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This means that all industries, including construction – estimated to produce around 40% of total UK carbon emissions – will need to make a big effort to reduce their environmental impact.

‘There’s a clinic area next to each room,’ he says, ‘which is very good and that doesn’t always happen in other places.’.Maswiken comments upon the ample sizes of the recovery spaces.

He, Highton and Goel remark upon the particular spaciousness of the theatres, with Goel commenting that this is a ‘major attraction’ of Circle and highlighting the fact that the anesthetic rooms are also very spacious.. ‘This facility had a particularly large percentage of orthopedic surgeons,’ says Wood, ‘and orthopedic surgeons needed a very particular form of operating theatre...more instruments tend to be involved in the operations.Therefore, we actually simulated in three dimensions, in a virtual environment, how they were going to use their equipment...we were able to position the components within the operating theatre more accurately, so that the efficiency of the operations could be greater than within a typical, general purpose operating theatre.’.The high ceilings in the theatres are mentioned by Maswiken, as being a particularly excellent feature of the building, with respect to the way they aid with the use and management of equipment.

‘You can actually leave the key equipment in those theatres, rather than moving that equipment up and down all the time,’ he says, before reflecting that actually, because the theatres benefit from ‘integrated systems,’ everything is already mounted and can just be moved around, which he refers to as, ‘yet another advantage.’.Johnston elaborates, commenting on the high level of integration between the structural, MEP, architectural finishes, electrical, data etc… All of this, he says, allowed Bryden Wood ‘to create a high level of prefabricated MEP (building in ease of maintenance and replacement) interfacing with a highly systemised superstructure.’.

In addition to these advantages, Maswiken enthuses about how lucky they are at Circle Reading to have their core/prep rooms, as well as the benefit of a layout which enables patients to go out through recovery to the wards, rather than back through the theatres.. Goel also comments on layout efficiency saying, ‘The recovery, the day case ward...is very close by.. Further to this, he and Maswiken have many other positive elements to highlight about the Circle theatres.

The three used predominantly for orthopaedic surgery have laminate floors and special ventilation systems providing ultra clean air, which Goel describes as ‘perfect.’ He also enthuses about how having images of x-rays on the computer system, enables them to be projected onto a television screen on the wall.This project has the potential to enable effective and creative collaboration between all of them, providing the shared basis on which other projects can connect, operate and develop.

Involving more people and projects to test the process and demonstrate value would also be a good thing..Given the potential scale of this project and its broader applications, we would seek to connect with MHCLG, both in terms of technical development, and to benefit from their convening power..

The more connections we enable, the stronger those connections become and the more benefits arise from them.A key principle of this project and the thinking within it is actively and consciously to reinvest the positive impact and learnings of the project for the people involved, to create a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement and progress.. To learn more about our Design to Value approach to design and construction, sign up for our monthly newsletter here:.