ARCHITECTURE
Translating healthcare design expertise into the Neighbourhood Health Centres initiative represents a shift from fragmented service delivery to a model where care is shaped around people, place, and community.
outpatients, theatres, diagnostics, and wards has proved effective at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital and can be scaled for other, more remote centres. Despite MMUH’s large scale and acute services, including a
children’s emergency department, 13 operating theatres, a midwife- led birthing unit, and a regional sickle cell centre, the design aims to be a community hub. Its structure can be scaled down for rural areas. The hospital uses a standardised 7.8 x 7.8m structural grid, allowing for easy adaptation of spaces to future needs. The grid is a stacked shape, with car parking, outpatients, and emergency/diagnostics arranged in a very efficient manner. Such stacking and massing of different rooms and types ensured accuracy and successful construction. The grid approach lends itself to design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) and modern methods of construction (MMC), making it ideal for rural locations.
Standardised structural grids are key in anticipating the inevitable future service reconfigurations required to meet changing demographics and policy, emerging technologies, and future service expansion. Standard room design creates more agile facilities where clinical spaces can become multi-functional, accommodating a wider range of services to maximise their utilisation. Healthcare buildings are expensive to build and as designers we must ensure that every square metre provides better value for money through higher productivity, accommodating the broadest range of occupants and services possible. Well-considered design of these new facilities will balance a standardised building system alongside a thoughtful use of local materials and details, to ensure that the building is of its place and encourage a feeling of community ownership. The rural Health Centre needs to link back to acute care as a mini hospital – the first point of call.
The benefits of biophilic design There is also immense benefit to consider biophilic design, including views to the outside, and landscaping. An example of this would be a transparent ETFE roof, like that at MMUH, to bring sunlight deep into the core of the facility. These design choices create a calm, light-filled space for patients, staff, and visitors. Working from the outside inwards, a detailing of interior components, including paint colour, materials, fabrics, and finishes, can also have an enormous impact on the long-term success of the initiative. Another component to integrate into the framework is virtual care or telehealth. Of course, in health facilities, we must avoid live plants and running water for infection control, and choose materials that can withstand cleaning and clinical use. However, there is potential to pursue daylight, views, and biophilic strategies by embracing the surrounding landscape in the design. We should design projects at a human scale, blending nature with built spaces more organically and cohesively, and including
August 2026 Health Estate Journal 65
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