ESTATE MANAGEMENT AND OPTIMISATION
intelligence and knowledge of comparable schemes, to develop and assess options.
n Step 3: Run one or two workshops with NHS and council leaders, to ensure alignment on strategy, objectives, and potential uses and funding options.
n Step 4: Test service options given the property constrains with our Experts Network of clinical and care specialists. We are able to get clinical input from our Experts Network early in the project, to minimise disruption, and to allow for more targeted clinical engagement when the project is more developed.
n Step 5: Produce a Repurposing Viability Report. Analysis of benchmarks, providing an understanding of the viability and risks and commercial opportunities. Recommendation. Produce Board presentation summary.
The authors say: “Not only does a comprehensive refurbishment present the potential for a reduced project/construction timeframe and costs, but it also has considerable environmental benefits.”
There are many interdependent factors in developing
a healthcare facility; for example, the spatial and structural designs are dependent on the facility requirements (for example, does it need to support heavy scanning equipment?), which themselves depend on future development in the area (e.g. there may be additional housing), and the additional funding this may bring.
Harnessing the ‘right’ knowledge All of this means that project leaders risk getting numerous specialist advisors and obtaining specialist advice on specific aspects of the project, but not an overview, and risk missing key issues. The obstacles to getting the right information at the right time can be exacerbated when project leaders themselves have in-depth knowledge of a local area and need, but don’t have in-depth knowledge of multiple comparable schemes. To overcome this, we have worked on providing a
Jacqui Baxter
Jacqui Baxter is a director at View 10D. She is a qualified Chartered Surveyor with over 25 years’ experience, and a commercial background in redevelopment and valuation within urban areas. Over the past decade her focus has been on providing viable strategies and optimising estates to balance both financial and social returns with both public and private sector stakeholders. She has worked on various project boards at the initial stages, bringing together healthcare and other government bodies to advance initiatives.
‘Healthcare Repurposing Viability’ report that gives NHS and council leaders, and their stakeholders, sufficient information across a range of areas which impact the project. This enables justified reasoning to support whether to proceed with a project for repurposing (say) office or retail space. It also includes a roadmap for how this should be done, with recommendations on the investigations needed, and opportunities to optimise commercial aspects of the project. Due to the complexity of these projects, and the interdependent nature of the information, taking a structured approach is key. Our Five Step methodology provides this structure, with findings captured in the Healthcare Repurposing Viability reports. This approach begins with assessing the project’s alignment with existing health and care strategies and local NHS and council plans. It is not typical to bring together strategic and property considerations into a single report for public sector leaders, and in doing so it provides a clear overview for the potential of repurposing an existing building for healthcare purposes. Our Five Step approach provides a low-cost, fast way
for the NHS and councils to assess the outline viability of repurpose existing retail/office space. Our methodology’s five steps are:
n Step1: Desktop research into local strategies and plans, and information about the property and local area. This includes a review of ICS, council, and NHS Trust vision and strategies, including estate strategies.
n Step 2: A site inspection, to identify opportunities and constraints and engage a wider network for property
34 Health Estate Journal June 2025
Bringing together strategy and property The benefit of a holistic Repurposing Viability assessment is that it brings together strategic, clinical, and property information to provide an initial overview. In doing so it can quickly eliminate options that otherwise would have been subject to costly detailed consultant design and investigations. There are multiple pieces to the jigsaw when formulating a detailed plan for a healthcare project. At the initial stages of a project there is notable uncertainty, and this frequently results in different individually instructed external advisors providing information that ‘compares apples with pears’. By providing a clear direction at the outset, succinct instructions can be given when initially putting together a design team. The outcome is that when the specialists are bought together, they provide advice that is aligned. and are only commissioned to provide the information needed at each stage. Overall, this results in time and cost reductions in the long run. Traditionally, Strategy and Estates are quite separate areas within the NHS. Yet the two areas are, and should be seen as, interlinked. Strategic aims can be held back by the limitations of the estate, and availability and condition of estates can become a strategic driver. Bringing together strategic and clinical objectives with property constraints and opportunities at an early stage of a potential project allows health and care leaders to take an informed view on that potential development. The Repurposing Viability report will reflect local ICS and council strategies, which all seek to address seek the wider determinants of health. This means that a new scheme may include traditional health and care services and non-traditional ones, which may be private. The transparency of the approach, its relatively low cost, and the associated speed, enable all parties to be bought together, and for NHS and council leaders to have sufficient information in all aspects of the repurposing to be able to make an informed decision on whether to proceed with the project, without the need for expensive detailed plans or investigations at this stage.
Unlocking the potential While it’s not simple, councils and the private sector can help to unlock the potential of a healthcare scheme. There is no ‘quick fix’ for addressing the very significant challenges the NHS currently faces. Repurposing compared with new-build has the potential to deliver new types of facilities in relatively short timescales, be cost- effective, and more environmentally sound. Repurposing existing council-owned properties can provide benefits for the NHS, financially challenged councils and, most of all, local people. However hard, let’s all work together.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
