Abstract

The buildings and construction sector accounted for 36 per cent of final energy use and 39 per cent of energy and process-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in 2018 – 11 per cent of which resulted from manufacturing building materials and products such as steel, cement and glass. To fulfil the ambitions of the Paris agreement, we must reduce our climate impact by more than 50 per cent over the next eight years.

In the world of hospital design and construction, there is a lot of talk of sustainability, but few projects are executed to a satisfactory level of environmental impact – with excuses about prioritising clinical and operational requirements. But the climate challenge does not leave space for excuses. According to Health Care Without Harm, if the health sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest emitter on the planet. Therefore, the sector must respond to the climate emergency not only by treating those made ill, injured, and dying from the climate crisis and its causes, but also by practising primary prevention by radically reducing its own emissions. If we don’t act, we have a planetary catastrophe and a huge cost waiting. A temperature rise of 2^oC is estimated to cost €120bn/year compared to today’s €11.5bn/year.

Objectives and outcomes: Healthcare design is of vital importance to society, and perhaps that is why the political and day-to-day practical priorities take over. We can’t wait any longer, however. The climate question must become an integral part of healthcare projects. We need to listen to science and start focusing on climate-smart healing architecture.

With this talk, we want to mobilise the necessary skills in healthcare design, to join forces in paving the way towards the world’s most climate-smart hospital. We know what technical solutions work, and when the target is to significantly lower the carbon footprint of buildings. To make it happen, the climate question must be part of the equation from an early stage of a project. As architects and engineers, our extensive experience from climate-smart design in other building typologies shows us it is possible. We have collected and tested solutions that work from cost, production and patient security perspectives and put together a 50,000 sqm virtual project that will reach a net-zero carbon emissions over the life cycle of the building.

In this talk, we will present both risks and benefits in climate-smart solutions in relation to: foundations; load bearing structures; facades; interior walls and surfaces; space and geometric optimisations, eg, heat-loss form factor (HLFF); and ventilation, energy systems and optimised solar energy production.

We will demonstrate solutions and how they work in a hospital environment to lower carbon dioxide emissions, cost, and risk perspectives regarding patients’ health and wellbeing. There are competing definitions for net zero buildings, but to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, we must focus on both ‘upfront carbon’ embodied in construction materials as well as significantly lowering the carbon footprint of buildings through their life cycle. Finally, we will discuss our concept for ‘Impact Architecture’, ensuring a continuous project delivery on both sustainability and financial bottom lines – to ensure value for both society and clients.