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The Howard Goodman Bursary

UPDATE OCTOBER 2006: Request for Examples

As members will know Professor Ray Moss initiated and raised funding for this Research Project to commemorate the work of Howard Goodman, Chief Architect and Director of Works at the Department of Health, 1971 to 1986.

From the beginning Architects for Health has given strong support to the project which is examining Adaptability and Flexibility in Health Care Buildings.

The work, being carried out by the Research Associate, Martina Koberle-Gaiser, at Imperial College in London, is now developing and the next stage will include an examination of actual examples of adaptation and flexibility.

The Advisory Group for the Research would like to collect a range of different examples for consideration. It is appealing to members and other interested professionals to e-mail Architects for Health with noteworthy examples known to them. From your responses we hope to learn of a good number and wide range of examples from which a group will be selected for detailed analysis.

Clarification of what we are looking for:

We are looking for hospitals and healthcare buildings which have proved in practice to be flexible and adaptable. Examples may include expansion or contraction of buildings, or components/departments, changed use, implementing different ways of working, accommodating changes in clinical practice, introduction of new technology, or meeting new standards of environmental requirements. In the first instance we would like to receive some basic data.

Please complete the attached pro-forma, one for each suggestion - Click here to download (Word Format).

Any follow up for this research will be to the author of the e-mail only, not to 'clients' or other parties. Please e-mail your suggestions to ray@rmoss.fsnet.co.uk. Your responses will be much appreciated and will greatly help to inform and develop this important research.

UPDATE JULY 2005:

Howard Goodman Fellowship: Innovation and Adaptability in Healthcare Facilities

Increasing demand for healthcare and changing trends in healthcare delivery pose challenges for healthcare infrastructure. Shorter technology lifecycles and evolving service models stand in sharp contrast to the long lifetime of physical building structures. These trends are creating new and increasing pressures on the requirements for future healthcare facilities.

This relationship between innovation and rapid change in clinical operations within the hospital and the supporting built infrastructure is of particular interest. The problems of meeting the resulting requirement for flexibility - defined in its broadest sense as the 'ability to accommodate future changing healthcare needs' - are amplified through the use of PFI because of the contractual obligations to use, or at least pay for, facilities over the long period of the contract. Change during this time is certain but unpredictable.

The aim of the research project is to develop an understanding of the impact of the delivery mechanism for healthcare infrastructure on the flexibility of healthcare facilities. In short, what approaches to the delivery of healthcare facilities are best able to accommodate continuous innovation in the healthcare sector?

Besides generating insights into the delivery of 'flexible' hospital facilities, the project will produce practical recommendations for policy makers and the healthcare sector generally.

The project is still evolving, drawing on input and feedback from expert discussions, and its objective and direction is subject to further definition. Over the summer exploratory interviews are planned in order to refine the project focus and to establish a comprehensive approach for the subsequent data collection process.

NOVEMBER 2004:

Martina Köberle-Gaiser has been appointed Howard Goodman Research Fellow at the Innovation Studies Centre at Imperial College on the basis of the Howard Goodman Fellowship.

Martina Koberle-Gaiser trained as an architect in Germany and started her career in an architectural practice in Stuttgart, Germany. Amongst various other project types, she had the opportunity to work on a redevelopment project of one level of a University hospital in eastern Germany.

The technical challenges, social implications and the functional complexity of healthcare facilities initiated her lasting interest in this field.

In order to gain international experience and exposure, she moved to San Francisco, CA and joined The Design Partnership. There she was involved in the technical aspects of a major 5-storey hospital addition, the planning of a remodel of an emergency department of a children's hospital and the project management of the design phases for the new construction of a social services building.

In addition, she studied project management in a modular programme at the University of California Berkeley Extension in order to strengthen her practical experience and to learn the underpinning theoretical tools and concepts.

After moving to London, Martina worked with Anshen/Dyer as a healthcare architect on the Children's Hospital of the Manchester Joint Hospitals PFI scheme. During this time she gained valuable experience and became more and more interested in questions regarding the provision of healthcare facilities and healthcare delivery in general. In order to explore these issues further she finally decided to join the Innovation Study Centre at the Tanaka Business School, where she is currently also studying for a Master of Business Administration in the executive programme.

We are pleased to congratulate Martina on her appointment. She will introduce herself to Architects for Health at our AGM on November 25th.

Architects for Health November 2004