Meeting sustainability requirements in the refurbishment of hospitals.

Wilson, Grant; Kishk, Mohammed

Abstract

Public spending across the United Kingdom is facing unprecedented challenges as a result of the economic downturn. Nowhere is this more keenly felt than the interface between the National Health Service (NHS) and the construction industry. Limited government investment is challenged by the ever evolving demographics and technological changes which are driving the need for flexibility and progress throughout the NHS. In tandem with these financial and evolutionary challenges, the NHS bears a legal responsibility to reduce its Carbon Footprint significantly, in line with the requirements of the Climate Change Act. Additionally, the service is driven by the organisational and legal requirements of the wider sustainability drivers. The emphasis on construction within the NHS has focused predominantly in the area of new build within the last 10 years. This paper discusses the need to focus on the area of Refurbishment. The main aim of this paper is to present a contextual basis for an ongoing research study to develop a sustainable refurbishment model for hospitals. A comprehensive literature review has been employed as the methodology to discuss the current situation relative to organisational, financial, and sustainability factors. It is demonstrated that an understanding of the nature of refurbishment is required. Challenges specific to refurbishment, such as lack of as-built data and information on the state of the existing fabric and services, may have significant effects on the project in regard to time and cost. It is further demonstrated that the hospital facility has unique characteristics and Client expectations which do not affect a 'standard' commercial refurbishment.

Citation

WILSON, G. and KISHK, M. 2011. Meeting sustainability requirements in the refurbishment of hospitals. In Egbu, C. and Lou, E.C.W. (eds.) Proceedings of the 27th Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM) annual conference, 5-7 September 2011, Bristol, UK. Reading: ARCOM [online], pages 1095-1104. Available from: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/ar2011-1095-1104_Wilson_Kishk.pdf

• Conference Name: 27th Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM) annual conference
• Conference Location: Bristol, UK
• Start Date: Sep 5, 2011
• End Date: Sep 7, 2011
• Acceptance Date: Sep 30, 2011
• Online Publication Date: Sep 30, 2011
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2011
• Deposit Date: Jan 21, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 21, 2014
• Publisher: ARCOM Association of Researchers in Construction Management
• Pages: 1095-1104
• ISBN: 9780955239052
• Keywords: NHS; Refurbishment; Sustainabillity; Management; Climate change act
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/927
• Publisher URL: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/ar2011-1095-1104_Wilson_Kishk.pdf