Too Hot for Health

Hawke's Bay hospital is again too hot to be healthy for both patients and staff. The issue is not new, being reported in late February 2018 when 'record-breaking' temperatures were causing challenging conditions for staff.

In the intervening two years, average temperatures have risen further and so too, it seems, has the estimate for retrofitting air conditioning to the 60-year-old building.

Radio New Zealand reported this morning that it would cost $7 million to install air-conditioning into the hospital, (up from the $3 million for the ward block reported by the Herald in 2018).

Unsafe Hospital

Hospitals are supposed to be places to make sick people better. We have a big problem when a hospital building is deemed 'unsafe to work' due to the internal conditions.

Diagnosis and Design

What's caused this problem? Well, it seems that the building was never designed to have air conditioning. But I find this diagnosis rather limiting. Sure, adding air-conditioning would help and may well be the necessary pill to reduce the immediate symptoms both now and in the middle of winter.

But just as drugs may be necessary for quelling acute symptoms, designing a better system is the best way to improve longterm health.

Healthy by Design

It's possible and relatively easy to design a building in New Zealand that needs very little or even no air-conditioning for most of the year. Such a building could require very little energy while maintaining healthy, very comfortable internal conditions.

Passive House Hospital

In the same year that overheating was reported at Hawke's Bay Hospital, the world's first Passive House hospital was being completed on the other side of the world in Duisburg, Germany. Utilising a combination of airtightness, mechanical ventilation and energy-efficient appliances, it's anticipated that a Passive House hospital will enjoy significant savings in running costs over the life of the building.

Just as importantly though, Passive House buildings are designed with health in mind. Shouldn't this be a key design criteria of all our buildings, especially those that are built to help make sick people healthy?