Sustainability and Evidence-based Design in the Healthcare Estate

This work aims to deepen our understanding of the role played by technical guidelines and tools for the design, construction and operation of healthcare facilities, ultimately establishing the impact of the physical environment on staff and patient outcomes. Using case studies largely drawn from the UK, Europe, China and Australasia, design approaches such as sustainability (e.g. targets for energy efficiency, carbon neutrality, reduction of waste), evidence-based design (EBD), and Post-Project Evaluation (PPE) are examined in order to identify policies, mechanisms and strategies that can promote an integrated learning environment that in turn supports innovation in healthcare.

Dr. Bing Chen from Department of Urban Planning and Design, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), is an architectural researcher and designer. His research interests are focused on sustainable planning/design strategies, Evidence-Based Design for healthcare environment, building environmental assessment methods, post occupancy evaluation and whole life cycle analysis and so on. He has participated in and contributed to several cross-disciplinary research projects in the UK such as Carbon Reduction in Buildings (CaRB) funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Carbon Trust, and Nurturing an Evidence-Based Learning Environment which supports the Innovative Design of Healthcare Facilities or similar (Acronym EBLE) funded by EPSRC. (http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/faculty/academic-subject-staff/item/58-chen-bing.html) Dr. Michael Phiri from School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, has directed and coordinated many cross-disciplinary research projects. His work on evidence-based design addresses critical and topical issues while the design tools (AEDET, ASPECT and IDEAs) which he co-authored are now routinely used in hospital building programmes across the UK and, increasingly, internationally. ( http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/architecture/people/phiri_m)