Healthy places
There is increasing awareness and understanding of the connection between human health and the built environment.
Air and water quality, biodiversity, noise levels, and access to public transportation and active travel options all influence our mental and physical health and well-being.
Social, economic, and technological advances are now enabling the biggest changes in several generations to how places are designed and used, ushering in a new era for placemaking.
In environments designed for work, living, leisure, retail, travel — or created to provide essential services such as schools and hospitals — people want improvement on what they have experienced before. Getting the design right is key to creating these new, healthy places.
What can we do for you?
Almost every building or infrastructure project has the potential to deliver better outcomes for our health. Often benefits such as improved well-being and productivity, a more biodiverse and sustainable environment, and enhancing the desirability of an area, can be achieved without significant additional investment.
Through our approach to design, we can help deliver these benefits to end users and communities, as well as to the workforce operating and maintaining infrastructure assets.
Designs focused on people
Buildings and infrastructure influence the social, economic, and environmental outcomes that drive the quality of people’s lives. That’s why our designs are focused on the end users.
A systems approach
Buildings, public spaces, and infrastructure assets are all interdependent, and this built environment is closely connected with the elements and ecologies of the natural environment. When parts of the system are stressed or fail, negative chain reactions can be set off, with humans among those to suffer the effects. Strong and balanced systems enable people to thrive.
Optimized digital solutions
Across the built and natural environments there is now a wealth of data that can help us to understand the interplay they have with human health and wellbeing. By harnessing this data and applying the latest digital solutions, we can design places with the right outcomes in mind.
Creating healthier places for better communities
We consider a full range of factors known to affect environmental and human health, from the macro to the micro level, and relate them to each project.
Our experience
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Biodiversity enhancements across Welsh hospital estates, UKHealth boards in Wales have a duty to maintain and enhance biodiversity. To meet this requirement, the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and Powys Teaching Health Board engaged us to assess the existing biodiversity value across 14 hospital sites and identify opportunities to enhance existing habitats — for example by changing estate management practices and creating new habitats.
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Google office fit-outs, UK and EuropeWe supported Google with the fit-out of several European offices. Google wanted to create working environments in which workers would be healthy and productive. We audited construction materials and furniture and created a list of products that are benign to the environment and users — and a list of those that aren’t. We also shaped the buildings’ ventilation strategies so that air was not supplied at street level, minimizing workers’ exposure to exhaust gases and particulates.
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Green Square Urban Renewal water management, Sydney, AustraliaWe developed the water management strategy for the Green Square Urban Renewal regeneration program in Sydney’s oldest industrial area, one of the largest urban renewal projects in Australia. Our solution resulted in the creation of a lushly planted public green space.
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Green Streets program, Philadelphia, USAWe were the designer for this multiphase program to reduce flooding and combined sewer overflows. Our solution included green techniques such as stormwater tree trenches, stormwater curb extensions, roadside planters, pervious pavement, green roofs, rain barrels, and rain gardens. In addition to recharging Philadelphia’s depleted groundwater table, the project improved pedestrian and bicycle safety, improved air quality, and alleviated the urban heat island effect.
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Infrastructure epidemiology, internationallyDuring the Covid-19 pandemic we worked with a wide range of clients to minimize infection risk to their staff and customers, helping them sustain operations, provide services and generate revenue. Our unique infrastructure epidemiology advice was founded in the marriage of our deep understanding of the design, use and management of buildings and infrastructure with clinical expertise. The high-level strategy is simple: to minimize access to and time spent in shared spaces, minimize touch of shared surfaces, and optimize hygiene and sanitation.
Intelligent Content
Intelligent Content provides a managed library of information-rich, parametric BIM objects that can be reused instead of recreated, and optimized with each successive use. A team of experts creates and quality-checks all objects, reducing model development time and enabling the rapid prototyping of designs.
STEPS
STEPS was the first solution to map people in motion, from transportation interfaces to stadium evacuation. STEPS realistically simulates pedestrian movements to test design layouts and operational plans. It enables users to understand how people will act in daily situations and in emergencies.
