The use of the same components across sectors allows the possibility of repurposing buildings – so an office block can later be turned into residential with relatively little intervention.. Digital design makes it all possible.

The atrium aids with facilitating natural and easy way-finding, says Wood, adding that the building’s concentration on flow efficiency, as well as the sense of legibility the space provides, actually lends itself to a reduction in stress.‘Everything is self explanatory,’ he says.

‘There is no need for signs.It’s very evident where you might go for your consultation, or go to diagnostics, or in fact, go up to prepare for an operation…’.‘You can feel that it’s like the hub,’ says Adam Chivers, commenting on the central functionality of the atrium.

‘There are nurses backwards and forwards...consultants....and although you can feel that a lot is going on, it’s still calm.’.This last sentiment is one echoed by GP Liaison Abby Wilkinson, who adds that it’s nice for staff members to be able to come down and work in the atrium sometimes, away from the hustle and bustle.

‘If they need to crack on with something, they can in a quiet corner if there’s not many patients in,’ she says.

‘It’s quite nice to sit down there and have a conversation if you want to.’.Reducing the size of the photovoltaic array from 24 to 12 units would reduce carbon by 12 kgCO2/m2.

All the above items added up together would mean just a reduction of around 4.7 kgCO2/m2, mainly due to the simplification of the heating and photovoltaic systems.Compared to a residential LETI 2020 (Band C) target building (A-C) with a total embodied carbon of 675 kgCO2/m2, that is equivalent to just 0.7% reduction in carbon..

Comparison of embodied carbon (A-C) between a baseline residential building based on LETI Band C and same building with Passivhaus characteristics.The adoption of the above Passivhaus standard does not have a substantial impact on the embodied carbon compared to a standard residential building.