Translate a clinical service strategy into a prioritised estates and capital investment plan.
Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Management
Healthcare Estates Planning and Clinical Space Utilisation
Prepares estates and facilities leaders to align capital planning with clinical strategy and to measure, model and improve clinical space utilisation across a healthcare site.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Healthcare organisations routinely commit large capital sums to buildings without first establishing whether existing clinical space is being used efficiently, leaving new schemes to repeat the layout and scheduling problems of the estate they replace. This course starts from the clinical service strategy and works through capital planning, condition and compliance surveys, and structured space utilisation audits that distinguish scheduled from actual use of rooms. It covers demand modelling and adjacency planning for interdependent departments, the design of standardised and flexible room templates, and the digital tools, including building information modelling and space-booking systems, that support better estate decisions. The final modules address delivering construction while maintaining clinical operations, and setting sustainability targets for the estate. Teaching combines utilisation audit methods, business case templates and adjacency diagrams with realistic hospital and clinic layouts. Participants leave able to plan, justify and monitor healthcare capital and space decisions using evidence rather than assumption.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Run condition and compliance surveys that identify backlog maintenance and statutory risk.
Conduct room utilisation audits that distinguish scheduled activity from actual clinical use.
Model future space demand from activity forecasts, casemix change and length-of-stay trends.
Apply adjacency principles to relate interdependent clinical departments within a site plan.
Design standardised and flexible room templates that absorb fluctuating clinical demand.
Plan phased construction and decant strategies that protect continuity of clinical services.
Who Should Attend
Healthcare estates and facilities directors responsible for capital and space planning.
Hospital chief operating officers balancing clinical growth against estate constraints.
Capital project managers delivering new or refurbished clinical buildings.
Service line managers seeking to improve utilisation of existing clinical space.
Architects and estates consultants working on healthcare-specific briefs.
Sustainability and energy managers setting carbon targets for healthcare estates.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Aligning Estates Strategy with Clinical Planning
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Estates Strategy and Capital Planning
- Translate the clinical service strategy into a rolling estates and capital investment plan.
- Apply whole-life costing to compare refurbishment, new build and lease options fairly.
- Build the strategic and economic cases within a structured business case model.
- Prioritise capital schemes against clinical risk, backlog maintenance and growth needs.
Session 2Estates Condition and Compliance Surveys
- Run condition surveys covering physical condition, statutory compliance and functional suitability.
- Quantify backlog maintenance and classify it by the risk it poses to clinical operations.
- Schedule statutory compliance checks for fire safety, water hygiene and medical gas systems.
- Feed survey findings into the capital prioritisation and estates risk register process.
02Measuring and Modelling Clinical Space Utilisation
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Space Utilisation Auditing
- Conduct room utilisation audits using direct observation, scheduling data or occupancy sensors.
- Benchmark department-level space provision against recognised space and design guidance.
- Identify underused clinical space and rooms with recurring scheduling conflict.
- Distinguish scheduled utilisation from actual clinical utilisation in the audit findings.
Session 2Demand Modelling and Adjacency Planning
- Model future space demand from activity forecasts, casemix change and length-of-stay trends.
- Apply adjacency principles to relate interdependent departments such as theatres and critical care.
- Assess the space impact of virtual consultation and remote monitoring on outpatient demand.
- Test alternative departmental layouts against patient flow and travel-distance criteria.
03Designing Flexible and Standardised Clinical Space
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Room Standardisation and Flexible Design
- Apply standardised room templates to reduce design variation and construction cost.
- Design multi-purpose and convertible rooms that absorb fluctuating clinical demand.
- Plan shared clinic and consulting space across multiple outpatient specialties.
- Incorporate infection prevention and control requirements into room layout decisions.
Session 2Digital Tools for Estates and Space Management
- Use building information modelling to coordinate design across clinical and estates teams.
- Maintain a digital estate record that links asset condition, space use and compliance data.
- Apply space-booking and scheduling systems to raise clinic and theatre room utilisation.
- Use utilisation dashboards to give service managers visibility of their own space performance.
04Delivering Capital Schemes and Sustainable Estates
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Delivering Construction While Maintaining Operations
- Plan phased construction and decant strategies that protect continuity of clinical services.
- Coordinate infection control, noise and vibration management during on-site construction.
- Manage interim space and temporary clinical accommodation during major building schemes.
- Commission and hand over new clinical space with structured snagging and staff familiarisation.
Session 2Sustainability and Long-Term Estate Performance
- Set carbon reduction and energy performance targets within the wider estates strategy.
- Evaluate low-carbon building systems and retrofit options for existing clinical buildings.
- Track estate performance indicators covering utilisation, condition and environmental impact.
- Report estates and space performance to the board alongside clinical and financial measures.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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