Re-thinking space in healthcare estates

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Clean, lean, safe and green are this year’s themes for the Healthcare Estates annual IHEEM conference where Nightingale is presenting a paper.

Richard Mazuch, director of Design Research and Innovation, will be talking about ‘Re-thinking space – Innovative approaches for inpatient accommodation’.

The last 12 months have seen unprecedented changes in our political and economic situation, making the challenges facing healthcare estates bigger than ever before. The paper will describe three innovative approaches developed by Nightingale Associates for the provision of Inpatient accommodation for both existing and new build healthcare settings.

Re-use and refurbishment within the existing estate

BedPod

Developing a lean estate is now more important than ever. Trusts have to find more affordable ways of upgrading their existing accommodation.

Nightingale Associates, with partners SAS International and Billings Jackson Design, have developed the BedPod as part of the Design Council ‘Design for Patient Dignity’ programme funded by the Department of Health. To provide same-sex accommodation, the current solution involves major ward or hospital refurbishment at significant capital cost, downtime and loss of beds. By utilising existing space within wards, the BedPod provides same-sex accommodation at a fraction of the cost.

The BedPod offers a uniquely flexible solution for providing Inpatient bed space. Developed for minor or major works and as a temporary or permanent measure, the BedPod is a prefabricated, modular product that offers simplified procurement, minimal disruption and no loss of beds. Manufactured to the highest quality, its modularity enables choice in initial specification and facilitates replacement and upgrade over time to minimise obsolescence.

Moreover the BedPod aims to create a sense of patient empowerment, offering increased control and improving patient dignity. It is also designed to improve the healing environment by increasing sensory engagement and helping to control the spread of infection.

Providing the right Inpatient accommodation is about understanding the context and applying the right solution. This approach provides the Estate Manager with flexible solutions that respond to reoccurring issues, whilst making the most of any investment.

100% Single room accommodation

Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan, aerial sketch perspective

As the debate continues as to whether single bed accommodation is the future of the NHS, Nightingale Associates (with their Supply Chain Partner, BAM) are about to complete the first purpose designed 100% Single Room hospital in Wales. The 96 bed hospital in Ebbw Vale for The Aneurin Bevan NHS Trust, delivered via the Designed for Life: Building for Wales Framework, will be receiving patients by October 2010. The proposed ward layouts were developed in close consultation with the Trust team, patient groups and stakeholders to ensure cost effectiveness, staff efficiency, optimal observation, patient control, as well as patient privacy and dignity. Best practice, current guidance and full scale mock-ups have been utilised during the design development process.

Multi-bed bay accommodation

Cruciform ward layout

Nightingale Associate’s experience in the healthcare market underlines that providing 100% single room accommodation is often unaffordable or inappropriate for the intended purpose or patient group. To address this problem, Nightingale’s havedeveloped the cruciform ward to provide a cost effective, staff efficient and patient centred alternative to current multi-bed bay models.

The cruciform ward layout is configured to emphasise individual bed heads for each patient, thereby creating a sense of personal space and controlling the spread of infection. The innovative layout provides for the integration of en-suite sanitary accommodation as well as areas for informal seating and/or patient dining. The ward can be deployed with varying percentages of single room accommodation. The cruciform ward has been successfully developed for the recently completed Phase V, Princess Elizabeth Hospital, Guernsey and the new Peterborough City Hospital due for completion in the autumn 2010.

Healthcare Estates is the largest and most influential institution in the UK. The conference is taking place in Manchester Central from 5^th-6^th October 2010.

Coalition Government brings uncertainty for architects

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The coalition Government has created uncertainty for architects. UK chancellor George Osborne has announced that £1.7bn of contracts across all sectors will be delayed or stopped to achieve £6.2bn of savings. Even the role of architecture minister is changeable with Ed Vaizey only being in office for four days before John Penrose took over.

As architects await a government decision on the Building Schools for the Future £1.2bn second phase, as reported in BD, Building deputy editor, Sarah Richardson, commented, “The coalition has stated that it will review spending commitments made since January using its own value for money criteria, and it’s obvious that the £55bn earmarked for schools renewal is not going to survive this process unscathed.”

Head of the British Council for School Environments, Ty Goddard, considers the newly launched coalition programme for government that shares some more detail about schools policy and the rumoured cuts to the Building Schools for the Future budget in the video below.

As part of chancellor George Osbourne’s £6.25bn savings plan, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has been ordered to save £836m by reviewing several projects including investment into science facilities. This contrasts US president, Barack Obama,  who committed to investing in research and development upon his inauguration last year. Concern has also arisen about targets for zero-carbon homes by 2016, which have not been included in the new Coalition government deal. While the healthcare sector has been spared in the first round of spending cuts, it’s unclear how Tories and the Lib Dems could change the NHS, as questioned by the BBC. 

Beyond spending cuts, RIBA has outlined their new priorities for the new government:

• Construction sector and architecture in the new economy – the construction sector forms 10% of GDP and is the second largest in the European Union. The RIBA believes that construction, and in particular architecture, should form a principal plank of a new economy. The Government needs to ensure that we maintain the skills and expertise that make us a respected world leader and capitalise on the opportunities for growth, both at home and abroad.
• More and better homes – delivery of new homes where they are needed and a concerted effort to improve the standard of new homes to address the current market failure in housing.
• Sustainability - A major retrofit programme for both domestic and non-domestic buildings in order that the UK can meet its carbon targets. We need stringent new-build performance standards and improved post-occupancy evaluation.
• Positive localism – strengthened local government backed by the resources and skills required to deliver the great places and spaces we need. Any implementation of a more local system needs to guarantee that communities have the opportunity to help create a positive vision for their area and ensure that NIMBY-ism is not the default option

What do you think are the priorities for the new government? How will spending cuts affect the architectural industry? Tell us what you think.

 

Downing Street image used via Flickr courtesy of cornfed1975 under Creative Commons licensing.

BedPod unveiled at Design Council ‘Design for Patient Dignity’ exhibition

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Created for the ‘Open Brief’ category of the Design Council’s ‘Design for Patient Dignity Challenge’ and for the Department of Health, the BedPod was unveiled last week.

The aim of the Design Council scheme is to improve patient experience in hospital with particular emphasis on the separation of male and female patients through innovative product and service design. If you missed the Design Council’s exhibition from 23-25 March 2010 of the resulting designs, here is a collection of images and video of the event and the design process.

Building Better Healthcare Awards 2009: Winners announced

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Nightingale Associates scooped the Patient Environment Class Award for Best Interior Design of the Centre of Neuromuscular Diseases at UCLH at this year’s Building Better Healthcare (BBH) Awards.

The annual BBH Awards celebrate excellence, innovation and professionalism in the healthcare built environment, looking specifically at building design, the patient environment, people, products and estates and facilities management.

The winning project, the Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases at UCLH, was extensively refurbished earlier this year to provide a stimulating and modern environment in which to conduct specialist scientific research. The centre, which is located in an early twentieth-century central London building, has a ‘contemporary fitting in the classical shell’ design theme, displaying a unique mix of modern architectural design concepts with many carefully-restored original features.

Sensory design in schools | Primary Capital Action Conference 2009

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Oranges were given out at the Primary Capital Action 09 event to demonstrate the power of the senses. Image used courtesy of OrangeSmell via Flickr CC.

We know that children are best prepared to learn when they are active and alert. The challenge for teachers and designers is to create school environments that enhance this emotional and intellectual receptiveness. While a new building may offer the opportunity to design up-to-date learning environments, this is not always an option; the Government’s cash injection of £3bn will not help all the UK’s primary schools. So how do you transform life-expired buildings into inspiring spaces on modest budgets?

The recent Cambridge Primary Review final report has suggested that school building design should provide better facilities for specialist teaching, outdoor learning and libraries. But there are other ways of revolutionising primary school learning through building design. At this year’s Primary Capital Action event, Nightingale Associates took centre stage to explain the theory of sensory learning and introduce a potentially ground-breaking primary school experiment.

Private view | Reflecting Wales 09:09 at the Cardiff Design Festival

“Whether it’s Only Men Aloud, brass bands or Welsh slate,” chirped Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas as he officially opened the Reflecting Wales 09:09 exhibition; he was in celebration of all things Welsh – and in particular tonight – Welsh design of the built environment by nine selected designers.

Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas chats to exhibition artists.

These nine designers all have a connection to Wales, and have been selected to exhibit their work as part of the Cardiff Design Festival at the Reflecting Wales 09:09 exhibition. Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas, the Presiding Officer for the National Welsh Assembly, praised the designers for more than “throwing a few Welsh slates on” but for designing Welsh buildings that secured a sustainable future for Wales as well as considering tradition, community and democracy in their designs.

The exhibition aims to ‘highlight nine young / emerging architectural designers who exhibit the potential to make a significant impact on design standards in our homes, working environments and the quality of places – cities, towns, villages and rural areas – in the decades to come’.

“No pressure,” quipped one of the organisers – which got a laugh from the vast audience crammed into Cardiff’s Howard Gardens gallery for the private view and opening speeches.

100% Design: Contemporary Interiors and Architectural Event

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Nightingale Associates popped down to this year’s 100% Design event at Earl’s Court to learn more about the latest innovations on display. Here are some of the exhibitors who caught our attention:

Perception of Colour

Artists, Rob and Nicky Carter, are investigating the public’s perception of colour by inviting exhibition visitors to choose the shade they believe to represent the seven different colours.

2700 Pantone swatches have been laid out for 1000 members of the public to select colours from the whole Pantone range that, in their mind, best represent the seven spectral colours: Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple.

Exhibition visitors had to choose one shade from the swatches and write its Pantone number on a questionnaire.

The questionnaire answers were then stuck onto seven large wall mounted sheets of aluminium, creating seven large monochromes to evolve over the course of the exhibition. Rob and Nicky Carter said they were unsure about what shape the final artworks would take but were already excited about the results. Particularly about the fact that the red monochrome contained a couple of blues! The perception of colour was clearly differing greatly from person to person.