As is customary, the presentation ceremony for the European Healthcare Design Awards 2024 provided a fitting finale to the European Healthcare Design Congress (EHD).
Organised by Architects for Health and SALUS, the Awards committee recognised John Cooper (pictured top, second from right) – a leading figure in healthcare design and former chair of Architects for Health – with the signature prize, the Susan Francis Design Champion Award. 
The accolade, named after one of the UK’s great minds and practitioners in healthcare design, the late Susan Francis, is presented to a visionary healthcare leader who has championed, advocated and monitored the value of design across one or more major healthcare projects, working in close collaboration with multiple stakeholders to deliver excellence and set new standards in design quality.
A driving force of the Congress for many years – in his role as programme director, chair, awards judge and session speaker – John is director of John Cooper Architecture. His influence on healthcare design is boundless, but he also possesses great expertise in the design of housing, education, university and regeneration projects. Throughout his career, he has combined an expert understanding of health planning with genuine design skills at both a strategic and a detailed level, with an innate ability to engage with clients and end users alike.
A double winner on the evening was the Louisa Martindale Building, UK (pictured below, right), which took first place in two fields – the coveted Healthcare Design (over 25,000 sqm) category and the Interior Design and Arts class. The project was commissioned by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust and designed by BDP, with art curation and integration by Willis Newson credited in the latter category.
With high commendations in several other categories, BDP was also celebrating as winner of the Future Healthcare Design category, supported by IHP. Its project, the Children’s Cancer Centre, Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK, was commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust and designed by BDP.
Another UK winner, this time in the Design for Sustainable Development field, was the Jean Bishop Integrated Care Centre; commissioned by NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board and designed by Medical Architecture.
This year’s Awards also saw the return, after a two-year hiatus, of the Health and Life Sciences Award. Winner in this category was the BCIT Health Sciences Centre, Canada; designed by Stantec and commissioned by British Columbia Institute of Technology. Stantec was also successful in the Mental Health Design Award with Stella’s Place Young Adult Mental Health, in Toronto, Canada.
Europe triumphed in the Design for Adaptation and Transformation category, in the shape of Spain’s Doctor Muñoz Cariñanos Hospital – a project commissioned by Servicio Andaluz de Salud (SAS) and designed by Planho Consultores.
The Middle East was represented on the winner’s roster by Helmsley Cancer Center in Israel. Winner in the Design for Health and Wellness class, the centre was commissioned by Shaare Zedek Medical Center and designed by Farrow Partners and Rubinstein Ofer Architects.
And Australia was also a winner on the evening, with Yutjuwala Djiwarr – Nhulunbuy Flexible Aged Care taking home the Healthcare Design (under 25,000 sqm) trophy. Commissioned by the Australian Regional and Remote Community Services, the project was designed by Kaunitz Yeung Architecture. 
There was good news, too, for last year’s winner of the Design Research Project category, supported by Medical Architecture, as Dr Deborah Wingler, from HKS, defended her crown. Supported by her research team of Dr Michelle Ossmann, Dr Rutali Joshi, and Edward Hunt, her paper, ‘Blueprint for mitigating nurse burnout: A social listening perspective’, focused on the critical area of addressing the workforce crisis in healthcare.
Organisation and support
The European Healthcare Design Awards 2024 – which were kindly sponsored by Integrated Health Projects (IHP), a joint venture between Vinci Construction UK and Sir Robert McAlpine – celebrate and recognise professional excellence in the design of healthcare environments both in Europe and around the world. Other category sponsors were Medical Architecture. Organised by Architects for Health and SALUS Global Knowledge Exchange, the awards attracted interest from architects, healthcare leaders, academic researchers, and innovative solutions providers from all over the globe.
Continuing an exciting innovation that began during the pandemic, live webinar presentations and judging of the shortlisted categories were broadcast a month prior to the awards ceremony, offering delegates greater insight into the judging process and providing a valuable learning opportunity. Recordings of these webinar presentations are available on the event platform for two months from the end of the Congress and will later be available on SALUS.
The Awards shortlist was announced in April, following a hotly contested competition. It featured organisations and multidisciplinary project teams considered by the judges to have achieved shining examples of design projects and innovations in healthcare, and which will help raise the bar in healthcare design and service delivery in Europe and across the globe.
Full shortlist and judging process
The awards evaluation committee features international researchers, practitioners and policy advisors, who bring specialist multidisciplinary expertise to the specific categories they have been invited to judge. The shortlist and winner of each award are determined by a category chair, supported by panel judges with proven expertise in their field. This robust evaluation methodology ensures a balanced and transparent decision-making process.
The full set of winners and those highly commended in the EHD 2024 Awards are set out below:
Susan Francis Design Champion Award
Supported by IHP
Awarded for visionary leadership and lifelong dedication to healthcare design
- Winner: John Cooper
Healthcare Design (Over 25,000 sqm)
- Winner: Louisa Martindale Building, UK
Commissioned by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by BDP
- Highly Commended: Glasblokkene at Haukeland University Hospital, Norway
Commissioned by Helse Bergen HF
Designed by the Architect group consisting of KHR Architecture AS, Copenhagen, Denmark, PKA Arkitekter AS and Henning Larsen Architects AS, Trondheim, Norway
- Highly Commended: University Children’s Hospital Freiburg, Germany
Commissioned by Vermögen und Bau Baden-Württemberg Amt Freiburg and Universitätsklinikum Freiburg
Designed by Health Team Vienna: Albert Wimmer and Architects Collective
Lead judge: Kate Copeland, Australian Health Design Council, Australia
Panel judges: Ben Bassin, Massey Family Foundation Emergency Critical Care Center, USA
Paul Bell, Ryder Architecture, UK
Healthcare Design (Under 25,000 sqm)
- Winner: Yutjuwala Djiwarr – Nhulunbuy Flexible Aged Care, Australia
Commissioned by Australian Regional and Remote Community Services
Designed by Kaunitz Yeung Architecture
- Highly Commended: Oak Cancer Centre, UK
Commissioned by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by BDP
- Highly Commended: Helmsley Cancer Center, Israel
Commissioned by Shaare Zedek Medical Center
Designed by Farrow Partners and Rubinstein Ofer Architects
- Highly Commended: The Catkin Centre and Sunflower House, UK
Commissioned by Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by Cullinan Studio
Lead judge: Brenda Bush-Moline, Stantec, USA
Panel judges: Jaime Bishop, Architects for Health; Fleet Architects, UK
Sunand Prasad, UK Green Building Council; Perkins&Will, UK
Design for Sustainable Development
In collaboration with European Health Property Network
- Winner: The Jean Bishop Integrated Care Centre, UK
Commissioned by NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
Designed by Medical Architecture
- Highly Commended: Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Complex (OHPCC), UK
Commissioned by Western Health & Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland
Designed by TODD Architects
- Highly Commended: Wexham Park Hospital Redevelopment, UK
Commissioned by Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by BDP and built by Kier Construction
Lead judge: Jonathan Erskine, European Health Property Network, UK
Panel judges: Matthew Holmes, Jacobs, Australia/Singapore
Warren Percival, RSK Group, UK
Future Healthcare Design
Supported by IHP
- Winner: Children’s Cancer Centre, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), UK
Commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by BDP
- Highly Commended: Cavell Passivhaus Community Health and Wellbeing Hub, UK
Commissioned by NHS England
Designed by Medical Architecture and Architype
- Highly Commended: Cluj Napoca Children’s Hospital, Romania
Commissioned by Consiliul Judeţean Cluj
Designed by Planho Consultores, Dico si Tiganas and 4B
Lead judge: Clifford Harvey, Grand River Hospital / St Mary’s General Hospital, Canada
Panel judges: Nicola Bertrand, Asklepios, Germany
Bill Hercules, WJH Health, USA
Interior Design and Arts
- Winner: Louisa Martindale Building, UK
Commissioned by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
Interior Design by BDP
Art Curation and Integration by Willis Newson
- Highly Commended: Oak Cancer Centre, UK
Commissioned by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by BDP
- Highly Commended: Psychological and Mental Health Services Unit (PAMHS Unit), UK
Commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by DAY Architectural with artwork by Giles Round
Lead judge: Ruth Charity, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK
Panel judges: Birgitte Gade Ernst, Arkitema, Denmark
Marte Lauvsnes, Sykehusbygg, Norway
Design for Adaptation and Transformation
- Winner: Doctor Muñoz Cariñanos Hospital, Spain
Commissioned by Servicio Andaluz de Salud (SAS)
Designed by Planho Consultores
- Highly Commended: 18 Mole Business Park, UK
Commissioned by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by tp bennett
- Highly Commended: Chengdu Gleneagles Hospital, China
Commissioned by Perennial Holdings and Parkway Pantai
Designed by HKS Asia Pacific Design Consulting
- Highly Commended: Sinai Health – Circle of Care: Adult Day Program, Canada
Commissioned by Sinai Health, Circle of Care
Designed by ARK (Architects + Research + Knowledge)
Lead judge: Jim Chapman, Manchester School of Architecture, UK
Panel judges: Christine Chadwick, Archus, Canada
Christopher Shaw, Past chair, Architects for Health, UK
Design for Health and Wellness
- Winner: Helmsley Cancer Center, Israel
Commissioned by Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Israel
Designed by Farrow Partners and Rubinstein Ofer Architects
- Highly commended: Sinai Health – Circle of Care: Adult Day Program, Canada
Commissioned by Sinai Health, Circle of Care
Designed by ARK (Architects + Research + Knowledge)
- Highly commended: Yutjuwala Djiwarr – Nhulunbuy Flexible Aged Care, Australia
Commissioned by Australian Regional and Remote Community Services
Designed by Kaunitz Yeung Architecture
Lead judge: John Cooper, JCA, UK
Panel judges: Ruairi Reeves, Medical Architecture, UK
Charlotte Ruben, White Arkitekter, Sweden
Mental Health Design
- Winner: Stella’s Place Young Adult Mental Health, Canada
Commissioned by Stella’s Place Young Adult Mental Health
Designed by Stantec
- Highly commended: Aspen Wood – Low Secure Learning Disabilities Unit, UK
Commissioned by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by Gilling Dod Architects
- Highly commended: Montage Health Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, USA
Commissioned by Montage Health
Designed by NBBJ
- Highly commended: Kimmeridge Court, UK
Commissioned by Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by Medical Architecture
Lead judge: Beatrice Fraenkel, Design in Mental Health Network, UK
Panel judges: Danny Gibson, MJ Medical, UK
Femke Feenstra, Gortemaker Algra Feenstra, Netherlands
Health and Life Sciences
- Winner: BCIT Health Sciences Centre, Canada
Commissioned by British Columbia Institute of Technology
Designed by Stantec
- Highly Commended: Oak Cancer Centre, UK
Commissioned by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
Designed by BDP
- Highly Commended: The Christie Paterson Redevelopment, UK
Commissioned by The Christie Trust, University of Manchester and CRUK
Designed by BDP
Lead judge: Peter Ward, King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT, UK
Panel judges: Mohammed Ayoub, HDR, USA
Richard Mann, AECOM, UK
Design Research Project
Supported by Medical Architecture
- Winner: Blueprint for mitigating nurse burnout: A social listening perspective
Authored by: Dr Deborah Wingler, HKS and CADRE, USA; Dr Michelle Ossmann, MillerKnoll, USA; Dr Rutali Joshi, HKS, USA; and Edward Hunt, MA, USA
- Highly commended: Revolutionizing digital engagement: Effects of the CONNECT app enabling persons with dementia to lead activities for others
Recipient: Hopeful Aging, USA.
Authored by: Michael Skrajner, MA; Gregg Gorzelle, MA; John Zeisel, PhD, Hon D.Sc.; and Drew Walker, BA
Lead judge: Göran Lindahl PhD, Chalmers University of Technology; Center of Healthcare Architecture, Sweden
Panel judge: Grant Mills, UCL, UK
