CLIMATE CHALLENGES ACROSS THE HEALTHCARE ENVELOPE Climate control in healthcare is rarely just a doorway problem. From the entrance lobby through to wards, corridors, consulting rooms and back-of-house plant areas, every zone in a healthcare building carries its own thermal demands — and every uncontrolled gap between them, whether that's an open door, a draughty corridor junction or a poorly regulated room, adds cost, discomfort or clinical risk somewhere in the building. Five interlinked pressures define climate control across a healthcare estate. Biddle addresses each of them with a different part of the same product family — from air curtains holding the line at entrances, to fan coil units giving individual rooms their own climate.
ENERGY COSTS & NET ZERO PRESSURE With NHS trusts in England reporting 11.3 billion kWh of energy use across the estate in 2024/25, uncontrolled climate loss — whether at doorways, in over- heated corridors or in rooms without individual control — is a cost that compounds every hour of every day. NHS estates are under sustained pressure to reduce energy use and emissions in line with net zero commitments and ERIC reporting requirements.
ENTRANCES & THRESHOLDS
Reception areas, A&E entrances and ambulance bays are opened constantly by patients, visitors, trolleys and emergency traffic. Every opening lets outdoor air mix with the carefully managed internal climate, and conventional fixes carry a cost in comfort, energy or accessibility.
HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL
CORRIDORS & CIRCULATION SPACES
Ventilation in healthcare buildings is treated as clinical infrastructure, not just comfort engineering. HTM 03-01 sets out airflow, pressure and temperature requirements designed to support infection control across clinical areas. Uncontrolled air movement anywhere in the building can work against carefully designed pressure regimes in adjoining spaces.
Long corridors, stairwells and junctions between wings create their own draughts and temperature gradients, particularly where they connect zones or link to external doors. Staff and patients moving through these spaces throughout the day are repeatedly exposed to hot or cold spots that a single building- wide setting can't resolve.
When warmer, humid air enters the cold space, water vapour condenses and freezes; on floors, racking, door hardware, and evaporator coils. Frosted coils cannot transfer heat efficiently, causing refrigeration system to run more frequent defrost cycles. Each defrost cycle allows the internal temperature to rise, forcing systems to work harder once the defrost halts. More moisture ingress means more frost, more defrosts, longer compressor run-times and greater mechanical wear. PATIENT ROOMS, WARDS & CONSULTING SPACES
HEALTHCARE| INTRODUCTION
HEALTHCARE | INTRODUCTION
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator