New Build

All decisions about design and build of healthcare facilities must be explicit about how they encourage a broader approach to sustainability including transport, delivery of services and community engagement. Decision making governing the construction of new healthcare buildings should be made with reference to information published by the UK Climates Impact Programme, for each region and locality over the building’s lifetime.

In its 2008 Budget 31 the Government set out an ambition for all new non-domestic buildings to be zero carbon from 2019, with an earlier target (2018) for new public sector buildings. In order to support this, all new NHS healthcare buildings should aim to be low carbon by 2015.

Learning across sectors that share common issues and objectives could be shared through a Low Carbon Design Taskforce of public and private sector expertise. This taskforce could develop a blueprint for the optimum low carbon healthcare building, accompanied by best practice guidance. The blueprint could focus on four levels in design:

• Site selection – transport and integration with other services
• Orientation – to maximise daylight, shade, and ventilation naturally
• Thermal issues – shape, density, materials and systems for winter heating and summer cooling
• Use of renewable forms of energy.