Profile
We develop creative, comprehensive and sustainable engineering solutions for a future where society can thrive. Equipped with an intimate understanding of local intricacies, world-class talent and proactive leadership, we plan, design, manage and engineer long lasting and impactful solutions to uniquely complex problems.
What Makes a World-Class Healthcare Facility?
Whether we’re providing hospital engineering for a landmark project or updating a community clinic, our teams strive to create warm and supportive environments for patients, visitors and staff.
People-Centred Design
Our people-centred approach is coupled with a commitment to clinical excellence. And it’s a combination that has won us roles on some of the world’s most advanced hospitals. We are proud of our long record of providing innovative, efficient and sensitive solutions, carefully aligned to our clients’ therapeutic vision and model of care.
Our experts understand what it takes to create a world-class facility. From accommodating state-of-the-art technologies alongside complementary cancer therapies to meeting the diverse needs of acute care patients under one roof, or making sure children’s clinics have tamper-proof features; we know how to tailor global best practice to suit every project.
However demanding a brief may be, we thrive on the challenge. Our goal is always to find the most sustainable, efficient solutions, so that our clients can offer the best possible care to their communities – today and for the future.
Clean, Safe Environments
Patient safety is a guiding principle in every decision we take. Whether we’re designing a paediatric clinic or forensic hospital, we understand the importance of creating a clean, secure healing environment. Our specialist teams consider how to minimize the spread of germs and aid cleaning from the outset, planning room layouts and staff facilities to cut the risk of cross-contamination, and designing ventilation systems that remove airborne pathogens while ensuring plentiful supplies of fresh air.
We also implement secure-by-design principles to keep intruders out and stop vulnerable patients from roaming where it isn’t safe. Above all, we tailor our approach to each unique set of circumstances, making sure the right solutions reach the right projects – from features that reduce the risk of falls among older patients to fire and life safety systems that allow smooth evacuation of people with learning disabilities.
Positive Experiences
The best hospitals do more than treat disease and mend broken bones; they promote wellbeing. We apply a holistic idea of patient welfare to all designs, maximizing access to natural light, fresh air and greenery, and creating quiet, private rooms wherever possible. We understand that even minor frustrations can cause anxiety and disrupt healing, and so we strive to deliver hassle-free environments, making our buildings as accessible and comfortable as possible for patients, families and staff.
Our engineers work closely with healthcare teams to understand the patient journey, and approach every aspect of the design with this in mind. From inspiring structures that lift the spirits to visual clues that aid wayfinding, we never forget the details that can make a vital difference to patients and visitors. The result is buildings that truly promote recovery.
Low carbon facilities and wider estates
One of the biggest challenges facing healthcare facilities is decarbonisation. Our experts in net zero and our range of technical engineering disciplines can help with your decarbonisation journey, navigating a roadmap for both old and new infrastructure.
WSP Today
WSP is a globally recognized professional services firm. Our talented people are well positioned to deliver successful and sustainable projects, wherever our clients need us.
Throughout 2019-2021, we welcomed experts from 14 different acquisitions – including the transformational acquisition of Golder, a global consulting firm with over 60 years of experience in providing earth sciences and environmental consulting services. These acquisitions allowed us to add expertise in all our operating regions and to enter new markets, while the addition of Golder significantly increased our workforce by approximately 7,000 people. Together we represent the leading global environmental consulting firm with approximately 14,000 of our 55,000 professionals dedicated to accelerating the world’s green transition.
Rethinking healthcare for a pandemic age
The pandemic has seen it go above and beyond, and unleashed innovation on an unprecedented scale. Now we need to decide what to take forward from this tumultuous period, and how we can integrate it into a new, better normal for healthcare.
Looking back to the start of the pandemic is not about filing it away for posterity, applying 20:20 hindsight and apportioning praise or blame. It is vitally important that we apply these hard-won lessons to inform our coping strategies in the face of more frequent epidemics, antibiotic resistance and the impacts of climate change. We need to make healthcare buildings more readily adaptable, and healthcare systems more resilient, and we need to use technology to support and nurture the caregivers who are their lifeblood. We also need to strengthen the links between healthcare and health-creating activities, and address the ways that cities contribute to poor health.
WSP’s global engineering and advisory teams have been working alongside our clients on the immediate response to COVID-19, and on transitioning facilities for the longer term. In this series of articles, published in 2020, we have begun to explore some of the pressing questions that the pandemic raises for the sector — we look forward to continuing these important conversations over the months and years to come.