The challenges facing the healthcare estate were discussed at the third annual healthcare buildings forum Scotland, held earlier this month in Glasgow.

The annual event provided a crucial opportunity for healthcare product and service suppliers to meet key decision-makers involved in the design and development of health and social care facilities across the country.

Over the one-and-a-half days of meetings and networking opportunities, three speaker sessions were held, where experts provided an overview of the opportunities and challenges facing the sector.

This year’s healthcare forum was held alongside the physical activity facilities forum Scotland and the education building forum Scotland, also run by Stable Events.

And, for the first speaker session, delegates from all three sectors came together to discuss the key challenge of achieving net-zero carbon estates.

A ‘fabric first’ approach

Both Paul Cooper, healthcare lead at Wallace Whittle; and Robin Strang, chairman of Community Leisure Scotland, called for more-long-term thinking and a change of mindset to deliver the ambitious carbon reduction targets set out by the Government.

Cooper said: “For healthcare there is a lot of interesting challenges ahead.

“We need to make sure our estates are resilient and safe, but we also need to deliver net-zero-carbon buildings.

“And for that we need a ‘fabric first’ approach. We have got to stop pumping energy into buildings, or losing energy through the windows or roof, just to cover for inefficient planning.

“Reaching net-zero carbon in healthcare will be a challenge and we have to stop thinking as we always have done.”

As part of his presentation, he took delegates through work carried out as part of the design of the planned new University Hospital Monklands in Airdrie.

The hospital will be the first to be designed from the very outset to be fully net zero in both the build and operation phases.

And it is utilising modern water and air source heat pump technology to deliver heating and hot water.

Changing the model

Cooper said: “Energy prices have doubled in two years and achieving net-zero carbon will cost us.

“The technology for each project will vary, but all will link to higher capital costs and we need to understand the figures.”

We have got to stop pumping energy into buildings, or losing energy through the windows or roof, just to cover for inefficient planning

Strang also addressed the net-zero carbon challenge, claiming it will lead to some tough decisions within the leisure sector.

His comments came as a survey by Community Leisure Scotland revealed that 89% of its members are in crisis and face having to close buildings, make redundancies, or hike prices.

He told delegates: “Something needs to happen to make our leisure facilities more sustainable.

“By April this year energy costs will have increased by 200% and the average swimming pool will cost £300,000 a year to heat, compared to £100,000 before the energy crisis.

“There are 200 public pools in Scotland and while the UK government is supporting some sites with energy bills, this does not include swimming pools and leisure centres.

“If nothing it done the impact will be significant – changes to services, reduced opening hours, reductions in pool water temperatures, and price increases.

“We don’t want to rely on handouts, but we need short-term support to be able to change the model.”

Thinking ahead

In particular, he outlined the need to connect leisure and health services.

“Our discussion with government over the last few years has been about the current crisis, but if we get to a sustainable model then we can have a better conversation about aligning health and physical activity,” he said.

“We know there is a link, but the problem has always been changing the model as we have been dealing with crisis after crisis.

Reaching net-zero carbon in healthcare will be a challenge and we have to stop thinking as we always have done

“We need to think about whether we can use our struggling leisure centres to deliver health and wellbeing support and to do this we need to change the funding model.”

University Hospital Monklands was also referenced by another of the speakers at this year’s event, Suzanne Tighe, associate architect at Keppie Architects, which has designed the facility.

She provided an overview of the approach to delivering a carbon-neutral healthcare facility and how it will be Scotland’s first digital hospital.

And he colleague, Keppie Deisgn director, David Ross, spoke of ‘25 years of frustration in healthcare design and delivery’ and called for more standardisation within the sector.

He said: “Scotland has 14 regions and each is vastly different, but all have the same kind of challenges. However, trying to get a degree of consistency is problematic.

Stop reinventing the wheel

“Everyone uses standard single bedroom designs, but delivers them differently and I can’t understand that.

“The NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital project, which was delivered in 23 days at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, went beyond traditional concerns regarding healthcare departmental flexibility.

We need to think about whether we can use our struggling leisure centres to deliver health and wellbeing support and to do this we need to change the funding model

“And, if logic tells us that people will spend less time in hospital in future as fully-invasive procedures become less reliant on observed recovery, the drive towards community-based health and wellbeing will surely become more desirable.

“A consistent, people-focused strategy based on high-quality standardised and repeatable components offers us the best chance of adapting our national healthcare system for the future.

“Through standardisation we can fast-track major projects so we need to bet all 14 health boards around the table and get them to agree a benchmark level.”

Designing for wellbeing

The speaker sessions also looked at the impact of design on the patient and staff experience.

Delegates heard from Stephen Hurrel of Hurrel Visual Arts; and Jackie Sands, public health improvement senior for arts and health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, about the public arts project at the new Greenock Health and Care Centre.

And gardening coach, Mike Hamilton, provided an overview of the Gardening for Health project at Crieff Community Hospital.

A consistent, people-focused strategy based on high-quality standardised and repeatable components offers us the best chance of adapting our national healthcare system for the future

The final speaker was Dr Martin Quirke of the University of Stirling who gave delegates an introduction to the Environments for Ageing and Dementia Design Assessment Tool (EADDAT), which supports families, businesses, and professionals to make homes, premises, and public places more accessible to an ageing population and those living with dementia.

Maximising time

Commenting on the event, project delegate, Paul Winning, director of Hoare Lee, said: “It was my first time attending an event of this format and I felt the speed of the day meant that you got through lots of information/contacts in a relatively-short period of time.

“The venue was exceptional, and provided a fantastic backdrop to a very-worthwhile visit, and I would like to thank the speakers for some very-interesting content.”

Supplier delegate, Nick Gee, commercial sales consultant at Bath Fitter Limited, added: “We have attended many of these events in North America and the Middle East and I would rank this at the top.

“We will be attending the event for a while to come.”