What roles are needed in building a new hospital?

It takes a large team of experts across a wide range of professions to design, plan and build a new hospital like ours; from architects and engineers to traffic consultants and legal advisors. Each expert plays an important role and works closely with Trust staff.

Click on the individual job titles below to find out what they do.

• Architects

  Architects

  Architects lead the design of our new hospital,  making sure the structure, layout and form of the hospital building enables us to deliver the best experience for staff, patients and visitors.

• Building services engineers

  Building services engineers

  Our building services engineer will design, install and maintain the services that allow our new hospital to do what it’s designed to.

• Clinical advisers

  Clinical advisers

  A clinical advisor instructs and makes recommendations on medical issues to the non-clinical staff involved in building our new hospital. The design of any new hospital must be clinically-led, and ours is no different.

• Communication and engagement specialist

  Communication and engagement specialist

  Our communications and engagement specialist makes sure that everyone who will benefit from the new hospital has the chance to get involved in its development; sharing their views and feedback and  being kept up to date with progress.

• Cost consultants

  Cost consultants

  Cost consultants provide financial estimates and advice regarding the cost of construction work for our new hospital.

• Digital / IMT specialists

  Digital / IMT specialists

  Our digital specialists make sure we can improve patient care and safety through the use of cutting-edge technologies such as medical devices, smart information systems and digital applications.
• Equipping consultants

  Equipping consultants

  Equipping consultants help us procure – identify and then buy – the right goods, equipment and services to make sure our new hospital building has everything it needs to run effectively.

• Financial advisers

  Financial advisers

  Our financial advisers help us keep control of our budget, helping our costs stay on track to make sure we deliver excellent value for our people and patients. They also make sure our new hospital continues to be affordable in the future.

• Fire advisors

  Fire advisors

  Fire advisors work with us to make sure our new hospital will be safe from fire. They offer advice and education to reduce any risk and guide us on fire safety regulations.

• Facilities management

  Facilities management

  Facilities managers are responsible for the security, maintenance and services of our new hospital  facilities. Essentially they look after all of the services that helps us do our work every day.

• Healthcare planners

  Healthcare planners

  A healthcare planner looks at the health needs of the local population, and the way the hospital intends to deliver healthcare in the future. They use this information to calculate the facilities that should be included in our new hospital: the number of beds, treatment rooms, theatres, staff rest spaces etc.

• Health & safety advisers

  Health & safety advisers

  Health and safety advisers are responsible for keeping everyone at our new hospital safe. They develop policies and procedures to make sure people aren’t harmed by their jobs, investigate and report accidents, and provide guidance to our management team on how to comply with the law.

• Infection control specialists

  Infection control specialists

  Infection control specialists are vital in designing our new hospital to help us prevent and control the spread of infection. We have learnt alot about infection control during the COVID-19 pandemic and this is being carried into to our new hospital design.

• Interior designers

  Interior designers

  Interior designers make the indoor spaces of our new hospital functional, safe, and beautiful. We want our internal spaces to support wellbeing and make the most of our connection to nature. This includes looking at colours, lighting,  materials and furniture.

• Land agents

  Land agents

  Land agents are responsible for helping us negotiate and buy the land we want to build our new hospital on.  They give advice on legal and tax issues, as well as planning.

• Landscape architect

  Landscape architect

  Our landscape architects are responsible for designing the range of beautiful outdoor spaces we will have on our new site. From exercise routes to quiet gardens to lushly planted walkways, they will help us make the most of our location and connection to nature. 

• Legal advisors

  Legal advisors

  The build cost of a new hospital is many hundreds of millions of pounds. When a builder is appointed, we need to ensure that all parties understand their responsibilities, the key deliverables and agreed timeframe. This is done through a suite of legal documents produced by a specialist construction lawyer.

• Mechanical electrical and plumbing engineers

  Mechanical electrical and plumbing engineers

  Mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers make sure our new hospital is supplied with the right power and water it needs to run safely. As an all electric hospital reducing its carbon footprint to zero, these engineers are incredibly important in the planning of our design.

• Planning advisors

  Planning advisors

  Planning advisors work in the planning system (typically for the local planning authority) and help us meet the local planning requirements, including supporting us with our planning applications.

• Procurement specialists

  Procurement specialists

  Our procurement specialists oversee the buying of materials, equipment and supplies. They manage our relationships with suppliers and make sure we are getting the best value for money.

• Project managers

  Project managers

  Our project managers (PMs) are responsible for planning, organising, and monitoring the completion of the various strands of work that go into a complex new hospital building. They keep us on track, ensuring we are on time, on budget, and within scope.

• Structural and civil engineers

  Structural and civil engineers

  Structural and civil engineers are vital because they ensure the structure of our new hospital can withstand the stresses and pressures imposed by us using it every day. They also make sure the right materials are used in building our new hospital.
• Town planners

  Town planners

  Town planners help communities, companies and politicians decide on the best way to use land and buildings. Their main aim is achieving sustainability and balancing different social, environmental and economic issues when official decisions are made on whether land is built on or not.
• Traffic consultants

  Traffic consultants

  Traffic consultants assess the catchment area for the hospital and how many patients are likely to use it depending on where the hospital is located. They also look at the number of vehicles that are likely to need to access the site so the appropriate level of parking and road systems can be provided.

• Wayfinding consultants

  Wayfinding consultants

  Wayfinding consultants help develop the information systems that guide people through the hospital. 

  This is particularly important in a hospital, as patients and families who visit healthcare campuses are often under stress.

  Wayfinding systems can help reduce this stress by providing easy-to-follow signage, colours, symbols and legible directions to get them to where they need to be as quickly and easily as possible.

• Workforce planner

  Workforce planner

  Our workforce planners analyse our current workforce and look at our future workforce needs, identifying what gaps we need to fill. In our new hospital, they will help us make sure we have the right number of people with the right skills employed in the right place at the right time, at the right cost and on the right contract.