This year, owing to the continued restrictions governing large events, the ceremony was delivered exclusively online – marking a fitting conclusion to celebrate the incredible innovation, collaboration and adaptation in healthcare design projects witnessed over the past 18 months. And this year, for the first time, we ran live webinar presentations and judging of all the shortlisted categories, a month prior to the awards ceremony, offering delegates greater insight into the judging process and providing a valuable learning opportunity. Recordings of these webinar presentations will be available on the event platform for 30 days from the last day of the Congress, and later on SALUS.
The Awards shortlist was announced in April, following a hotly contested competition and intensive judging process. It featured organisations and multidisciplinary project teams considered by the judges to have achieved shining examples of design projects and innovations in healthcare, and which will help raise the bar in healthcare design and service delivery in Europe and across the globe.
Prizes were given in a number of categories across primary, community, secondary and tertiary levels of international healthcare provision and delivery.
Winners of this year’s awards came from nearly every continent. From Australia, the Puntukurnu AMS Healthcare Hub, commissioned by Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service, and designed by Kaunitz Yeung Architecture, came out top in the Design of Health and Wellness category.
Brazil in South America is the home of the winner of the Design for Adaptation and Transformation category: the Hospital Sancta Maggiore Morumbi, designed by Perkins&Will.
Meanwhile, North America was represented with a win in the Mental Health Design category, via the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Phase 1C Redevelopment, in Canada. This project was commissioned by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), with Stantec Architecture as designer, and KPMB Architects and Montgomery Sisam Architects as PDC consultants.
And the Future Healthcare Design category, sponsored by IHP, was won by the National University Hospital Campus Masterplan, in Singapore – a project commissioned by National University Hospital and designed by Gensler.
European winners included Maja Kevdzija, from Technische Universität Dresden / Vienna University of Technology, in the Design Research Project category, sponsored by Medical Architecture, for her paper ‘Mobility-supporting rehabilitation clinics: designing environments that actively participate in stroke inpatients’ recovery’.
And a Scandinavian project won the coveted Healthcare Design (over 25,000 sqm) award, sponsored by Hoare Lea. The North Wing, Rigshospitalet, in Denmark (pictured above) was commissioned by Rigshospitalet, and designed by LINK Arkitektur and 3XN, in collaboration with Nickl & Partner and Kristine Jensens Tegnestue.
The Alder Centre, a UK national centre of excellence providing bereavement and grief counselling with care and education for anyone affected by the death of a child, took the prize in the Healthcare Design (under 25,000 sqm) category. Commissioned by Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, it was designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.
Other UK winners included University College London Hospital, Grafton Way Building, in the Interior Design and Arts category. The project was commissioned by University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and designed by Scott Tallon Walker Architects in association with Edward Williams Architects, and UCLH Arts and Heritage.
And the Design Innovation for Quality Improvement category saw KwickScreen take home the main prize for its installation at Basildon and Thurrock Hospitals NHS Trust.
Finally, a special Outstanding Contribution to Global Knowledge honour was awarded this year to John Zeisel, Richard Fleming, Kirsty Bennett, from Alzheimer’s Disease International, UK, for their research report ‘Design, dignity, dementia: dementia-related design and the built environment’.
Organisation and support
The European Healthcare Design Awards 2021 – which were kindly sponsored by Integrated Health Projects (IHP), a joint venture between Vinci Construction UK and Sir Robert McAlpine – celebrate and recognise professional excellence in the design of healthcare environments both in Europe and around the world. Other category sponsors were Hoare Lea and Medical Architecture. Organised by Architects for Health and SALUS Global Knowledge Exchange, the awards attracted interest from architects, healthcare leaders, academic researchers, and innovative solutions providers from all over the globe. They will contribute towards the development of knowledge and standards in the design of healthcare environments around the world.
Full shortlist and judging process
The awards evaluation committee features international researchers, practitioners and policy advisors, who bring specialist multidisciplinary expertise to the specific categories they have been invited to judge. The shortlist and winner of each award are determined by a category chair, supported by panel judges with proven expertise in their field. This robust evaluation methodology ensures a balanced and transparent decision-making process.
The full set of winners and those highly commended are set out below:
Healthcare Design (Over 25,000 sqm)
Sponsored by Hoare Lea
Judges: Kate Copeland, Australian Health Design Council, Australia; David Powell, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Bill Hercules, WJH Health, USA
Judges’ comments on the winner: This project was very successful in the sensitive development of a large piece of hospital estate while maintaining connection with the neighbouring park. It demonstrated innovative and thoughtful internal planning of the clinical areas to achieve appropriate separation of private and public spaces while maintaining views and daylight penetration. There was also some dramatic and impressive interior design and artwork.
Interior Design and Arts
Judges: Ruth Charity, Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT, UK; Femke Feenstra, Gortemaker Algra Feenstra, Netherlands; Charlotte Ruben, White Arkitekter, Sweden
Judges’ comments on the winner: The scheme reflected a truly holistic approach, integrating interior design and art into the architecture from early design stages – even considering how light would fall upon art in the design of the building. It considered engagement with all users – staff and carers as well as patients, and it had built-in sustainability – with artwork that would continue to engage with users over time.
Design for Health and Wellness
Judges: Alice Liang, Montgomery Sisam, Canada; Mungo Smith, MAAP, Australia; Beau Herr, CallisonRTKL, Hong Kong
Judges’ comments on the winner: An inspiring project with well integrated art, architecture and landscape combined. Sustainable, passive and active.
Future Healthcare Design
Sponsored by: IHP
Judges: Cliff Harvey, Niagara Health, Canada; Paul Bell, Ryder Architecture, UK
Judges’ comments on the winner: We congratulate the project on its innovative structural approach, and bold and brilliant design.
Mental Health Design
Judges: Marte Lauvsnes, Sykehusbygg, Norway; Jonathan Wilson, GB Partnerships, UK; Christine Chadwick, CannonDesign, Canada
Judges’ comments on the winner: This project demonstrated a strategic vision through its community integration, which is implicit in the programme and building, addressing the challenge of making a high density city-centre mental health scheme work, with incredible artwork and other healing elements throughout.
Design Innovation for Quality Improvement
Judges: Jonathan West, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, UK; Danny Gibson, MJ Medical, UK
Judges’ comments on the winner: The speed in which the product was adapted in the pandemic to provide a necessary, pragmatic solution to healthcare staff was impressive.
Design for Adaptation and Transformation
Judges: Jim Chapman, Manchester School of Architecture, UK; Graham Cossons, Hoare Lea, UK; Chris Shaw, Medical Architecture, UK
Judges’ comments on the winner: We were impressed by its clever repurposing of a tower block into an innovative vertical hospital arrangement, with wards adaptable for the pandemic from day one.
Design Research Project
Sponsored by: Medical Architecture
Judges: Jonathan Erskine, European Health Property Network, UK; Goran Lindahl, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Judges’ comments on the winner: This paper on rehabilitation clinics is thorough, methodologically well grounded, well-expressed, and provokes some very interesting questions for clinicians, system planners, designers and managers. It does an excellent job of using data and analysis to challenge the status quo and re-emphasise the importance of appropriate environments for different kinds of care.
Outstanding Contribution to Global Knowledge
Sponsored by: Medical Architecture
Judges: Jonathan Erskine, European Health Property Network, UK; Goran Lindahl, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Judges’ comments on the winner: This book from Alzheimer's Disease International is a ‘tour de force’ – posing fascinating research questions, thoroughly researched, methodologically rich, and full of expert analysis and comment. It struck us as a landmark publication, and its focus on patient-centred services and co-design is needed and welcome.
Healthcare Design (Under 25,000 sqm)
Judges: Liesbeth van Heel, Erasmus MC, Netherlands; Coen van den Wijngaart, archipelago architects, Belgium; Brenda Bush-Moline, Stantec, USA
Judges’ comments on the winner: With its secret garden concept, this project breathed “invisible’ care and touched the emotions of the judges with its sensitivity.