CARBON AND ENERGY REDUCTION
A roadmap for delivering a carbon-neutral hospital
Anuradha Sabherwal, a senior associate at architecture and design practice, NBBJ, and Jon Nuttall, an associate director at multidisciplinary engineering consultancy, Hoare Lee, take a look at some of the key steps to take in designing, delivering, and operating and maintaining, a Net Zero Carbon hospital.
The NHS has set a target of delivering Net Zero Carbon by 2040 to reflect the UK’s commitment to achieve 100% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. With the wave of new hospitals being commissioned by the UK Government as part of the Health Infrastructure Plan, NHS Trusts and design teams are investing now in strategies that are ‘Net Zero Ready’ to meet these targets. Hospitals are among the most energy- intensive buildings on the planet, because of their size, technical complexity, 24-hour operations, and the medical equipment needed to diagnose and treat patients. Other impacts such as waste management and water efficiency must also be considered, to address the overarching environmental sustainability targets supporting the principles of resource efficiency, circular economy, reducing environmental impact, and climate resilience. With the decarbonisation of the UK’s grid, all NHS hospitals can be designed to be Net Zero-ready, fully electrified buildings, that move away from fossil fuels.
The NHS publication, Delivering a Net Zero NHS, has identified that an estimated 62% reduction in NHS carbon footprint 2020 has been achieved from the 1990 baseline, but to reach Net Zero targets, we need to achieve a further 6.1 Mt CO2
e
reduction in emissions. So, how can we reach this ambitious target? The NHS 2040 Net Zero goal can be achieved through better building design that supports the rhythms of nature, and the
Figure 1: An Integrated Sustainability Strategy.
health and wellbeing of patients, staff, and visitors, while saving energy and costs with no discernible negative impact on human comfort conditions (Fig 1).
Integration with a wider sustainable design approach A Net Zero Carbon hospital design must be integrated with a wider sustainable design approach that focuses on achieving common themes with other sustainability certification targets, such as
BREEAM and WELL standards, and Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) targets, to reduce waste and support a circular economy. Energy efficiency and energy reduction are key to a net zero carbon building; low energy consumption leads to low carbon emissions. Our six- step Roadmap to a Net Zero Carbon Hospital design (Fig 2) takes this approach from early design stages, through to construction and operational stages. The key stages are as follows:
Figure 2: A Roadmap to a Net Zero Carbon Hospital.
1: Set clear targets and benchmarks The first step towards a net zero hospital design begins with measuring the energy requirements of healthcare buildings based on the latest engineering guidelines. After this, we must design the most energy-efficient hospital that shows improvements in energy use reductions from benchmarked hospital examples. As designers, we must move from a ‘design for compliance’ approach towards ‘designing for performance’. The RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge targets 60% reductions in operational energy, and 40% reductions in embodied
September 2021 Health Estate Journal 65
NBBJ/Hoare Lee
©NBBJ
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