Abstract

Within the context of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act, and the new NHS Net Zero Standard, the Velindre University NHS Trust’s design brief stated the importance of nature to the project. This gave opportunity to explore the use of bio-based materials to help achieve embodied carbon targets and environmental outcomes in a hospital environment, and in doing so, identified shortfalls within current NHS HBNs’ best-practice design guidance.

Framework: To identify the suitable application of bio-based materials in hospital environments. The project references the following research into natural materials: biophilia’s impact on wellbeing; inherent beneficial properties for indoor environmental health; potential reduction in use of chemicals in cleaning; whole-life carbon impact; and building performance, energy and services demand reduction.

Practical application: The process for natural materials specification has involved: review of complementary research into natural materials and health; comparison of EPD and health certificates for available products and potential alternatives to compile a ‘best in market’ specification database; development of hygiene classes criteria and zoning principles, using nVCC as a case study; interviews and workshops with NHS IPC (infection prevention and control) and FM (facilities management) teams; and engagement with manufacturers and suppliers to meet the Trust’s requirements.

Outcomes: Learnings from the process of implementing natural materials in a hospital setting include: strengths and weaknesses of natural materials in healthcare; limitations of HBN-0010 guidance for NHS Net Zero Standard targets; recommendations for decision-making on material finishes with new metrics and target values.; and learnings for future NHS design briefs.

Implications: The implications on how building with bio-based materials can address climate, local economy, biodiversity, and health include: post-occupancy evaluation to provide data for building and user performance outcomes; application of material specification in other sectors, e.g., residential and education; potential savings to the NHS of healthier internal environments; potential carbon savings benchmarking against NHS Net Zero Standard and RIBA LETI; and the potential benefit to the local economy.