RECENT NEWS

A Glasgow-based company is producing a ‘pioneering’ hygienic door handle which it says ‘eliminates bugs within seconds, reducing the cross-transmission of infectious bacteria and viruses’.

In an Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 speech to Parliament today (Wednesday 27 October), the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, noted that investment was growing, public services were improving, public finances were ‘stabilising’, and wages were rising.

A new partnership to help NHS Trusts develop and implement their decarbonisation strategies has been launched, as senior NHS leaders say decarbonising the NHS estate is ‘fundamentally not complex’, but that more data and greater guidance are needed.

VINCI's IHP team, a joint venture between VINCI Construction UK and Sir Robert McAlpine, has officially broken ground at the site of a new 40-bed specialist low secure hospital for people with learning disabilities at Maghull Health Park, Merseyside.

In 2020/2021 the total cost of running the NHS estate in England was £10.2 billion – a 4.8 per cent increase on 2019/20, with total energy usage from all sources across this estate 11.4 billion kWh, 1.6 per higher than in the previous year.

Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50, and male construction workers are almost four times more likely to take their own life than the average of those working in any other industry or profession.

Europe’s ‘first carbon-neutral’ hospital, a mental health facility replacing a Victorian era building, and a single hospital site bringing two hospitals together – all in Bradford – form part of an ambitious funding bid submitted to the Government.

Mott MacDonald has made three new appointments to its UK Healthcare team – Steven Bentley as Healthcare technical lead, Alison Ryan as deputy Healthcare technical lead, and Andy Witchell as Strategy and Development lead for Health.

The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust is the latest healthcare organisation to benefit from Triton2, a patented, high-security masterkey system from Assa Abloy.

Sewell Estates has announced Claire Harrison as the new CEO of Parallel Data Intelligence.

Procurement organisation and social enterprise, Fusion21, has announced the launch of its national Decarbonisation Framework, worth up to £750 million over a four-year period, and is now inviting bids from interested SMEs and contractors.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and its charity, CW+, have unveiled a new indoor botanical Sky Garden at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, designed by award-winning landscape designer and CW+ Artist in Residence, Jinny Blom.

With almost 500 construction workers taking their own lives every year in the UK and Ireland, a wordless, emotive video has been released as a free resource to highlight the issue, ahead of Friday 10 September, which is World Suicide Prevention Day.

As part of its International Workstream programme, the Design in Mental Health Network is organising a delegation of professionals specialising in mental health and dementia care design to travel to California and Texas on a study tour in late 2022.

Forbo Flooring Systems has launched the ‘second generation’ of its premium homogeneous vinyl sheet collection, Sphera Energetic.

Mersey Care Foundation Trust’s new medium secure unit, Rowan View, required a security system that would ensure the convenience and safety of all guests, visitors, and staff.

A new Design in Mental Health Network guide to designing ‘with borders and boundaries in mind’ was unveiled on the first day of August’s DiMH 2021 conference and exhibition at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Construction of one of the first multi-level inpatient mental health units in the north of England – the new 150-bedded Park House development at the North Manchester General Hospital site – is expected to start next January.

Two solutions for decontaminating single-use and reusable personal protective equipment (PPE) used by healthcare staff during the COVID-19 pandemic have been shortlisted for the National Technology Awards.

A building described as ‘the UK’s greenest health centre built to meet Passivhaus certification’ – Foleshill Heath Centre in Coventry – has opened its doors to patients.