INVESTMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
cost constraints. Improving patient flow, co- locating services, and creating environments that support patient throughput will become essential to meeting Trust performance measures and securing additional funding. For many Trusts, this means finding ways to modernise estates while services continue to operate at full capacity. Hospitals cannot simply close wards or diagnostic departments while upgrades take place. Delivering improvements within live clinical environments requires careful planning, close collaboration between healthcare teams and industry partners, and construction approaches that minimise disruption to patient care. Longer-term partnerships between Trusts
and the industry will not only be possible but will be essential to meeting the new measures. Operational certainty will become critical, as any disruption to patient flow or service delivery carries real consequences. This places a premium on industry partners who can deliver complex upgrades within live hospital environments safely, efficiently, and predictably.
Decarbonisation: a powerful tool Decarbonisation is emerging as one of the most powerful tools available to Trusts. Despite the NHS’ commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2040, on the ground, sustainability initiatives often compete with urgent operational priorities and building compliance issues. But integrating energy efficiency and carbon reduction into estate improvements can deliver real benefits. Long-term industry partnerships can help Trusts implement proven solutions and bring cross-sector learning, from upgraded building fabric and modernised plant systems to smart energy management technologies that reduce consumption, lower utility bills, and create recurring financial savings. Contractors can show Trusts where the approach is already delivering results, even within other sectors, such as at the BAM-built Woodmill and St Columba’s High School in Fife, where energy bills
have been cut by £433,392 – a reduction of 48 per cent in the first year of operation. The focus is shifting from reactive, piecemeal
interventions to strategic, outcome-driven planning. Multi- year funding allocations, combined with a clearer link between performance and investment, are allowing Trusts to plan with confidence. Projects can now be phased to maintain service continuity, reduce disruption, and deliver measurable improvements for patients and energy efficient upgrades can be embedded seamlessly alongside other improvements, generating savings that free up resources for frontline care. Even more exciting is the potential to think beyond the walls of hospitals. Healthcare facilities are often located in the very communities experiencing the worst health outcomes. There is a huge opportunity here for industry to apply its social value expertise, to ensure investment in these buildings creates wider benefits from co-located services that improve access to care, to green space, employment opportunities, and community wellbeing. The NHS’s buildings are not just structures – they are
BAM is delivering a new CDC for University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.
August 2026 Health Estate Journal 69
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