Training academy named healthiest workplace in new award scheme
The inaugural design awards of the Healthy City Design Congress have given a state-of-the art facility for healthcare professionals, an office-cum-factory and an architect’s studio top marks for wellbeing
A training academy in the north-east of England that aims to improve the wellbeing of healthcare workers has been named as the 2024 winner of a new design award scheme launched to identify and celebrate the world’s healthiest workplaces.
The inaugural Healthy City Design Awards 2024 included a special category focused on workplace design projects, supported by WORKTECH Academy.
Northumbria Health and Care Academy, commissioned by Assura plc with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, took first prize. An 8,000 sq metre facility that provides a centre of training excellence for nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals, the project was designed by P+HS Architects and constructed by Meldrum Group.
Image of Northumberland Health and Care Academy interior
Feeling of calm
State-of-the-art educational resources include a simulation ward, immersive suite, and flexible classrooms equipped with video conferencing. The Academy incorporates elements that promote wellbeing, such as large windows offering views of the surrounding landscape and a nature walking trail, and a calming, honeycomb-inspired interior palette to evoke a feeling of calm.
Two highly commended projects also received awards from a panel of judges chaired by WORKTECH Academy chairman Jeremy Myerson: Intermain in Sydney by BVN Architecture; and the new Hawkins/Brown London studio designed by the architects for their own use.
Image of the Hawkins/Brown London Studio
For Intermain, one of Australia’s leading socially responsible builders, BVN has skilfully integrated a vibrant office space with the factory. The new Hawkins Brown Studio places an emphasis on creativity, flexibility, sustainability and wellbeing across three floors of a 1970s building.
Range of design principles
The criteria for entry to the healthy workplace award called for projects that should ‘advance the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the workforce by applying a range of design principles and strategies, such as: fostering a positive sense of community and belonging; bringing light and nature into the workplace; implementing more flexible ways of working; improving ergonomics; encouraging active workstyles; and creating greater comfort.’
Image of Intermain in Sydney by BVN Architecture
Academy director Jeremy Myerson comments: ‘Considering it was first year of this award, we had a great field to choose from. Northumbria Health and Care Academy won because of the comprehensive way in which workforce wellbeing was considered, incorporating so many angles.’
Street experience
There were also some outstanding winners in other categories of the Healthy City Design Awards 2024. Liverpool Baltic Station, designed and planned by Mott MacDonald and Owen Ellis Architects, won in the healthy transport and mobility category. Great Ormond Street and Queen Square, designed by LDA Design, won in the healthy placemaking for community impact category. Best design research project for healthy cities was awarded to Katie Gaudion and Dan Philips for their work on how neurodivergent people experience city streets.
See the full list of winners here.
The new awards scheme is linked to the annual Health City Design Congress, which this year took place in Liverpool at the Royal College of Physicians on 15-16 October 2024. WORKTECH Academy is a partner in the event. The 2025 Healthy City Design Congress will take place in Salford, Greater Manchester.
