitioner John Conway. Artists do lots of things to make art, but importantly, in the arts and health context, an artist listens first before making any work. Through creative conversations, we explored how artwork could be used as a therapeutic medium to resource clients in these highly sensitive settings. We wanted to understand how connecting with a purposeful, intentional environment could offer a stabilising, grounding support for the difficult work that takes place here.
  
  Over the following three years, John listened to the things the community said about these spaces. John says of the project: “As an artist, you interpret, you translate, you unfold, and you create a sort of language of your own that speaks back to the people and to the place you listened to, and the result is the things you make for and about this place.” Through these creative conversations, a sense of ownership of the space was shaped by the clients and staff, resulting in 14 artworks made for clinical and therapeutic spaces here.
  
  Conclusion: This project has meant real and significant impact on the experience of some of the most vulnerable in our care. Many who attend the Alders do so over many years; they travel from childhood to adolescence here, and their experience of what happens in these spaces means that this place is often as present in their lives as home and school. These artworks have created real impact on the sensory experience here, focusing on the effect of materiality, shape, colour and mark-making to offer connected, quieter, softer spaces that not only better support complex emotions and experiences but also promote healing and hope.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • The impact of art on the patient experience of the therapeutic environment and care provision in a Child and Adolescent Sexual Abuse Specialised Therapy Unit
  • Patient Voice, Agency and Empowerment in the delivery of Paediatric Healthcare
  • Delivering high quality innovative and collaborative arts and healthcare partnerships

  11.05

  Inspiring creativity and innovation in healthcare through creative health

  Penny Calvert, ArtCare team co-ordinator, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom

  

  Penny Calvert

  ArtCare team co-ordinator, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom

  + View abstract

  Inspiring creativity and innovation in healthcare through creative health

  Abstract Copy

  Framework: ArtCare’s hospital arts programme is grounded in national and international frameworks and strategic drivers, including the NHS People Plan, CORE20PLUS5, Creative Health Quality Framework, and the Care Quality Commission’s “Outstanding Experience” criteria. It builds on three decades of creative health practice and the wider evidence base from the National Centre for Creative Health and the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance.
  
  Description of practical application: At Salisbury District Hospital, ArtCare has designed and implemented a multi‑strand Creative Health programme that integrates arts, heritage and nature into everyday healthcare. Activities include co‑designed ward environments, bedside packs, staff arts clubs, exhibitions, music and arts at the bedside and social prescribing partnerships. These initiatives are delivered with patients, staff, volunteers, and community partners, both onsite and in local neighbourhoods, embedding creativity into the hospital’s culture and care pathways.
  
  Outcomes: The participatory programme reaches 8500 people a year and tens of thousands experience the improved interior spaces. The team actively connect both internally to 33 hospital departments/wards and externally with 19 local organisations. Impact and outputs include improvements in staff wellbeing, patient experience, and community cohesion. Strengths include adaptability, inclusivity, and alignment with NHS anchor institution responsibilities. Challenges include funding sustainability and capacity limits, which highlight the importance of continued collaboration and investments.
  
  Implications: ArtCare demonstrates how creative health can be a regenerative force within health systems, supporting workforce wellbeing, climate resilience, and population health management. The case study offers transferable lessons for other hospitals and health systems: creativity is not an optional extra but a vital strategy for resilience, renewal and regeneration in uncertain times.

  Learning Objectives

  • What and where are hospital Arts?
  • How do creative health activities and approaches impact health and care?
  • How can healthcare spaces and places benefit from collaboration with creative health teams and organisations?

  11.25

  Children as active stakeholders in paediatric healthcare architecture: A participatory interior design framework for the New Hauner Children’s Hospital in Munich

  Manuel Schmid, Physician, University Hospital Augsburg, Germany

  

  Manuel Schmid

  Physician, University Hospital Augsburg, Germany

  Dr Manuel Schmid is a physician and healthcare design researcher working at the intersection of clinical medicine and the design of healthcare environments. He holds an MD PhD, with research on congenital cardiomyopathies conducted at the Technical University Munich and Harvard Medical School. After graduating from TUM, he held a research position at the University of Oxford from 2020 to 2023. He completed an MSc in Healthcare and Design at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art in 2024, where his work explored the role of play in paediatric palliative care. From 2025, he is a resident in cardiology at University Hospital Augsburg. Alongside his clinical training, he engages in research-based design practice focusing on participatory and co-design processes in healthcare architecture. His work includes the development of a paediatric day-care hospice in Augsburg, which received a High Recommendation in Design-Research-for-Healthcare-Design at EHD 2025. He contributes to the design of care environments for the new Hauner-Children’s-Hospital in Munich.

  Juliane Stiegele, Artist, Designer, Utopia Toolbox International Art Collective, Germany, Germany

  

  Juliane Stiegele

  Artist, Designer, Utopia Toolbox International Art Collective, Germany, Germany

  Juliane Stiegele is an artist, designer and founder of the international art collective UTOPIA TOOLBOX, creative people from various professions who share their interest in designing our future life on the globe. The collective works on the basis of an open notion of art which includes many fields of society researching in theory and practice how art can become a natural resource for social design processes. Society is our studio. The project is based in Germany and runs satellites in Detroit/USA and Taipei/TW. Juliane has been Professor at University of Bolzano/IT and Visiting professor at the National Taipei University of the Arts/TW, as well as lecturer at Aalto University Helsinki/FIN. Among her exhibitions: Sculpture Center New York, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai/CN, Go Eun Museum, Pusan/KOR. Among her awards/grants: Annual grant of Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, KUNSTFONDS Germany, Red Dot awards in different fields of design. Publications: UTOPIA TOOLBOX volume 1–3.

  + View abstract

  Children as active stakeholders in paediatric healthcare architecture: A participatory interior design framework for the New Hauner Children’s Hospital in Munich

  Abstract Copy

  Introduction: With the New Hauner, one of Europe’s most advanced university hospitals for paediatric and adolescent medicine is being developed at the Großhadern campus in Munich by 2030. As the successor to the internationally renowned Hauner-Children’s-Hospital, the project combines highly specialised medical care with an evidence-based approach to healing architecture. Within this context, the deliberate involvement of children in the interior design process gains particular relevance.
  
  Objectives: The aim of the project is to develop a holistic interior design concept that not only addresses children and adolescents as users, but actively involves them in shaping their environment. This project explores how participatory design approaches can enhance orientation, wellbeing, and emotional resilience among young patients, extending far beyond purely decorative interventions.
  
  Methods: Based on a comprehensive design framework, a coherent formal language is developed in close symbiosis with the architecture by Nickl & Partner and subsequently differentiated according to specific wards and situations. Methodologically, qualitative insights from previously realised projects are incorporated, including the interior design of the paediatric clinic at Augsburg University Hospital and the daycare children’s hospice Augsburg, which was presented at the EHD Congress in 2025. In addition, children’s drawings collected across Munich are abstracted and implemented as large-scale design elements. A dedicated, image-based wayfinding system supports child-friendly orientation throughout the building.
  
  Preliminary results: The concept of participatory design has already been established and tested in practice. Initial results indicate that strongly abstracted children’s drawings are accessible to different age groups alike and open up individual spaces for imagination. The combination of daylight (four interior courtyards), open play and lounge areas, and a clear, symbol-based orientation system demonstrably enhances feelings of safety and security. Free play emerges as a central design motif. The transferability of this approach to the New Hauner, with 196 beds, 1408 rooms, and 19,200m² of usable floor area, has been confirmed. The compact building structure (95 × 95m) with short circulation paths further supports the effectiveness of the concept.
  
  Conclusion: The New Hauner project demonstrates that interior design in healthcare architecture becomes particularly effective when children are recognised as active co-creators. The integration of architectural clarity, design sustainability, and participatory aesthetics creates an environment that supports children during an existentially exceptional situation: emotionally, cognitively, and socially. In doing so, the project makes a significant contribution to the ongoing development of healthcare design for paediatric hospitals.

  Learning Objectives

  • Participatory interior design
  • Integration of child-centred spatial concepts
  • Play in children’s healthcare architecture

  11.45

  Reimagining the paediatric hospital journey through art and design

  Laura Bradshaw, Arts programme manager, CW+, United Kingdom

  

  Laura Bradshaw

  Arts programme manager, CW+, United Kingdom

  Laura joined CW+ as arts programme manager in November 2023. She works across the arts programme, with responsibilities including managing collection activity and delivering art commissioning within the capital projects portfolio. Laura recently completed the MASc in Creative Health from UCL and her arts in health career began as the first NHS arts apprentice in 2019. Laura is especially passionate about the role of creativity for improving healthcare staff wellbeing. Prior to joining CW+, Laura worked as assistant arts curator at UCLH NHS Foundation Trust and brings her experience of hospital arts programming to the role.

  Andrew Hall, Head of impact and evaluation, CW+, United Kingdom

  

  Andrew Hall

  Head of impact and evaluation, CW+, United Kingdom

  Andy is the head of impact and evaluation for CW+, the charity for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. In this role, he oversees the charity’s strategy for evaluating the impact of its work, working closely with the trust and key partners to measure and articulate the effect of its programmes within the hospital community. Andy originally joined CW+ in 2016 as a musician in residence, building on his background in both music and research to lead projects investigating the effects of arts participation on patients, families and staff. His work has led to publications and conference presentations across the country, including at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, and the Manchester Science Festival.

  + View abstract

  Reimagining the paediatric hospital journey through art and design

  Abstract Copy

  The need for child-friendly environments is a key part of both the WHO standards for paediatric healthcare facilities and the UK Department of Health’s National Service Framework for Children. Lambert et al (2014) found that the physical environment, including imaginative decoration and ‘bringing the outside in’, is a central aspect of young people’s ‘ideal physical design’ of a hospital environment. Not only can these elements improve the experience of hospital users, research has suggested that they can also contribute to more positive memories around healthcare for young people, reducing the risk of future disengagement or absenteeism.
  
  This practice-based case study will showcase how art and design were used to enhance the journey of paediatric patients, families and staff at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, with support from the Art and Environment Team at CW+, the hospital’s official charity. In the hospital’s children’s emergency department, a bespoke artwork commission, improved furniture, and an interactive digital screen were introduced into the waiting area, while ‘zoo’ screens in treatment rooms distract patients from examinations and procedures with a variety of animal videos. In the paediatric theatres, newly commissioned artwork is accompanied by a book of poetry and activities that can be used by the hospital’s play team to distract patients from pre-operative anxiety, while sensory tools help to support patients with additional needs. Finally, the award-winning Reuben Young People’s Centre is a completely new inpatient environment featuring calming colours, materials and lighting throughout, and large-scale intricate artworks that provide a point of focus and discussion for children of a wide age range.
  
  Evaluation of these projects suggests that they were effective in enhancing the experience of patients, families and staff. Surveys showed that there was a 38-per-cent increase of the number of staff agreeing that the environment felt warm and welcoming, and a 55-per-cent increase in respondents rating the artwork as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. 74 per cent of surveyed parents in the pre-operative waiting area said the new artwork either ‘somewhat distracted’ or ‘completely distracted’ their child, and a post-project audit of data found there had been a significant reduction in the use of pre-anaesthetic anxiety medications.
  
  As a result of these projects, there is now interest in adopting similar design approaches in other hospitals across northwest London, further increasing the opportunity for effective art and design to positively impact the experience of young patients and their carers.

  Learning Objectives

  • Attendees will learn how art and design can be effectively used to improve experience across different points of the paediatric patient journey.
  • They will also learn how these solutions can be scaled and adapted depending on budget, timescale and patient group.
  • The importance of collaborative working between dedicated arts teams, estates and facilities teams, architects and other suppliers will also be explored.

  12.05

  Panel discussion

  12.30 - 14.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, lunch and networking

  + /programme/video-poster-gallery

  14.00 - 15.30

  Session 37

   - Ecology, culture and art

  

  Chair: Paul Emmett, National health sector lead, Built, Australia

  

  Paul Emmett

  National health sector lead, Built, Australia

  14.00

  Designing the continuum: Connecting community, place, and wellness at Rouse Hill Hospital

  Conor Larkins, Health principal, HDR, Australia

  

  Conor Larkins

  Health principal, HDR, Australia

  Conor Larkins is a health principal at HDR with more than 18 years of experience across health, science, education, and research projects. With extensive expertise in precinct masterplanning, complex acute services buildings, and medical research facilities, Conor guides the delivery of major hospital projects, leads comprehensive stakeholder engagement processes, and champions both design excellence and technical rigour. Conor is dedicated to shaping major health projects that reimagine models of care and deliver user-centred facilities that enhance the experience of patients, families, and care teams. She believes design plays a pivotal role in strengthening community wellbeing and is committed to co-designing equitable, regenerative hospitals with deep connections to place and local communities. She has contributed to many of Australia’s most significant health precincts, including the Randwick Campus Redevelopment Stage 1 Prince of Wales Acute Services Building; the Lang Walker AO Medical Research Building for Western Sydney University; Nepean Hospital Redevelopment Stage 2; Royal North Shore Hospital; and, most recently, Rouse Hill Hospital.

  Alan Boswell, Associate principal, HDR, Australia

  

  Alan Boswell

  Associate principal, HDR, Australia

  Alan Boswell is an associate principal and design leader at HDR with more than 20 years of experience spanning health, science, mixed-use, and masterplanning projects. With deep industry knowledge and a nuanced understanding of the Australian healthcare landscape, Alan has helped shape major city-defining developments across the country. He was a key member of the design leadership team for the AU$1 billion Westmead Hospital precinct masterplan and new acute services building. Alan is committed to designing hospitals that challenge traditional protocols, prioritise patient-centred care, and deliver meaningful improvements to clinical outcomes, healthcare quality, and community wellbeing. His recent work includes the AU$910 million Rouse Hill Hospital in northwestern Sydney, and the RNA Manufacturing Facility, a cornerstone of New South Wales’ RNA research and development programme advancing targeted therapies.

  Matt Malone, Senior project director, Health Infrastructure, Australia

  

  Matt Malone

  Senior project director, Health Infrastructure, Australia

  Matt has been senior project director at Health Infrastructure since October 2017. Prior to this, he worked on several high-profile infrastructure projects, including HMAS Albatross Redevelopment; Belmore Park Zone Substation; Richmond Line Duplication Stage 1; and Tallowa Dam Environmental Flow Release and Fish Passage Works.

  + View abstract

  Designing the continuum: Connecting community, place, and wellness at Rouse Hill Hospital

  Abstract Copy

  The design for the NSW Government’s Rouse Hill Hospital, developed by HDR for Health Infrastructure and the Western Sydney Local Health District, proposes a bold, globally relevant vision for healthcare in Sydney’s rapidly growing northwest. Located on a greenfield site, this purpose-built facility responds to the needs of the local community through an evidence-based, digitally enabled, and culturally responsive approach.
  
  The hospital’s catchment area represents a young and culturally diverse demographic. With no public hospitals within 10km of Rouse Hill Town Centre, residents’ ability to access public healthcare is significantly affected. In response, the project brief calls for a patient-centred hospital that will promote community wellness through early intervention and prevention, supported by digitally enabled models of care and personalised, multidisciplinary treatment.
  
  Central to the design is a Country-first philosophy that prioritises the wellbeing of Country – its lands, waters and communities. Guided by the principle of healthy Country, the design celebrates the deep connection between people and place, and recognises the need to nurture ecological, cultural, and social health for future generations. Rooted in its context and drawing inspiration from surrounding geology and ecology, the building’s materiality and form echo the local landscape, while seasonal planting creates a variety of spaces for reflection, gathering, and recovery. The ground plane supports permeable movement and maximises the provision of deep soil planting, while simultaneously providing highly functional floor plates for clinical departments.
  
  Patients, families, carers, clinicians, and staff are placed at the heart of every design decision. Spatial planning prioritises clarity, comfort, and dignity through intuitive wayfinding, reduced travel distances, abundant natural light, views to nature, and logical zoning. The hospital is centred around the Care Arcade, an external public arcade providing a single point of entry for visitors. Indoor and outdoor spaces are integrated and enriched by landscaping, positioning the hospital as a welcoming and connected place of healing on arrival.
  
  Digital innovation supports integrated, holistic patient treatment and virtual care capabilities extend care beyond the hospital walls. Thoughtfully curated spaces to wait – arcades, landscaped courtyards, and cafes – reduce stress and foster connection. A co-located emergency and primary care precinct will become a community wellness hub.
  
  Conceived as a social connector, Rouse Hill Hospital is designed to strengthen community networks and create a place of belonging. Through its integration of landscape, technology and community needs, it sets a new benchmark for healthcare design globally.

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand how evidence-based, digitally enabled, and culturally responsive design strategies can shape a contemporary greenfield hospital to meet the specific health needs of a young, diverse, and rapidly growing community.
  • Explore how a Country-first design philosophy informs architectural decisions – from materiality and landscape integration to spatial planning — to nurture ecological, cultural, and social wellbeing.
  • Examine how human-centred planning and digital innovation work together to create a connected, intuitive, and community-focused healthcare environment that enhances patient experience, supports clinical workflows, and reinforces the hospital’s role as a so

  14.20

  From fragility to cognitive resilience: A neurodesign framework for age-inclusive hospital design

  Rosi Pachilova, Senior Workplace Consultant, Foster + Partners, United Kingdom

  

  Rosi Pachilova

  Senior Workplace Consultant, Foster + Partners, United Kingdom

  Rosi Pachilova works as a senior workplace consultant at Foster + Partners, where she leads the strategic design of healthcare and office buildings. She completed her PhD in Architecture and Social Sciences at University College London in 2020, where she investigated how hospital wards influence the work processes and communication patterns of healthcare staff and how this affects the quality of care provided to patients. Together with her PhD supervisor, Kerstin Sailer, Rosi won the RIBA President’s Award for Research in 2019 under the annual theme “Building in Quality.” Her recent contributions include a chapter for the book The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture, edited by Julie Zook and Kerstin Sailer.

  Vittoria Falchini, Neuroarchitectural Psychologist, Foster+Partners, United Kingdom

  

  Vittoria Falchini

  Neuroarchitectural Psychologist, Foster+Partners, United Kingdom

  Vittoria Falchini is a neuroarchitectural psychologist and she works as a consultant at Foster + Partners. With a background in clinical and environmental psychology, she holds a master’s in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design at IUAV in Venice. She focuses her work on how our brain functions and processes information, how this affects human behaviour, cognition and experience, and how it is possible to attune humans with the built environment. Within the practice, she works on healthcare projects, integrating research in neuroscience and environmental psychology into the design process.

  + View abstract

  From fragility to cognitive resilience: A neurodesign framework for age-inclusive hospital design

  Abstract Copy

  As global populations age, healthcare environments must transition from merely mitigating physical decline to actively fostering cognitive resilience, autonomy, and wellbeing. The European Healthcare Design 2026 theme, “Agile not Fragile,” calls for design approaches that enable renewal rather than reinforcing vulnerability. This paper proposes a neurodesign-informed framework for hospital environments enhancing cognitive resilience in older adults through sensory clarity, emotional anchoring, meaningful engagement, and navigational confidence.
  
  Grounded in neuropsychology, we examine ageing-related changes affecting perception, spatial cognition, hormonal transitions (particularly post-menopausal neurocognitive shifts), gender-related movement and navigation preferences, and dementia-related impairments in wayfinding, memory, and environmental recognition. We identify how these behavioural and neural changes influence environmental interpretation across signage, colour perception, material tactility, symbolic cues, and emotional resonance.
  
  A review of architectural and healthcare design research demonstrates that signage legibility, chromatic contrast, artwork and greenery, and material familiarity significantly influence older adults’ ability to navigate spaces, reduce stress, and maintain agency. However, many design strategies treat elderly users as fragile recipients rather than cognitively active individuals capable of environmental co-adaptation, emotional interpretation, and self-directed exploration.
  
  To explore lived experiential responses, a qualitative VR study was conducted in collaboration with an elderly charity, exposing participants to alternative hospital lobby scenarios. Semi-structured interviews focused on wayfinding clarity, emotional responses to nature, the reassuring or unsettling presence of people, and the interpretive impact of artwork. Participants preferred environments softened by artwork, which made spaces feel less institutional and more reassuring. Greenery was valued as an orienting and calming element, though excessive planting was overwhelming, indicating restorative cues must be balanced with spatial clarity. Participants responded positively to design elements perceived as intentional, such as sculptures with symbolic purpose rather than merely decorative. Importantly, participants emphasised retaining autonomy “as much as they can,” indicating design should support not only comfort and clarity but also self-efficacy and volitional movement.
  
  Drawing from these findings, we introduce a conceptual matrix for resilient neurodesign in healthcare environments for older adults. The framework maps (1) cognitive needs (orientation, continuity, meaning, autonomy), (2) neuropsychological responses (attentional stability, procedural memory activation, emotional reassurance, stress reduction), and (3) design strategies (colour hierarchy, sensory cues, purpose-driven landmarks, transitional anchors, biophilic familiarity).
  
  The paper concludes by positioning this approach as a shift from compensatory ageing design to cognitive resilience architecture supporting dignity, agency, and adaptive capability in later life, fully aligning with the ethos of “Agile not Fragile.”

  Learning Objectives

  • Understand ageing-related cognitive and perceptual changes and their implications for healthcare design.
  • Apply neurodesign principles to create hospital environments that enhance cognitive resilience and autonomy.
  • Evaluate the impact of environmental elements on older adults’ wellbeing and spatial experience.

  14.40

  Regenerating a community’s connection to healing (country)

  Mark Healey, Director, Bates Smart, Australia

  

  Mark Healey

  Director, Bates Smart, Australia

  Mark joined Bates Smart in 2003, spending his early years in the company working abroad on large-scale hospitality projects in the UK and Asia. On his return to the Melbourne studio, he became the lead interior designer on the award-winning Royal Children’s Hospital – a world-leading paediatric hospital – and has since gone on to lead several high-quality healthcare projects, such as Tweed Valley Hospital, Bendigo Hospital and the new Peninsula University Hospital. As well as healthcare, Mark has significant multi-residential, civic and commercial experience, and consistently demonstrates his ability to deliver high-quality and coherent design solutions to complex briefs. Mark is an open and intuitive designer who seeks to distil a client’s vision into a reductive, minimal aesthetic, imbued with a strong sense of materiality. He believes in using the positive qualities of nature, in particular natural light, to enliven his work and create empathetic human-centric spaces we want to inhabit.

  Ryan Browne, Senior associate, Architectus, Australia

  

  Ryan Browne

  Senior associate, Architectus, Australia

  Ryan is passionate about creating better, healthier and happier places for communities. An enthusiastic and active member of the team, Ryan has gained significant professional experience across health, civic and cultural disciplines. He applies a vast range of skills and an eagerness for continuous learning to deliver high-quality projects, along with striving to change the way we make architecture for people. He challenges ways of thinking, working, and making architecture. Ryan’s recent roles on health projects has seen him adopt an ever-growing understanding of health planning, design, documentation, and data management. Alongside this, Ryan rigorously questions design approaches, believing there’s always opportunity to learn from and improve buildings throughout the project. Through his studies, Ryan formed a strong design methodology and understanding of building technologies. A faculty scholar (Birrell Scholars Program, 2016), New Colombo Plan and Endeavour Mobility Grant recipient, Ryan has participated in international masterclasses and study tours in the Asia Pacific and India, working alongside local craftsman, students and architects on civic and masterplanning concepts. Upon graduating his Master of Architecture, Ryan was awarded the R. Martin Wilson Memorial Prize in Architecture for integrating future technologies into design projects. He won the Philip Y. Bisset Travelling Scholarship with a research topic on how hospital flexibility impacts their interaction with the communities and cities to which they belong. His itinerary will see him attend health design conferences, new and old hospitals, and meet with industry and academic leaders.

  + View abstract

  Regenerating a community’s connection to healing (country)

  Abstract Copy

  Hospitals play a greater role in community health by moving beyond acute care to provide proactive health initiatives, public health services, and support for social determinants of health.
  
  The Peninsula University Hospital Redevelopment Project aims to create a connected health campus that reflects the community needs of Frankston and surrounding areas, allows for future growth, and positions it firmly in the discourse of how the health of country directly effects the collective health of the community living on it. The new hospital aims to empower a community to become active participants in the future health of the region.
  
  The existing hospital serves a population with wide-ranging challenges: some reflect statewide challenges, like increasing mental health needs and patients with co-morbidities; others stand out in the area, particularly those related to disadvantaged communities.
  
  The design of the hospital adopted the theme 'Healing Country – Healing People', a guiding narrative co-designed with traditional owners. This engagement identified a range of opportunities (rehabilitation – healing people and country, celebrating the landscape and connection, truth telling and the impacts of colonisation, a living and evolving culture: past, present and future) to embed Indigenous thinking to improve the health of all through understanding the health of the country.
  
  Situated between regions and at the intersection of diverse landscapes and historic travel routes, it provides a profound opportunity to engage in conversation about the impact on colonisation of the natural environment and the richness and resilience of First People’s culture and their knowledge systems.
  
  The building design draws inspiration from the region’s geology, which has been shaped over millennia. This landform comprises many layers of sedimentary stone, which continue to be eroded, carved and sculpted by the same forces today as can be seen in coastal cliffs throughout Victoria. The landscape design contributes to civic green spaces from Port Philip Bay to the Pentland Botanic Gardens, introducing a generous north-facing Arrival Garden co-designed with Jefa Greenaway with local Indigenous plantings and embedded narratives of resilience, and dedicated spaces for ceremony and welcome.
  
  Distributed through each level of the hospital, the narratives become an alternative wayfinding tool, connecting key spaces through an engaging and uplifting series of drawings and stories of resilience, renewal and regeneration. The result is a welcoming and engaging public and clinical realm that draws on its coastal setting through materiality, landscaping, light and story to create an uplifting, engaging and calming environment for all.

  Learning Objectives

  • Community connection to holistic health outcomes
  • Integration of indigenous thinking in health facilities
  • Art and communication of embedded narratives in health facilities

  15.00

  Panel discussion

  15.30 - 16.00Video+Poster Gallery, exhibition, coffee and networking

  + View gallery

  16.00 - 17.00

  Session 38

   - Adaptive and flexible design

  

  Chair: Paul Bell, Principal, Ryder Architecture, United Kingdom

  

  Paul Bell

  Principal, Ryder Architecture, United Kingdom

  Paul completed his architectural education at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow in 1992 and has led several high-profile urban design, health and infrastructure projects. In 2006, he established Ryder’s Glasgow office and led the early development of the Hong Kong office. Prior to joining Ryder, he worked with Terry Farrell for 11 years in London and Hong Kong. Paul has spoken around the world on sustainable healthcare design and blurring the boundaries of healthcare to address health equity. Paul brings his expertise of leading integrated project teams to successfully deliver major healthcare projects. His passion for delivering design of the highest quality is recognised by excellent client testimonials and project award nominations.

  16.00

  Mind the gap

  Pernille Olsbro Adamsen, Head of development, New North Zealand Hospital, Denmark

  

  Pernille Olsbro Adamsen

  Head of development, New North Zealand Hospital, Denmark

  Pernille brings more than 35 years of experience in hospital management, specialising in organisational development, project and programme leadership, and complex transition processes. She has a deep expertise in change management, with a particular focus on the interplay between implementing new workflows and driving the essential organisational and cultural changes that determine the success of any transformation. Her current focus as head of department is transformation and collaboration regarding the use and relocations of New Zealand Hospital.

  Mette Stokholm, Design director, New North Zealand Hospital, Denmark

  

  Mette Stokholm

  Design director, New North Zealand Hospital, Denmark

  Architect Mette Stokholm holds an Maa Master in Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy, and is design director and executive member of project management of New North Zealand. She has been working in healthcare design as a professional client over the last 15 years, advocating for hospital settings of high functional and architectural quality for the benefit of both patients and staff.

  + View abstract

  Mind the gap

  Abstract Copy

  Background: The New North Zealand Hospital, designed by Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with Vil-helm Lauritzen Architects, is an award-winning project scheduled for completion at the end of 2027. Conceived as a benchmark for architectural innovation and patient-centred care, the hospital is intended to remain relevant preferably passing the end of the century. However, healthcare systems evolve faster than construction timelines. Technology advances, virtual patient consultations and new treatment paradigms have already surpassed some of the original design assumptions, together with healthcare reforms and restructuring of location of treatment.
  
  Purpose: This abstract explores how to bridge the gap between architecture, design, and clinical practice in a highly complex organisation characterised by interdisciplinary collaboration, evidence-based practice, and firmly rooted cultural traditions. How did we organise the project and processes to minimise the knowledge gap? The ambition has been to create a clinically functional facility that is future-ready from day one, while maintaining a shared understanding of purpose across disciplines. Despite effort and great ambitions, unaccounted issues have emerged and provided us with lessons learned and future predictions?
  
  Methods: From the early design phase, the “Spaghetti Diagram”, a set of design guidelines was introduced, comprising five core values, ten space management principles, and 20 functional concepts. This management tool has evolved into organisational principles that underpin workflow design and clinical planning. Continuous dialogue among architects, clinicians, and construction teams, supported by patient and staff engagement, has enabled iterative adaptation throughout the building process.
  
  Results: Applying architectural principles to workflow development has strengthened organisational resilience. Patient journey mapping and process descriptions have served as catalysts for cross-disciplinary collaboration, allowing real-time adjustments to accommodate emerging clinical needs while preserving design integrity. This co-design approach has enhanced adaptability and ensured alignment between physical spaces, clinical functionality, and staff wellbeing. However, some issues were lost in translation despite the dynamic co-design approach.
  
  Conclusion: Bridging architecture and clinical practice requires continuous negotiation and shared ownership. The experience at New North Zealand Hospital demonstrates that adaptive co-design fosters organisational learning and workforce engagement. As commissioning approaches, the imperative is to sustain this culture of curiosity and renewal, keeping design a dynamic framework that evolves with healthcare itself.
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Organizing the project and processes to minimize the knowledge gap is essential
  • Bridging architecture and clinical practice requires continuous negotiation and shared owner-ship.
  • Patient journey mapping and process descriptions have served as catalysts for cross-disciplinary collaboration

  16.20

  Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute: An adaptable design to last 100 years

  Simon Fraser, Principal, Hopkins Architects, United Kingdom

  

  Simon Fraser

  Principal, Hopkins Architects, United Kingdom

  Simon joined Hopkins Architects in 1990 and is one of the four design principals leading the practice. His early work included pioneering sustainable projects, such as Inland Revenue and the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus. In the early 2000s, he initiated the practice’s international work, beginning with GEK’s headquarters in Athens and later establishing Hopkins Architects’ Dubai studio in 2004. He has since overseen several major projects across the Middle East, Asia and, more recently, the USA. His portfolio spans a wide range of building types, including a large residential development in Zekeriyakoy, Istanbul; an office tower complex in central Tokyo; the Buhais Geological Museum; the World Expo 2020 Dubai Thematic Districts Masterplan; and architectural projects for Highgate Cemetery. Simon is currently leading several major healthcare commissions, such as Cleveland Clinic’s Neurological Institute in Ohio, USA. The 1m sq ft facility will house 210 beds, 18 operating theatres, and 15 outpatient clinics.

  Andrew Ardill, Director, Hopkins Architects, United Kingdom

  

  Andrew Ardill

  Director, Hopkins Architects, United Kingdom

  Andrew joined Hopkins Architects in 2000 and became a director in 2015. He studied Architecture at Queen’s University Belfast, where he was awarded the RSUA Silver Medal for his final-year thesis. He has significant international experience on major Hopkins Architects projects, including a mixed-use skyscraper in Tokyo, the Dubai World Trade Centre One Central district, and the World Expo 2020 Dubai Thematic Districts, a highly complex development comprising more than 87 pavilion buildings and an extensive public realm. Working alongside Hopkins’ principal, Simon Fraser, Andrew has co-led several major healthcare buildings, including the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute, now under construction, and the masterplan and concept design for the National Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Sultan Haitham City, Oman. The latter features an innovative courtyard-based approach that creates a strong sense of community for each patient group.

  Sara Madbouli, Senior architect, Hopkins Architects, UK

  

  Sara Madbouli

  Senior architect, Hopkins Architects, UK

  Sara joined Hopkins Architects ten years ago during her studies at the University of Bath, first working in the practice’s Dubai studio and now based in its London head office, led by principal Simon Fraser. She has worked on a variety of projects with Hopkins, including the World Expo 2020 Dubai Thematic Districts, and the Buhais Geological Museum, helping to develop concept proposals through to construction. During her time at the practice, Sara has been involved in a number of hospital projects, including the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute, leading the co-ordination of the medical planning with the architectural design. The project has a highly complex brief, combining several different outpatient, inpatient and imaging facilities. She has also, most recently, been involved with the masterplan and concept design for the National Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Sultan Haitham City, Oman.

  + View abstract

  Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute: An adaptable design to last 100 years

  Abstract Copy

  Hopkins Architects has designed a 1 million sq ft Neurological Institute for Cleveland Clinic at their main campus in Cleveland, Ohio. The facility will consolidate 15 separate neurological centres ranging from epilepsy to spine health into one major hospital that combines outpatient and inpatient services with neurosurgery and cutting-edge research. The central idea was to locate different specialisms within one building to not only improve patient care but also facilitate interdisciplinary innovation.
  
  The lower floors accommodate the outpatient centres, including more than 500 examination, treatment and consultation rooms, and a surgery suite of 18 operating theatres specifically designed to treat neurological diseases. The upper floors comprise an inpatient tower with 218 private bedrooms catering to various levels of acuity, from intensive care to intermediate care.
  
  Simon Fraser, principal, says: "The challenge of this project was to create an appropriately scaled massing for a very large clinical programme, achieved through a series of setbacks and articulated forms that allows the building to knit into the existing campus and improve the scale of the surrounding streets and public spaces. To achieve this, we introduced a 100 ft setback line that separates the outpatient and inpatient floors and aligns to existing campus buildings. At the same time, it was about creating a building of hope for the most critically ill patients using a blend of welcoming entrances, warm materials, well-proportioned spaces and maximising natural light. Large floorplates have been designed to be highly efficient but also intuitive in their organisation, so that patients instinctively know where to go."
  
  The vision set by Dr Andre Machado, chair of the Neurological Institute, was for a patient-centred building that could last 100 years and be flexible to change. We responded with a design that comprises an efficient modular plan allowing centres to expand and contract across flexible floorplates. Administration space was minimised by combining physicians’ offices and consultation rooms together with a specially designed ‘nook’ sub-space. The space can either be open and part of the room for collaboration, fully enclosed for focused individual research, or locked away when the room is in use by others. Shared staff lounges and meeting areas are located at key nodal spaces to foster ‘casual collision’.
  
  The carefully massed hospital, due to open in early 2027, will be one of the world’s largest neurological institutes; it offers lessons on how to humanise large, highly specialised hospitals while enabling flexible and collaborative care.

  Learning Objectives

  • How modular planning and adaptable design can support flexibility to help future-proof hospitals.
  • Identify architectural strategies that bring human-scale and legibility to the design of large, complex hospitals.
  • Key design principles that contribute to intuitive wayfinding and spatial clarity in healthcare buildings.

  16.40

  Panel discussion

  End of Art and architecture stream