Service life and sustainable design methods: a case study

Abstract

The design life of hospitals normally varies between 50 to 60 years. This paper presents a case study of a major academic hospital that reached the end of its service life only 30 years after commissioning due to a combination of unsustainable design methods and inappropriate maintenance levels. Unsustainable design methods, such as long narrow multi-floor structures resulting in excessive walking distances and ineffective flow of patients and visitors, and insufficient structural depth and height, impaired the ability of the existing structure to accommodate changing demands of a modern health care environment, and the maintainability of services, such as sanitation, steam, ventilation and air-conditioning