Advocating for standardisation in healthcare building design

In a recent announcement from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the government has confirmed a record investment in excess of £20 billon to be spent on new hospital infrastructure under the New Hospital Programme. This unprecedented amount is ring fenced until 2030 when the programme will continue indefinitely with increased funding agreed every five years.

The New Hospital Programme will evolve infrastructure within NHS healthcare and standardise hospital design by integrating modern methods of construction with the use of modular construction methods. This programmatic approach will facilitate continual improvement and adapt in response to lesson learned from earlier projects. 

Shaping the design of future healthcare

Over recent months, we have actively engaged with NHP, as well as several Architects and Estate Managers, to better understand the value delivered by standardisation and how we, a UK manufacturer supplying exclusively to the healthcare sector, can help shape the design of future healthcare. 

With passion we are spearheading the drive for better healthcare infrastructure and a future of building that is both sustainable and repeatable. Our R&D team analysed multiple projects where we are currently engaged and this exercise has reinforced our understanding and recognition of the necessity for standardisation.

Findings from our analysis identified:

• Across past and current hospital projects under construction in the UK over 50% of doorsets were found to be bespoke.
• Based on functional requirements and performance, a variation reduction of 96% was found on doorsets, leading to the identification and requirement for eight door types.
• We also identified that by standardising and streamlining manufacturing we can maximise efficiency and increase factory output by 50%.
• By standardising our offerings, we would be able to offer shorter lead times.
• A sustainable and repeatable manufacturing process allows for consistency across multiple locations.

Morag Stuart, Chief Programme Officer at the New Hospital Progamme, said;

"The new hospital programme is going to deliver a standard platform-based design for all hospitals and standardisation of sub-assemblies and components is a key part of this strategy. This drives efficiency in the manufacture, the component cost, the fire testing, the time spent commissioning and the maintenance.  Once we have standardised the doors we will also be able to drive innovation into the design and manufacture as we will have the scale to make it worthwhile. The doors are just the beginning - there are approximately 5,000 significant components in a building of this scale."

The benefits of standisation are clear - the use of the same material and processes produces the same output which can be easily replicated, allowing for consistent quality across multiple locations and a faster implementation process.

Standardisation isn't just about lowering costs, but at ensuring reliable, high-quality results. It's about being able to deliver the right product, for the right application, at the right price.