Destination Net Zero: Transforming NHS Estates Into the Hospitals of Tomorrow

Synopsis

The Decarbonising Health Partnership (DHEP) is led by Wates with a multi-disciplinary team of built environment specialists including Arup and HKS Architects to develop a process that we can use to help NHS Trusts to develop their decarbonisation strategy for their estates, in particular their retained estates.

The team has developed a process which specifically focuses on delivering progressive decarbonisation through improvements in the built environment, such as building fabric and building services systems.

When a holistic approach between fabric and services is taken to ensure an optimum solution, and not isolated to component parts, it addresses the following key concerns:
• Improved patient experience and welfare
• Clinical outcomes that are future proof
• Enhanced staff wellbeing and productivity
• Better integration with wider health and social care infrastructure

The process embraces a range of smart decarbonisation solutions which our partnership of multidisciplinary built environment specialists use to work with individual NHS Trusts to develop a bespoke solution suitable and relevant to their requirements on their existing and new estates through a four-step process:
1. Brief
2. Optioneering
3. Validate
4. Solution

MAIN POINTS FOR DISCUSSION AT DESIGN IN MENTAL HEALTH 2022 FORUM:

We are currently in the process of working with several NHS Trusts to put into practice our proposal.

The key challenges that we are facing in our implementation is the lack of data including utility (gas and electricity) billing, BMS recorded data, HVAC services drawing, As-built building services equipment, O&Ms, etc. We believe this challenge extends to mental health facilities.

For our proposal, we would like to host a workshop on how WE as an industry can fast track the collection of data to develop quick/mid/long term solutions to reduce energy use and target near zero carbon in NHS retained estates.

We believe it requires a collective effort to tackle this net zero challenge the NHS has targeted.