维州各地有10万名与失智症共存的人 – 20年后预计人数几乎要翻倍。

公立养老院所为支持以下人士扮演一个重要角色：

• 他们有复杂的支持需要
• 他们正处于社会经济劣势
• 他们没有其它住房选择。

这些院所致力于维护住户的独立、选择和尊严，支持他们的健康、福利和生活品质。

与失智症共存的人占所有养老院所住户的52%。在公立养老院所里这个比例更高。

失智症友好环境的设计是通过创造合意、熟悉、有意义和安全的环境来尽可能促进住户的独立和参与。

失智症友好设计支持那些行动不便、感觉衰退而且有各种复杂健康问题的人士。

设计体现了对物质环境和社会环境的仔细考量。它考虑到人们独特的需求和能力，以及他们如何通过熟悉感和关联来维持人生的意义。

家一样的环境是失智症友好设计的关键，这意味着住户有选择和独立，又不乏亲近感和舒适感。 

在建造养老院时，创造家一样的环境的设计方法包括： 

• 小户型模式 
• 可以个性化的私人睡房 
• 去户外的便利通道 
• 各种不同的公用区。 

Richard Blight是Blight, Blight & Blight建筑设计公司的董事，320万澳元的Creswick养老院失智症友好部便由该公司设计。Richard介绍了他们团队如何与住户进行接触，以确定家对他们的含义。 

已完工的5557万澳元的圣乔治医院养老院（Berengarra）由两栋分开的三层楼房子、90个床位组成，倾斜的屋顶和砖结构带来了家一样的感觉。每一层分成多个小户，创造出一个熟悉的、很容易掌握方向的环境。就餐区和客厅等主要设施就在附近 – 还方便了那些因虚弱无法走远路的人。

私人睡房

个人睡房和卫生间为养老院里的住户维护尊严和独立。630万澳元的Edenhope和地区纪念医院改造项目包括建18个私人房间和套房，这替换了现有的共用房间，有利于维护住户的隐私。

去户外的便利通道

在创造一个家一样的环境时去户外的便利通道很重要。这些地方需要热情友好、吸引人而且安全。

Creswick养老院失智症友好部的各个房间环绕在一个中心庭院的四周，庭院可以和其它设施隔开，这让住户可以自由地、安全地循环。户外两个地方有座椅，鼓励住户去户外，抬高的园圃方便用轮椅的住户做园艺。

户外空间为住户提供选择。他们可以在户外活动，或只是自己去户外呆一会。这种庭院设计让人可以从房间里可以看到户外的地方，增加与自然环境的关联感。

各种不同的公用区 

各种不同的公用区为住户提供了选择和追求不同生活方式的可能，并且支持他们与家人和社区保持联系。 

比如，8158万澳元的Wantirna养老院在2022年竣工后将包括多个多功能公用区、社区活动室、祷告空间和咖啡厅。这将给住户更多选择，有机会去这些地方社交、活动或安静地呆一会。 

We are shifting towards fully electric hospitals. What does fully electric mean?

‘All-electric hospitals are buildings that don’t use any gas for their heating or sterilisation equipment, meaning they are powered entirely by electricity. Where possible to do so, moving to all-electric buildings would support the 2050 net zero carbon target, although it will take some steps to get there.

The adoption of all-electric healthcare facilities presents the opportunity to reduce the emissions profile of public hospitals when the Victorian Government procures renewable electricity for government operations beginning in 2025.

A positive step towards this target is the Victorian Government’s more than $900 million investment to deliver the new Melton Hospital which will hold the mantle as the state’s first hospital to be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy.’ 

How is this good for the environment?

‘While we can’t get around the fact hospitals will always use a lot of resources and generate large volumes of waste, there are design solutions available to help us create a more environmentally sustainable health system.

When we design our hospitals and healthcare buildings to be more environmentally sustainable, the benefits aren’t just to the environment. Sustainable design may lower environmental impacts and operating costs, but it also goes further by creating healthier, healing environments for patients, visitors and staff.

Another benefit of a no emissions health care facility is reduced air pollution. The energy used does not create air emissions and that means less air pollution, a great win.’

How are green facilities good for patients, visitors and staff?

‘People's surrounds help them recover faster which is better for their wellbeing and the people caring for them. A healthy building doesn’t need as much energy, meaning patients recover faster, placing less strain on the health system by not having people in hospital for as long.

We're doing this by using cleaner products internally, such as softer palettes and natural timber finishes, and features such as double-glazed windows assist with temperature control. Looking at nature and greenery makes people feel better, so we have also introduced indoor and outdoor sensory gardens into our facilities.’

How have we traditionally used electricity in hospitals we have built?

‘Hospitals and health care facilities traditionally use a mix of electricity and natural gas for heating, cooling and delivery of health outcomes. Both sources of energy have emissions associated with their use that contribute to climate change.

Making a switch to all-electric hospitals and health facilities will reduce emissions once the renewable electricity contract (supply) begins in 2025.’

In the meantime, how can we make hospitals and healthcare facilities more energy-efficient?

‘A great way to make hospitals more energy-efficient is to harness energy from the sun. Solar panels can help lower energy bills and cut greenhouse gas emissions, making the running of public hospitals greener.

The Victorian Health Building Authority has committed to a target of delivering five per cent of the public health system’s electricity from solar energy. We’re achieving this by installing large collections of solar panels on top of hospital roofs, known as solar arrays.

In addition, for all new hospitals being built in Victoria, 60 per cent of the roof space is being designed for solar panels. This involves several design considerations including roof spaces that face the right direction for maximum exposure to the sun.’

Learn more about our sustainability projects via our dedicated page.

Modular construction involves manufacturing buildings offsite in a factory under controlled conditions. The buildings are made up of 3D components or ‘modules’, which are then transported to a site and assembled.

The modules are lifted into place by crane and then bolted to the ground using steel footings. These ensure the building remains level.

Final work is then undertaken on-site including connecting services, concealing joints between modules on the interior and exterior, and final finishings.

Modular buildings are built to contemporary standards and can be designed with all the same details as a conventional build. Once constructed, you wouldn’t know you were in a modular building.

Modular buildings are customisable, meaning they don’t all have to look the same. However, the structural components – such as walls, floors and roofs – can be standardised, which makes the manufacturing process more efficient and can make it easier to do repeat builds.

While modular construction offers advantages to all sectors, the speed and repeatability offered make it particularly well-suited to the healthcare sector in operating hospital environments.

The sooner a healthcare facility is built, the sooner it can start treating patients. But there also needs to be consideration for cost and quality. So what makes modular construction a well-suited option for the healthcare sector?

There are a number of advantages. In a nutshell, they are:

Reduced cost

Depending on the requirements, modular buildings can be less costly to build. Because they are constructed in a factory environment, any defects can be caught and corrected as they come up without affecting other areas of the project. The factory environment also means costly delays due to bad weather can be avoided.

Modular construction won’t always save money, however. A lot will depend on the project’s unique requirements.

Fast project timelines

Modular construction can considerably cut down on the time needed to build a healthcare facility, which can mean more patients can be admitted and treated faster. The factory environment helps avoid weather delays in the manufacturing stage, and buildings can be constructed while other works are occurring on the site.

Quality

Modular buildings are constructed under the same codes and regulations as traditional builds. Once assembled, they are indistinguishable from a traditional build. 

Unlike traditional builds, modular buildings are made in a factory where the materials are protected from the weather – a common cause of issues in traditional builds. 

Less disruption to hospital operations

As modular buildings are constructed offsite in a factory, noise and disruption to hospital operations, staff and patients is minimised.

The onsite workforce is reduced, as are the daily traffic impacts. This means healthcare professionals can get on with the job of providing care with minimal disruption.

Good for the environment

Modular construction is a sustainable way to build. As modules are made inside a factory, waste can be prevented because there is better control of the conditions.

Modular construction also involves less energy consumption, which in the long run means less carbon emissions.

And while modular buildings can be designed as site-specific, permanent buildings, there are ways to engineer them for relocation. This means less waste, because buildings can be re-used when they’re not needed instead of being knocked down and going into landfill. It also means less raw materials and energy are spent on a new building.

To bring a modular building to life, architects and designers apply the same design skills they’d use on a traditional build. However, there are some key points that designers must consider.

What design factors are important?

It’s important to make sure modular construction is the right choice for a project. The best time to decide this is in the early stages of planning. Factors to consider include:

• Repeatable elements: Is the proposed facility made up of enough repeatable elements that can be standardised to reduce cost? Or, will the project require a lot of uniquely sized and varied modules to accommodate the proposed activities?
   
• Location: Does the location allow for large modules to be delivered to the site and safely craned into place? On a crowded hospital campus, for instance, is there enough space for a crane to lift modules into a multi-storey structure without interrupting the running of the hospital?
   
• Fitting the modules together: Designers will face different structural constraints to those they traditionally work with. For example, modular construction increases the width of the spacing between the internal faces of the walls of adjacent rooms in different modules. It’s important that they are designed to fit together neatly. However, that extra gap can also be of great benefit when designing a building where noise reduction is needed. Beginning design work with these things in mind can reduce time and challenges. It helps with converting designs based on traditional construction into drawings from which modules can be manufactured.

Co-design

A significant advantage for healthcare patients is how well modular construction supports the co-design process. 

Co-design means involving people with lived experience in the design process, so that the results of the design meet their needs.

A module that will be produced in large numbers, such as a patient bedroom and ensuite, can be built with all its fixtures and finishes and then tested by patients, carers and staff. This helps them understand the scale of a space, how it sounds and what it feels like.

The regional alcohol and drug residential rehabilitation program

In late 2021, we delivered three state-of-the-art residential rehabilitation facilities in regional Victoria.

The three facilities, in Corio, Traralgon and Wangaratta, were the first of their kind in the health infrastructure space to be delivered using full modular construction.

In just 10 months, we were able to add 80 beds to Victoria’s drug and alcohol rehabilitation service network – which will support 900 Victorians experiencing addiction, annually.

Learn more about the Regional alcohol and drug residential rehabilitation program via our dedicated program page.

Mental Health Beds Expansion Program

We’re delivering 120 new acute public mental health beds to urgently respond to recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

The new beds are located at:

• Northern Hospital in Epping (30 beds)
• The McKellar Centre in North Geelong (16 beds)
• Sunshine Hospital in St Albans (52 beds)
• The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville (22 beds).  

The facilities at Northern Hospital, Sunshine Hospital and The McKellar Centre are each using modular construction. Across the three sites, we’re building very different modular buildings, each with their own characteristics and challenges.

By using modular construction, together with Lendlease Building as the Managing Contractor we were able to install 137 modules at the McKellar Centre in eight weeks. 

The first stage of the Northern Hospital, on top of a two-storey carpark and involving 127 modules, was completed in just five weeks.

The 16-bed facility at The McKellar Centre is on track to be completed in mid-2022 – a timeframe of 11 months from commencement onsite to project completion. 

The beds at Northern Hospital and Sunshine Hospital are also expected to reach practical completion in late 2022 and early 2023 respectively. 

The Mental Health Expansion Program won the Infrastructure (Planning and Design) Award at the 2021 IAP2 Australasia Core Values Awards, and the Excellence in Community Engagement Award at the 2021 Urban Developer Awards. 

The McKellar Centre facility was Highly Commended in the Service Design Award category at the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Design Awards. 

Learn more about the Mental Health Beds Expansion Program via our dedicated program page.