Mind the Gap
The definitive event for the healthcare estates community
13-14 October 2026, Manchester Central, UK
As the NHS faces unprecedented challenges, from ageing infrastructure and rising demand to ambitious Net Zero commitments and a need for new hospitals, the estates and facilities profession finds itself at the centre of vital national change.
Healthcare Estates 2026 is organised around the theme ‘Mind the Gap’ and is your opportunity to join thousands of professionals in healthcare engineering, estates management and supporting sectors to address and meet challenges, and prepare for the future.
Featuring keynote sessions, expert presentations, debates, roundtables, and a major exhibition with over 250 specialist suppliers and industry associations, Healthcare Estates offers an unparalleled platform for informed debate, practical learning, investigation of the latest offerings from the commercial world, and identification of technical solutions.
250 Exhibitors
Free-to-attend Keynotes
Free-to-attend Theatres
Premium Conference
2026 EVENT THEME
"Mind the Gap"
With significant NHS investment alongside ongoing pressures on existing infrastructure, the 2026 event theme reflects the need to bridge the gap between strategy and delivery ensuring that both new and legacy healthcare facilities can meet the evolving needs of patients, staff, and communities.
This theme underpins Healthcare Estates 2026, providing professionals working at all levels with the vital opportunity to learn from both success and failure, and to put lessons learned into practice.
This year’s overarching conference theme for Healthcare Estates ‘Mind the Gap: Are We Heading for a Two-Tier Estate?’ addresses a critical and increasingly visible challenge across the NHS estate.
The coming years will continue to see significant investment in new, digitally enabled healthcare facilities. However, alongside this progress, many Trusts are operating within challenging infrastructure, where the immediate priority remains maintaining safe and operational services. This divergence in estate capability, digital maturity, and investment is creating a widening gap across the sector.
This gap has far-reaching implications: for patient experience and safety, for sustainability and digital transformation, and for the long-term resilience and performance of the healthcare system.
IHEEM is committed to bringing this conversation to the forefront. Through Healthcare Estates there is a platform for open, honest discussion, drawing on the collective knowledge and experience of professionals across government, policy, the NHS, industry, academia, and our membership community.
Healthcare Estates 2026 brings together those delivering state-of-the-art new facilities with those managing and improving legacy estates under significant constraints. By sharing experience, attendees can explore how innovation, best practice, and investment can be applied more consistently across the board, resulting in a more aligned, equitable healthcare estate.
Ultimately, the 2026 theme challenges us to confront this reality directly: are we moving towards a two-tier estate, and if so, how can we work together to bridge the gap?
