Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s ‘Hospitals of the Future’ project has been shortlisted for the best Future Healthcare Design prize at the European Healthcare Design Awards. The winning project will be presented at the European Healthcare Design Congress held in London on the 13th of June 2023.
The European Healthcare Design Awards is one of the most highly respected awards for healthcare architecture and celebrates excellence in the design of healthcare environments across the continent. The new hospitals at the Leeds General Infirmary site is one of four future healthcare projects that have been shortlisted as an exemplar of future healthcare design.
A future healthcare project must demonstrate the potential for outstanding outcomes in masterplanning, place making, wellness, pandemic preparedness and sustainable development, in alignment with the strategic requirements of the healthcare provider to transform their services within the wider community, regional or national health system.
The Trust’s new hospitals building is designed by Perkins & Will with Schmidt Hammer Lassen, and will include a new children’s hospital, an adults’ hospital and the largest single-site maternity centre in the UK. It is designed to be a net zero exemplar, the UKs first acute WELL certified hospital, digitally enabled and offer patients healthcare based on the most advanced treatments, technologies, innovation and research. The design seeks to push the boundaries for acute hospitals in sustainability, digital and construction whilst retaining at its heart the needs of patients and staff. The Project has completed the early design stage (RIBA Stage 2) and the demolition to clear the new hospital development site ahead of construction commencing was completed in June 2022.
Mike Bacon, Programme Director for the Hospitals of the Future project, said: “The Leeds Hospitals of the Future project reflects a once-in-a generation opportunity and is unique in the many challenges that it presents including: the need to make critical connections to existing healthcare buildings; the small development site footprint available; consideration of the Trust’s adjacent major trauma centre used by the air ambulance; and the historical context of the site and its wider setting. These have all been important factors in seeking to drive forwards the high quality design of our new hospital and car park.
“Being nominated for such a prestigious award is such an exciting achievement at this early stage and it is testament to the collective hard work of the team and all those involved over the last few years. It’s important to us that we build the best hospital possible that will meet the needs of today and tomorrow, and we have been engaging with staff and patients at every stage of the design process to achieve this ambition. We’re grateful to everyone that has been involved in shaping how these buildings will look and feel, and we hope that the result is an award-winning design everyone can be proud of.”
The ‘Hospitals of the Future’ project is part of the Government’s New Hospital Programme and commitment to build 40 hospitals before 2030. In addition to the state-of-the-art healthcare facilities, the investment in the new will be the catalyst for the regeneration of five hectares of land and listed buildings in the city centre to create a world-class hub for research, innovation and technology in life sciences. bring about direct and wider economic benefits of almost £13bn in net present value terms and 4,000 new jobs.
The Trust is continuing to work closely with the Government’s New Hospital Programme (NHP) Team to confirm an agreed programme to push forward on the planned healthcare investment in Leeds.