Specifying louvres and shading on a healthcare building means answering a different brief to most commercial projects. Infection control, ventilation strategy and clinical operation take priority over aesthetics alone, and the building is very often live and occupied throughout construction. A louvre system that would be a straightforward choice for an office facade would not necessarily be suitable for a hospital due to considerations such as how it sits relative to air intakes, how easily it can be kept clean and how installation is sequenced around wards, theatres and diagnostic areas that must not face interruption to their daily services.
Solinear designs, manufactures and installs louvre and shading systems for healthcare buildings as a single source, from early design input through UK fabrication to site installation, so infection control and clinical operation are considered from the outset rather than being treated as an afterthought and retrofitted at the end.
This article focuses on the external envelope of the building including air intakes, plant screening and facade-mounted louvres. Solinear doesn’t manufacture internal ventilation grilles or ductwork, so it’s worth noting that where a scheme also requires internal infection control measures, these elements are the responsibility of Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) services and internal fit-out specialists working alongside us.
Why healthcare facades need specialist input
Ventilation design for UK healthcare premises is governed by HTM 03-01 – specialised ventilation for healthcare premises and the building’s infection control approach sits alongside it. This is informed by Health Building Note 00-09 – infection control in the built environment. Please note that neither document is primarily about louvres, but both shape decisions a louvre specifier must work within where air intakes and plant enclosures can sit relative to the rest of the building, and how finishes and building elements around clinical areas are expected to perform.
One point worth specifying against directly: NHS England’s own HTM 03-01 guidance notes that a badly sited air intake, combined with poor housekeeping in the surrounding area, can draw fungal spores such as aspergillus into the ventilation system. For most buildings that’s a maintenance issue. In a hospital, particularly near immunocompromised patients, it’s a clinical risk. That’s why louvre positioning, screening and access for cleaning need to be resolved as part of the facade design, not left to the M&E package to solve on its own.
Please note, Solinear does not currently offer a dedicated antimicrobial or hygiene-rated finish across our ranges. If your project requires one, please inform us at enquiry stage and we will confirm what’s achievable for the specific product and finish you need.
What this means for the facade
There are several factors to be considered that are more specific to a healthcare project than other projects. These include:
Siting and access. External louvres serving plant, air handling unit (AHU) intakes or extract need to be positioned and detailed so they can be inspected and cleaned without disrupting clinical areas and coordinated early with the ventilation strategy, so intake positions are not compromised by nearby exhausts, waste areas or vehicle access.
Acoustic separation. External plant enclosures near wards, consulting rooms or any acoustically sensitive clinical space benefit from louvres designed for attenuation rather than standard ventilation louvres. Solinear’s SoundEX range covers acoustic louvres and solid acoustic cladding panels for this purpose. We can provide tested performance data for a specific application at enquiry stage.
Security and controlled access. External plant rooms, stores and any accessible opening serving a secure clinical area, pharmacy or controlled-drug storage sometimes need a security rating on the louvre itself as well as ventilation performance. Aquarius GUARDIAN is Solinear’s security louvre range for the building envelope, and we can discuss what rating a specific opening needs.
Live-site delivery. Healthcare projects are very often occupied and operational throughout the works therefor, sequencing, RAMS documentation and minimising disruption to clinical activity is just as important as the product specification itself.
Solinear product ranges relevant to healthcare projects include:
- AQUARIUS X-LINE – extruded aluminium louvres for standard ventilation and plant screening duties.
- AQUARIUS GUARDIAN – security-rated louvres, where controlled access or forced-entry resistance is part of the brief.
- SOUNDEX – acoustic louvres and solid acoustic cladding panels, where plant equipment is in close proximity to an acoustically sensitive clinical space.
- VIENTO – operable louvre systems, where ventilation needs to respond to changing conditions rather than remain fixed.
- VERSATIL, bespoke louvre system, where a standard product doesn’t fit the available opening, the aesthetic or the clinical brief and a system needs to be engineered around the project rather than selected from a range.
Solinear at Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust is one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals. It is a major specialist centre for rare and complex childhood conditions, with more than 50 clinical areas and patients referred nationally and internationally.
Solinear delivered louvre systems for the highly-respected Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where the work had to integrate with strict infection control requirements and the logistical constraints of a live, occupied site. This project is a great practical example of how Solinear approaches a healthcare brief and delivers great results. Please ask us about our processes and how we managed the Great Ormond Street project.
Sustainability and the NHS Net Zero Building Standard
Introduced in October 2023, the NHS Net Zero Building Standard applies to all new healthcare buildings and major upgrades, requiring whole life carbon data, including embodied carbon, to be collected and reported. It sits alongside the NHS’s wider targets: net zero for its direct emissions (the NHS Carbon Footprint) by 2040, and net zero for its wider supply chain and estate emissions (NHS Carbon Footprint Plus) by 2045.
Although we’re unable to confirm what a specific trust’s submission requires as that’s a matter for the project’s sustainability consultant, we can attest to how we work to support it directly. Our fabrication is UK based, thus reducing transport-related embodied carbon – which a whole life carbon assessment has to account for, compared with an imported system. Solinear’s aluminium systems use recycled alloy content as standard and our Solex Medera is available with FSC-certified material options where timber is specified.
Solar shading’s core function, reducing solar heat gain before it reaches the building, also supports the operational side of the target: less solar gain to remove means less demand on mechanical cooling and ventilation, which is where a healthcare building’s day to day energy use, and its progress toward the NHS Carbon Footprint, is actually won or lost.
Solinear at The Royal Hospital for Sick Children
The Royal Hospital for Sick Children – also known locally as “Sick Kids” – has a long history of caring for children in Edinburgh. It first opened in 1860, making it Scotland’s first dedicated children’s hospital. The hospital would later move to another site in1895. By the 21st century, NHS Lothian developed plans for a new purpose-built facility at Little France, alongside the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. The new development brought together children’s services with other specialist healthcare functions and was designed around the needs of children, families and staff.
The new facility was conceived as a modern, welcoming healthcare environment rather than a traditionally institutional hospital. Its design incorporated colourful and playful features, including dedicated recreational and play spaces, reflecting the importance of the environment to young patients and their families.
Solinear was appointed to design, manufacture and install bespoke aluminium louvres and ventilation products for the new hospital.
The project presented an interesting challenge: the louvres needed to provide the required ventilation and performance, while also complementing the hospital’s deliberately colourful, child-friendly architectural character.
Working with us on a healthcare project
We work with architects from RIBA Stage 2, provide BIM Level 2 data as standard and hold Constructionline Gold, Safe Contractor, CHAS, SMAS and ISO 9001 accreditations, alongside the Mindful Employer Charter. Design, engineering, UK fabrication and installation stay under one contract, which matters on a healthcare project where coordination between trades and disruption to clinical operations both need managing carefully.
If you’re specifying a healthcare facade, send us your ventilation and acoustic requirements, the infection control considerations for the area in question along with your site access constraints, and Solinear will respond with a carefully considered system that perfectly aligns with your needs.
Call 01347 879046, email mail@solinear.co.uk, or use the enquiry form.
