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Upcoming Events

AfH AGM 2021 & PHIL GUSACK TALK: Dr Phil Hammond, 25 February

Dependant on COVID-19 this event will either be in The Florence Hall at the RIBA or virtual or both.
We are delighted to announce that Dr Phil Hammond will be our speaker for the second half of the evening. More info…

EHD 2021, 14-16 June

Creative destruction:
Design innovation in the face of existential threats

Call for Papers launched

14-16 June, 2021

SUBMIT HERE BY 28 JANUARY

The Call for Papers for the 7th European Healthcare Design 2021 Congress, Awards and Exhibition has been launched.

Themed ‘Creative destruction: Design innovation in the face of existential threats’, next year’s congress will present an opportunity to craft a blueprint for reconstruction – whether it be in population health, clinical services, or architecture, design and planning – in response to a tumultuous year when the resilience of health systems globally have been tested to the limit, and the pressures to adopt a climate-smart development path have increased exponentially.

NEWS

Call for Tender – Leeds ‘Hospitals of the Future’
Tender Information (links to The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust)

IF YOU ARE RESPONDING TO OR ENQUIRING ABOUT ACCESS TO PROCUREMENT DOCUMENTS IN RESPONSE TO ONE OF OUR OJEU NOTICES FOR THE HOSPITALS OF THE FUTURE PROGRAMME PLEASE E-MAIL leedsth-tr.btlw@nhs.net WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:

COMPANY OR BUSINESS NAME (If you are already registered as a user on the Due North ProContract please provide the company or business name that you use for that portal)

WHICH ROLES YOU ARE INTERESTED IN:

  • ARCHITECT
  • M&E (Mechanical, Electrical and Public Health (MEPH) Engineering Designer with specialist Sustainability/Net Zero Carbon and Digital Design Services)
  • CIVIL & STRUCTURAL

A CONTACT E-MAIL ADDRESS

THE TRUST WILL BE USING DUE NORTH PRO-CONTRACT TO SUPPORT ITS PROCUREMENT PROCESS, WITH PROCUREMENT DOCUMENTATION AVAILABLE FROM A SEPARATELY HOSTED DATA ROOM

Call for Tender “Specialized Children Hospital in Burgas (Bulgaria)”
15 October 2020
The following contract notice and Call for Tenders have been published in the Official Journal of the EU, for the technical assistance assignment named: “Specialized Children Hospital in Burgas (Bulgaria)”.

Previous Events

EuHPN webinar #4, 27 November 2020, 13:00-15:00 CET (12:00-14:00 GMT)
Relocate, Repurpose, Reorganize – The Hospital Response to the Pandemic Challenge
What is the future of health care systems? Learnings from the COVID-19 crisis
Register now for free!
Discussions will be triggered by the following questions:

  • What determines whether a system can deliver when parts of it are in distress?
  • Which new ways of working together across silos have emerged to meet the pandemic challenges?
  • What are the determining factors for dealing with and ensuring the functioning of the health care system?
  • What are measures to support staff members working at the frontline to prevent negative long-term effects?

AfH @ IHEEM Design Day Webinars Thursday 8 October 2020
AfH are running 5 sessions listed below. To register for FREE please visit – https://www.healthcare-estates.com/webinars/

  1. 11.30am-12.10pm Helping HIP: How do we ensure design quality in the new hospital infrastructure programme?
  2. 12.40pm – 13.20pm,Building notes: What future standards and guidance do we want and what do we need?
  3. 14.00-14.40pm Life after COVID-19: How does the novel coronavirus pandemic affect future health infrastructure?
  4. 15.10pm – 15.50pm A better NHS workplace: How design quality can help recruitment and retention of staff.
  5. 16.20pm – 17.00pm Holistic health hubs: Catering for transformation in primary and community care. NHS Cavell Centres.

EHD2020 14-18 September 2020
We’re now less than two weeks away from the start of this year’s exclusively virtual 6th European Healthcare Design Congress, which takes place across multiple time zones during the week 14-18 September. Our Early bird concession rates end tomorrow, so register by 3 September to take advantage of these great savings.

Members of Architects for Health, the Union of International Architects Public Health Group, the Australian Health Design Council, the New Zealand Health Design Council, and the European Health Property Network are entitled to 20% off their ticket price by applying for a discount code. Click on the link for your member organisation to apply. The programme and registration details can also be viewed at the virtual event site.

EuHPN webinar 4 September 2020
Relocate, Repurpose, Reorganize – The Hospital Response to the Pandemic Challenge
Register here. It’s quick and easy!
On September 4th, we invite you to join the second webinar focusing on staff resilience. Discussions will be triggered by case examples from Europe and the United States, triggered by the following questions:

  • What were the biggest challenges for the clinical and non-clinical professions?
  • What responses did leaders deploy?
  • What were successful strategies for decision making, escalation/de-escalation and capacity planning?
  • What are the lessons learnt regarding the physical and psychosocial work environment?

NEWS: COVID-19

THOUGHTS ON COVID-19
VIRTUE OUT OF NECESSITY:
REFLECTIONS ON COVID-19, DESIGN AND THE NHS
June 2020

AfH says “Thank You” to Jane McElroy and Paul Murphy

Jane McElroy and Paul Murphy with their gifts were thanked by Chris Shaw (right)

At the recent AGM, both Jane McElroy and Paul Murphy stood down as Treasurer and Secretary respectively, after many years on the Executive Committee.

Chair Chris Shaw thanked them warmly for their significant and valued contribution to the development of the society and wished them well for the future.

AfH members had collected contributions towards farewell gifts for Jane and Paul: they were each presented with a bottle of award-winning champagne as well as John Lewis Partnership gift cards for a sizeable sum, thanks to the generosity of members.
27th February 2020.

Student Design Award 2020

Student Design Awards Architects for Health Student Design Awards 2020
Covid 19 update
We are all experiencing very difficult times and we understand the additional pressure students and tutors will be feeling now. We also consider the additional workload and difficulties of working from home that all of the Architects for Health members, including the judges, will be experiencing at this time and we believe it would be unfair to add to this. So, it is with heavy heart that we have made the decision to cancel the Student Design Awards 2020. We will resume next year with vigour when all of this is over.
For more information and how to get in touch

Become an AfH Member

AfH membership runs annually from the date you join and makes you part of an ever-increasing network of like-minded people enabling you to share ideas, experiences and best practices in healthcare design, to keep up to date with the latest developments, and to get involved with others in enabling change.

AfH has a current membership of about 500 people who share our values across healthcare planning, design, and delivery. Become a member and get access to this expanding network.

Renewing your Membership

To renew your membership please visit this page, sign in to your account and make your payment. You can also upgrade your membership and/or change your method of payment. Similarly if you have a Practice/Company membership you can add or change your additional contacts too.

Sponsoring AfH

We have many sponsorship packages available. To find our more please get in touch.

European Health Property Network

The European Health Property Network has a membership of professionals from a wide range of disciplines and meets annually for a workshop, this year in Gothenburg. The EuHPN website https://euhpn.eu/ includes extensive documentation on workshops from 2011 onwards including access to speakers’ slides.

The sessions from Turin 2017 includes presentations by Carole Crane and Paul Mercer on the thorny topic of “guidance” as applied to healthcare developments.

Visit the EuHPN website again soon when the slides from Gothenburg will be available.

Our mission

Architects for Health (AfH) believes that the spaces of healthcare have an important effect on the well-being of patients, their friends and families, and that good design can positively influence patient outcomes.

We work to bring about well-designed and restorative health facilities, through enabling conditions for this change, both through our membership and with wider health institutions and communities.

By sharing ideas, experiences and examples, we are building knowledge networks that inform and support the future design of high-quality healthcare environments.
Find out more about us.

Guidance

Healthcare design guidance – mainly Health Building Notes and Health Technical Memoranda – are a vital part of health facility design but this guidance is now increasingly out of date and suffering from lack of recent investment.

Architects for Health have taken the initiative and held an industry-wide Round Table in late 2016 to debate the future of guidance.

  • The conclusions and recommendations from the Round Table were wide-ranging and the full report can be viewed here
  • AfH were also asked to conduct a survey across the industry and all who use or have used design guidance are invited to take the survey here

Cambridge University research study: Ward Design

Architects for Health members to contribute to a study being carried out by Andrew Livesey of Cundall. The paper aims to understand how ward design impacts occupant comfort during periods of strain in peak winter and peak summer, and to make recommendations for future developments. He already has some involvement from Public Health England, IHEEM and Nursing Times. Members are asked to complete a simple questionnaire using the link below.
Questionnaire – https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/86T86CT
Explainer video – https://youtu.be/fNymAsGVtiU

News

The Journal of Health Design – Podcast
Listen to Christopher Shaw’s interview with Moyez Jiwa from the Journal of Health Design in Melbourne, Australia – from 28 February 2019.
https://www.journalofhealthdesign.com/JHD/podcasts

British Medical Auctions
For Project Teams involved in refurbishment or redesign. A service that will take old equipment or medical devices and send them to developing healthcare economies around the world. Proceeds from the sale of such equipment returns to the hospital Trust/Hospital Group for re-investment. Go to http://www.britishmedicalauctions.co.uk/ for additional information. Or write to paul.sherman@britishmedicalauctions.co.uk

Evidence Space
A platform organised by British Gypsum social media to share knowledge from Evidence Based Design academics, researchers, designers, clients and building users. Contributions from members of AfH would be welcome for publication on the website. Please go to http://www.british-gypsum.com/evidence-space/heal/evidence-based-design-in-healthcare for more information. Or write to Carly Lunt at carlyl@cibcomms.co.uk to discuss articles/research you may have written.