While the spotlight shines on brand-new hospital builds, the true operational challenge lies in managing the existing NHS estate. Navigating a skyrocketing multi-billion-pound maintenance backlog, Trusts will need to manage capital funds and resources carefully. Managing the old estate is no longer just about fixing the basics, it is about keeping aging facilities safe, compliant, and functionally viable to deliver modern healthcare services.

This vital keynote session addresses the stark realities of running and maintaining legacy healthcare facilities under intense national constraints.

Covering the topic of safety, the focus of the panel is compliance in relation to safety, taking the example of the rigorous safety standards in force in the aviation industry and applying lessons learned to the healthcare sector, including introduction of the IHEEM / NHSE registration of authorising engineers to tighten safety compliance.

This session examines how to bridge that gap, focusing directly on the new NHS England and IHEEM mandate requiring a central register and formal certification for all Authorising Engineers (AEs).

Discover how to align everyday NHS technical operations with the newly updated HTM 00 guidance to match air-industry safety outcomes.

As technological advancements accelerate, healthcare facilities risk falling into a two-tier estate, where modern, data-driven smart hospitals thrive while legacy facilities are left behind due to fragmented data and aging infrastructure.

This keynote session will consider how the NHS can learn from the education sector in order to meet the challenge of the digital agenda, through the NHP plan and supporting digital and AI technologies, to optimise space, reduce operational costs, and build future-proof facilities.

The Healthcare Infection Society, together with the New Hospital Programme, and the Royal Academy of Engineering: experts in infection prevention will discuss the important challenges and solutions for infection minimisation in both the existing estate and in the design of new facilities.

Framed around the H2.0 Alliance (H2.0A) and Partnership, demonstrating how the H2.0A is transforming not only how hospitals are designed and delivered, but how the NHS nationally and locally, works with industry to modernise its estate.

Endorsed by Andy Burnham (Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister) and Bev Craig (Mayor of Greater Manchester) the Greater Manchester Green & Blue Infrastructure Initiative is a public-private partnership with the ambition to create 100 miles plus of connected green and blue routes across Greater Manchester over the next 10 years.  Potentially creating a blueprint for other cities, those involved in this initiative will discuss the societal, economic and health benefits of establishing a network of blue and green spaces in the urban environment.

Showcasing the EngineeringUK and IHEEM’s commitment to nurturing the workforce of the future, EngineeringUK will introduce winners of the BIG BANG engineering competition, and the activities of the Next Generation group to support young professionals who are already in the industry will be discussed.

Core messages including a strategic update on: the estate position; investment planning; estate utilisation; the impact of incidents; the Capital Plan; national priorities; and progress on the 3 shifts underpinning the 10 year plan.

Don’t leave before the conversation comes together and we reach valuable conclusions. Join us in this interactive session for a lively, practical and forward-looking debate bringing together the key lessons, themes and priorities from across the two-day event.

Take the opportunity to reflect on the key lessons learned from the event, including sector leaders and conference speakers and authors of papers in the Engineering & Estates Essentials publication: Mind the Gap. Are We Heading for a Two-Tier Estate? How can we mitigate the risks.