COMMENT
Benefits of ‘repurposing’ vacant properties explored
This issue of HEJ covers the usual wide range of healthcare engineering and EFM topics – from keeping hospital water systems safe, and the importance of the Golden Thread of traceability within the Building Safety Act, to a subject seeing increasing discussion– how, with capacity shortages still evident – vacant council (and other) buildings can be effectively ‘repurposed’ to provide healthcare. On pages 31-34, Smriti Singh of Symbi Consulting and Jacqui Baxter of View 10D acknowledge the ‘strong and well-established case for more healthcare facilities in the community’. They argue, however, that ‘with all the pressures on budgets and Net Zero regulations, new-build schemes may not always be the answer’. Repurposing existing buildings within town centres not only – they say – brings healthcare into communities, ‘which is progress from the NHS perspective’, but can also help regenerate town centres.
In an article on pages 36-37, meanwhile, a director at
MJ Medical explains how the healthcare consultancy did just this – helping a local community ‘bring healthcare to its high street’ by refurbishing a derelict supermarket in Helston, Cornwall. When it comes to vacant council-owned properties,
with the potential to deliver new types of facilities in them relatively quickly, cost-effectively, and ‘often in a more environmentally sound manner than a new-build’,
Cover Story
Flexible demonstration and training facility for advanced theatre technology
Starkstrom, the specialist in clinical infrastructure for hospitals and other healthcare facilities, has opened a new demonstration and training facility at its Syston headquarters in Leicestershire. Here clinicians can interact with the latest infrastructure and operating theatre technologies within a dedicated environment that showcases how these solutions can be integrated into the healthcare space. Managing director, Guy Pomroy explained: “Some of our best ‘showrooms’ are the hospitals where our vital infrastructure and operating theatre equipment has been installed – new customers can visit these and see the technology in situ. However, vital infrastructure and operating theatres are becoming increasingly complex, and we wanted to create a setting that would help clinicians make informed decisions on how their technology could be configured. This includes aiding decisions on the accessories they may want to connect to the pendants, the camera configurations on the theatre lights, and the audio-visual equipment they may require. “Within a week of opening the new
June 2025 | Volume 79 | Issue 06
facility, we welcomed a number of clinicians and other stakeholders, receiving some really positive feedback. They can be hands-on with the technology in an
Welsh rugby legend speaks
at Gala Dinner see page 23
environment where it doesn’t matter if you make a mistake.” The new facility has been created with a
frame above the ceiling space that allows the room to be re-configured at will, giving the flexibility to demonstrate and explore a variety of customer preferences for the vital infrastructure and operating theatre set-up – helping surgeons (and architects and electrical and engineering firms) to visualise a wide range of technology configurations in a realistic environment. “It also allows us to develop new innovations in a relatively live environment and evaluate how they might be received by clinicians,” Guy Pomroy added. “We invest in continuous training for our staff and field engineers, and this facility will help ensure the highest standards of technical support for healthcare providers that have installed our technologies.”
Repurposing vacant space
for healthcare see page 31
Importance of ‘The Golden
Thread’ see page 43
Starkstrom Ltd 33 Turn Street Syston Leicestershire LE7 1HP T: 0116 464 7480
www.starkstrom.com
Cover HEJ
June25.indd 1 20/05/2025 12:21 June 2025 Health Estate Journal 5
Smriti Singh and Jacqui Baxter say repurposing such buildings benefits not just the NHS, but equally ‘financially challenged’ councils and local people. They say: “A comprehensive refurbishment also has considerable environmental benefits; even timber-framed new buildings cannot come close to the CO2
credentials of a refurbishment.”
Also on a sustainability theme, on pages 53-57, Sharon Cook, Healthcare lead at P+HS Architects, reflects on how the 10 WELL concept areas were embedded into the design of the new Northumbria Health and Care Academy in Cramlington – the UK’s first healthcare building to achieve WELL Gold Certification. The architects say of the new facility – which includes both a centre of training excellence for nursing, midwifery, and allied health professionals, and a GP practice: “The International Well Building Institute describes the WELL standard as ‘a vehicle for buildings and organisations to deliver more thoughtful and intentional spaces that enhance human health and well- being’. The ethos of the standard – which we have tried to take on board as designers on this scheme – is to create a project where wellbeing is embedded, ‘being not just building-focused, but also people-focused’ – an element incorporated from the early design stages.” Sharon Cook’s article gives an interesting insight into how P+HS achieved this.
Jonathan Baillie, Editor
jonathanbaillie@
stepcomms.com
Advertising feature
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