Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Queensland
2/ Sustainability and technology advancements go hand-in-hand.
Like technology, climate drivers and carbon neutrality should factor into every element of a building’s fabric, supply chain and overall adaptability. Importantly, a future-focused, flexible design also allows for adaptive reuse instead of demolition – an increasing consideration as we grapple with dwindling resources, budget constraints and societal imperatives.
New technologies such as BIM and digital twin production are also becoming more critical to sustainability, since they help establish indicators and modelling that feed into important decisions in the planning and design phases of a project.
Technical outcomes need to be considered alongside biophilic design principles and the fundamentals of creating safe, healthy environments for patients and staff.
One of the global leaders in tech-forward, sustainable facilities is Sweden’s LEED Gold-certified New Karolinska Hospital. Its energy is supplied through a combination of sources including recycled energy from ventilation exhausts and a dedicated geothermal plant that fulfills 65% of the hospital’s heating and cooling demands.
This direction in design is reflected in our own experience working on the Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH) in collaboration with HDR. Incorporating modular design techniques and smart building systems to optimise energy use and improve environmental outcomes, SCUH was the first large public hospital to achieve 6 Star Green Star certification in Australia.
What does this mean for design? After seeing what’s happening at New Karolinska – and successfully delivering a benchmark hospital here – it’s clear the combined forces of technology and sustainability will continue to gather momentum in Australia.
The future-focused New North Zealand Hospital in Denmark
3/ Virtual care took off during the pandemic – and it’s here to stay.
In recent years we’ve seen the proliferation of remote healthcare delivery via video conferencing, phone calls, and secure messaging platforms. Visiting a healthcare facility is no longer a necessity, especially for follow-up or non-emergency consultations and the management of chronic conditions.
Nowhere is this change more obvious than in Denmark – a country with ambitious plans for virtual care.
Through telemedicine and AI solutions Denmark is aiming to alleviate pressure on their healthcare system, minimise distances in health services, and offer top-notch treatment from the comfort of home.
One of many positive outcomes: greater equality in healthcare, particularly for the country’s most vulnerable people.
What does this mean for design? Just like Denmark, Australian facilities – whether new or existing – will need to factor in new kinds of space for staff, such as more telemedicine workstations.
Hubs like Singapore’s C3 Command Centre are powered by data and analytics
4/ Command centres are the airport control towers of healthcare.
Command centres powered by real-time data and analytics have become increasingly important in healthcare. They’re even more vital in times of crisis or disaster, or when access to traditional services is limited.
Like an airport control tower, these centralised hubs allow providers to more effectively monitor, coordinate and deliver services. They can also make care more accessible, convenient, and affordable for patients.
Many centres employ advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to gather and analyse data from various sources – anything from electronic health records to remote monitoring devices to wearable sensors.
Armed with that information, professionals can be more proactive about identifying and addressing potential issues, which ultimately leads to the more effective allocation of resources.
What does this mean for design? Command centres will need significant space for staff to do real-time monitoring and make AI-assisted decisions. There will also be an increasing need for data centres close to or co-located in hospitals to manage these vast amounts of information. Singapore is making strides in this space already.
“We are now able to see in real-time the available capacity in different areas of the hospital based on patient-discharge patterns, and proactively redeploy staff to manage patient load.”
Dr Eric Wong
Group Chief Data and Strategy Officer
National Healthcare Group, Singapore
5/ Your next surgeon will be supported by a robot.
In the health and science sector, robots are being designed to perform tasks, from simple to complex. Robotics can now be found in surgery, rehabilitation, telehealth, pharmacy and pathology, among other settings.
Often the object of curiosity and even fear, robots are here to help in healthcare.
They can improve the precision and efficiency of medical procedures, reduce human error and optimise the way we use resources in our hospitals and other facilities. They can also ease staff workloads and free up more time for patient care.
What does this mean for design? The new generation of automated guided vehicles – self-driving Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) that might bring medicines to wards or transport blood samples to the lab – can be easily incorporated into new and existing hospitals with design interventions like more shared lifts and corridors, as seen in the New North Zealand Hospital in Denmark. This technology is also growing in Australia’s public and private hospitals, including projects our team has worked on such as the SCUH.
