Health
Architecture for Health & Wellbeing Matters
Contents
1)
The Challenge
2) 3)
People Centred Design
Specialisms 4) Design Matters 5) Green Space 6) Holistic Design 7)
Flexibility & Adaptability 8) Innovation & Technology 9) Construction & Delivery 10) NZC & MMC 11) Refurbish & Renew 12) The Future 13) About Us
The Challenge Designing spaces that support, enrich and enable good health and wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do at Gilling Dod. Change is a constant in the provision of healthcare, with patient demand increasing, workforce pressures continuing to grow, new and novel treatments and technology being developed, all within the context of a healthcare estate that is ageing and often not ‘fit for purpose’. As a result, the role of design and designers in the provision of health and wellbeing spaces has never been more important, and will be central in creating a new generation of facilities that will not only address these challenges, but will also facilitate a life long improvement in health and wellbeing for the patients and communities for which they are provided. At Gilling Dod we have a depth of experience that means we understand that health and well being spaces need to be designed to be flexible and adaptable in order to respond to change in a timely and cost effective manner. They need to embrace technology, not only for treatment but to enable staff to provide the best possible care and to open up access to treatment and information for patients so that referral/diagnosis/treatment timeline is greatly reduced. And that these spaces are able to built to a consistently high standard, in a sustainable manner and to an acceptable cost and timescale. Whilst all of the above are already in our grasp, we see our role as designers is to take all of these technologies, skills and experience and create a design process and ultimately a health and well being space, that has ‘people’ and the understanding of their needs and emotions at it’s very centre. Only by empowering patients, relatives and staff to share their experiences and using this knowledge to underpin our decisions as designers will we be able to design a new generation of health and wellbeing spaces that will be able to respond to the financial, practical and clinical challenges that face us all, but within human and healing spaces that provide reassurance, stimulation and a sense of care and understanding. Ulltimately we are all users of health and wellbeing spaces during our life and we strongly believe that their design should show that ‘Health Matters’.
People Centred Design
People Centred Design sits at the heart of the design of all health and wellbeing environments. Only through empathy, understanding and appreciation can we as designers interpret emotional need into physical space. The complex and sometimes contradictory nature of healthcare and wellbeing spaces means we continuously need to return to our service users to test our design ideas, and by putting them at the heart of the process we can ensure this permeates the entire design. Collaboration and co-production is a cornerstone value at Gilling Dod, ensuring people-centricity in all we do. By engaging with experts by experience, service users, staff and stakeholders in a co-productive manner, our designs resonate with warmth and humanity, steering clear of clinical sterility and institution. Tailoring our approach to each project, we create bespoke engagement strategies from inception, incorporating service user consultations and workshops to glean valuable insights. Utilising communication tools like games 3D interactive and immersive design, virtual reality, physical models, role play and gaming we are able to make design accessible to all. With the continual advancement of technology touching on all aspects of healthcare, we have evolved our engagement process to suit and work closely with Clinical and Nursing teams to ensure our understanding and influences are balanced and consistent. Person centred design takes on board clinical risk, physical health and complex health needs ensuring a fully sustainable and holistic design is created. Ultimately, communication is the key and through our numerous award-winning projects, across numerous healthcare specilialties, we have learned the importance of taking the time to listen.
These buildings are effectively the front line and public face of the NHS, hence their importance in helping deliver local care cannot be underestimated. Using our experience from across all aspects of health and wellbeing spaces in terms of best practice, patient focused design and compliance we can design an aspirational community space, which is similarly fully compliant. Private healthcare is a continuing growing sector in the UK in which Gilling Dod have been involved across a number of diverse projects for private healthcare providers, including: Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Cosmetic Surgery, Dementia Care, Acquired Brain Injury, Surgical, IVF and Dental Surgeries. As a result we are well placed to apply our NHS experience to innovative and cost-effective design solutions. We also have extensive experience in NHS laboratory design, which has led to further opportunities in the burgeoning life sciences sector with exciting developments in this field of expertise. Delivering automated sample receipt and distribution, digital and AI reporting, and flexible collaborative research, analysis and collaboration spaces for both the private and public sectors. Finally, the depth of our skills in the design of Mental Health spaces is detailed in a sister document ‘Head Space’, which showcases our extensive experience in this specialist area of health and wellbeing.
Good design is universal and has many applications across some well defined sectors and disciplines. These can be split over a number of outline specialist headings: healthcare
• • • • •
Acute Hospitals
Primary and Social Care Private Healthcare Science and Laboratories
Mental Health
Gilling Dod Architects have always produced innovative, bespoke and best practice design solutions, using evidence based design principles over a wide range of departments within the Acute Hospital Sector. Departments range from In-Patient, Theatres, ED, Maternity, Pathology, Administration, etc which Gilling Dod can apply lessons learnt from previous experience. All of our designers are experienced in healthcare design and our constant aim is to improve outcomes through research and learning. A key element of this process is our in-house interior design as good healthcare design is about creating healing environments and putting the end user at the heart of the process. Our approach is to incorporate the Interior Design early in the development process, to ensure that spaces combine practical function with creative aesthetic solutions which positively contribute to the service provision. Gilling Dod have been involved in numerous high profile Primary and Social Care schemes from large multi- disciplinary GP surgeries, Diagnostic and treatment facilities – Including CDCs, health centres and community Hospitals.
Specialisms
Gilling Dod are committed to delivering quality architectural design in all of our projects regardless of size and budget. Good design is not a luxury item. It is the biggest tool we have in delivering for our clients, service users and stakeholders and we will always bring innovation and aspiration to all our commissions. We do not have a ‘house style’ and all our schemes relate to their context and setting. We begin each project with a conversation. An appreciation of the ‘who’, the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. Through real co-production and collaboration a shared vision is established ensuring we create places not just spaces. Gilling Dod’s architecture prioritises wellbeing and recovery by crafting inviting, open spaces that instil a sense of humanity and reassurance for patients and relatives, whilst providing a stimulating and efficient place of work for staff. Utilising natural materials, calming hues and mximising the use of natural light and views out, our environments promote a combination of support, reassurance and comfort. We also understand intimately the importance of robustness and maintenance as part of our commitment to quality design, ensuring that our spaces do not add any burden to our Clients in terms of their maintenance and remain quality spaces throughout their lifetime not just on completion.
Design Matters
Green The enduring link between nature and human well-being predates modern psychology. We are, after all, a species of the land. From our earliest settlements, connection to the land and nature has shaped our existence, influencing everything from where we live to how we feel. The Victorian’s recognised the healing properties of the landscape, and as we inhabit an ever more urbanised world, the desire and draw towards green space as a source of mental wellbeing, is as strong as ever. A constant and recurring theme in Service User Engagement, and indeed Post Occupancy Evaluation, is the importance of gardens and nature. Being close to, or touched by nature and wildlife, keeps us grounded and reassured. Our modern designs have a green heart space at their core, prioritising and integrating with nature, employing biophilic principles to create environments that nurture both body and mind. Outside space is a source of activity and physical wellbeing as well as a natural canvas for sensory enrichment, aspect and therapy for patients and staff alike. Our designs blend indoor and outdoor spaces symboitically, fulfilling our innate need for light, air, and stimulation, promoting holistic health and well-being.
Space
“We all want quiet. We all want beauty…..We all need space. Unless we have it, we cannot reach that sense of quiet in which whispers of better things come to us gently.”
Octavia Hill, 1883
At Gilling Dod we understand that all buildings, but in particular those that provide spaces for care, are complex in their nature and composed of numerous competing demands, many of which are often not complimentary but are almost always inextricably linked. Equally as complex as the buildings themselves are the people who will use them, whether they are patients, relatives or members of staff, all of whom have differing needs and reasons for using the space and as a result place differing demands on the same space and often at the same time. To this end, all of our design processes are informed by a holistic approach, which recognises that health and care facilities if they are to be successful and sustainable should not concentrate solely on the practicalities of providing spaces for treatment, but should also consider the following four key design drivers.
• • • •
Space
Technology
Design
Environment
Whilst in our experience the specifics of each of the four design drivers above differs depending upon the spaces being designed, the importance of understanding how they are interlinked and how they impact upon the quality of the care given and ultimately how successful and sustainable it is does not. As a result our designs consider how technology can reduce waiting and the need for waiting spaces, improve staff efficiency through simple, consistent and robust IT, allow their patients to be treated closer to or in home through remote access, how access to natural daylight and external spaces can reduce recovery times for patients as well as absence rates for staff and how adaptable spaces can be used to provide education and advice as well as treatment in order to encourage healthier habits and lifestyles and facilitate a preventative rather than curative approach to healthcare. As designers we are uniquely placed to be able to understand all of these interconnected strands and use our skills and understanding to weave these into the fabric of the health and wellbeing spaces we create as a result.
Holistic Design
Flexibility & Adaptability
At Gilling Dod we recognise that health and well-being facilities must not only meet today’s clinical demands but also be prepared for tomorrow’s challenges. Whether designing new buildings or refurbishing existing estates, we focus on flexible and adaptable design to ensure that spaces can evolve seamlessly alongside advancements in healthcare. We help deliver future-proof healthcare environments, that can develop with their user, giving our clients confidence that their facility will remain functional and cost-effective for years to come. We work closely with our clients to understand their specific needs, from patient care pathways to operational workflows. This collaboration informs the creation of standardised layouts, multi-functional rooms, and adaptable spaces that can be easily reconfigured as demands change. Whether to support new treatment methods, expand services, or integrate emerging technologies, our designs ensure minimal disruption and downtime during future refurbishment. In many cases, refurbishment of existing historical estates is more sustainable and cost-effective than building anew. Our expertise in adaptability extends to working with existing structures, where we bring life to older buildings by transforming them into modern, high-performing healthcare environments. Our refurbishment and new build projects focus on integrating contemporary technologies, improving energy efficiency, and enhancing patient care experiences, all while respecting the historical or structural significance of the original estate. This ensures that even older assets can meet modern healthcare standards without the need for complete redevelopment.
Innovation & Technology
The provision of care is increasingly driven through innovation and technology and as a result spaces that are designed for it’s provision need to be designed not only to accommodate current technology, but also need to be sufficiently flexible and adaptable in order to be able respond to it’s development and change through time, often at pace, without the need for significant physical change, disruption, expense or loss of service. Consistent with our approach to other aspects of the design process, through thorough engagement with specialists, whether they be clinical specialists or specialist equipment manufacturers, we have developed a through understanding of modern treatment technologies as well as how to design for their installation, maintenance and eventual replacement, whilst still retaining a human and reassuring environment for patients, relatives and staff. Increasingly we are also considering the design of health and wellbeing spaces from a digital standpoint, where technology is no longer restricted to the clinical aspects of diagnosis and treatment, but is also a fundamental part of how staff, patients and relatives interact with a health and well being environment. Through our experience on large scale health and science projects, in particular the National Hospital Programme, we have developed a depth of understanding in the principals of the ‘Digital Hospital’ and it’s ability to ease many of the pressures that health and care providers are currently experiencing. Whilst technology has transformed the way in which care is provided it has similarly transformed the way in which we as designers communicate and engage with our peers and stakeholders when designing new health and wellbeing environments. We now routinely design in a single collaborative digital environment with our fellow designers to ensure a seamless collaborative design process, Similarly, we use a range of communication technologies, such as 3D models, virtual reality and immersive environments to ensure the design process is as intuitive and engaging as possible for stakeholders, which ensures the best possible outcome for the quality of the resulting design.
Construction & Delivery
At Gilling Dod, we are committed to our designs being realised and inhabited. We work collaboratively with main contractors, supply chains and manufacturers to help ensure our designs become reality. Buildability, co-ordination, and zero-defect solutions are fundamental in constructing sustainable Health and Wellbeing settings. Over the last 30 years, through roles on progressive procurement platforms such as Procure23, Pagabo and NHS SBS, we have forged strong links with the industry through not only ‘on the job’ delivery but also being part of nationwide ‘Best/Next’ Practice initiatives such as Repeatable Rooms and Modern Methods of Construction expert groups as well as the New Hospital Programme. Constructing sustainable and successful Health and Wellbeing settings is about 5 key areas:
• • • •
Robustness and Testing Co-ordination and Interface Tolerances and Detail Quality, and Application
Throughout our 35 years of delivering award winning Health and Wellbeing settings, we have amassed a vast proven library of details and specifications which are constantly updated and evolved with each completed project. Workshops with supply chains, refinement and evolution of key components and specifications, on-site support, and commissioning duties. All, are part of our continued role through RIBA 5, right up to completion. All this means that Gilling Dod are ideally placed to deliver on design promises and assist construction partners in the most challenging and constrained economic conditions, creating environments that support the communities of the future.
Decarbonising the built environment, including Health and Well Being settings, still presents persistent challenges despite strides in the construction industry. The NHS Net Zero Building Standard is pivotal, yet its inconsistency application across NHS Trusts challenges progress. seen advancements through on-site electricity generation via photovoltaic panels and heat pumps, there is much work to be done regarding embodied carbon. While operational carbon reduction has Healthcare buildings face unique challenges in both their design and construction due to the limited number of manufacturers for the numerous specialist components required. Using our wide range of experience we are continually working with specialist suppliers and contractors to help bridge this gap and deliver innovation and sustainability in the construction process. Modern Methods of Construction are also aiding the drive to Net Zero. Reduced transportation movements, shorter construction programmes and fewer defects all contribute to this. Gilling Dod is working alongside PSCP/Contracting partners to develop exemplar off-site standard component systems to help bring efficiencies to Health and Wellbeing buildings which draw on shared learnings from the Commercial, Science and Residential sectors. Built into designs from concept stage, we take a holistic approach, ensuring no compromise to Patient, Staff or Relative experience. Sustainable, ethical and economic design will be a bedrock of modern Healthcare building moving forward. Gilling Dod embraces this challenge and building on a proven record for BREEAM Excellent rated Health and Wellbeing buildings, is already delivering the next generation of Net Zero Carbon buildings for our clients and the communities they serve.
NZC & MMC
Refurbish & Renew
Following years of under investment, large parts of the UK Health building estate is not in a ‘fit for purpose’ condition. The sheer size of the backlog, plus scarcity of capital, availability of land, planning restrictions and time pressures, sometimes means that new build solutions are not always feasible. As such, today’s designers need to work creatively to repurpose and reimagine existing spaces and structures to create modern, compliant, and productive environments for Health and Wellbeing. This challenge can sometime bring about real innovation, with the end products sometimes surpassing the aspiration of new builds, drawing on as they do, established sites, links to local communities and strong cultural connections. By understanding the roots and historic relationships of services and communities, we can apply best practice and evidenced based innovation, to breathe new life into tired buildings, in a truly sustainable way. Imaginative interior design solutions, structural expertise, creative adaptation design, envelope upgrades, retrofit applications of new technology, immersive landscape design, are all elements that help to create truly outstanding refurbishment and repurposing projects. Combined with our deep understanding of the HBN/ HTMs, the only barrier to such potential is our imagination.
The Future The NHS is currently facing significant challenges, as outlined in recent reports. Key issues include the state of A&E services, rising cancer rates, access to scans, long patient waiting times, and recurring winter crises. These problems are compounded by the deteriorating health of the population, difficulties in patient transitions from hospitals to social care, and insufficient capital investment, resulting in outdated healthcare facilities.
hospitals within tight deadlines, positively impacting local communities. We remain committed to the essential task of enhancing and refurbishing key acute healthcare facilities, having established a strong track record in areas such as inpatient accommodation, A&E services, maternity care, and cancer treatment. It is also recognized that social and community care have been historically underfunded. Improving primary and community services is essential to alleviate pressure on the acute sector. Gilling Dod has contributed to several Community Diagnostic Centres, primary care GP facilities, and community hubs, demonstrating that even smaller projects can have a significant impact. Engaging local communities in the design and implementation of these initiatives is crucial for ensuring ownership and continued use. Furthermore, we are at the forefront of integrating complex laboratory services and artificial intelligence technologies into the NHS, empowering patients through digital solutions. Despite the ongoing challenges faced by the NHS and their effects on staff, patients, and communities, we take pride in our contributions and the positive outcomes of our projects. Over the next decade, we anticipate transformative changes in healthcare delivery and settings. Gilling Dod is dedicated to supporting this evolution through informed, innovative design, helping to shape healthier communities for the future.
To address these challenges, three major shifts are proposed:
• Transitioning from hospital care to community care • Moving from analogue to digital solutions • Emphasizing prevention over treatment
These shifts align with the government’s commitment to the New Hospital Programme (NHP), which aims to create a realistic timeline for necessary improvements in healthcare delivery. The approach to resolving these issues will require flexibility, innovation, and a focus on reform rather than just increased funding. The delivery methods and care processes must evolve alongside public needs, available funding, and technological advancements. At Gilling Dod, we are proud to be involved in addressing these challenges. Our participation in the NHP, along with RAAC replacement projects, provides us valuable insights into what is necessary for successful implementation. The NHP is an ambitious initiative that presents a unique opportunity to develop effective design proposals and deliver much-needed
About Us Gilling Dod merges passion with precision to design spaces that tell stories. From the heart and with vision, our award- winning healthcare and wellness spaces are visually stunning, practical and promote a sense of hope, recovery and well-being.
We care about the communities at the core of our projects, and we ensure everyone has a voice. Our co-production approach to design, places patients and staff at the heart of every building we create together. Our mission is to enrich lives through thoutful and meaningful healthcare architecture. Our values place people at the centre of every decision. We work with integrity and humility to craft spaces with warmth and thought. There’s always a story behind everything we do. A story that demands more than just bricks and mortar. A Health and Well- being building needs to aid and enhance the recovery journey, not least, because patients are being care for at their most vulnerable. Designing across all health specialisms, we bring expertise and lessons learnt to your project, gathered from leading healthcare schemes across the country. Supporting our co-production approach we use the latest technology, incorporating BIM and AI tools, delivering sustainability that goes beyond net zero carbon.
Vision: Delivering excellence through positive and sustainable architecture
Mission: To enrich lives and support
communities through thoughtful and meaningful healthcare architecture
Collaboration Through a co-production ethos, we embrace collaboration by listening and bringing fresh ideas. Creativity Crafting spaces that are drawn with warmth and thought. Excellence We challenge ourselves and succeed through constant improvement and learning.
Integrity We work with empathy and humanity. We do what is right.
Respect We value everyone’s contribution and we are united in diversity.
Inclusive From working openly with clients and stakeholders, to creating a family-friendly workplace for staff, people are the heart of Gilling Dod.
contact@gillingdod www.gillingdod.com
01257 260070 The Cruck Barn Duxbury Park Chorley Lancashire PR7 4AT
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