Graham Capper

LIFT: 21st century health care centres in the United Kingdom

Purpose – To examine the processes used to procure and develop new primary health care premises in the United Kingdom and in particular the use of the private finance initiative and related methods.Design/methodology/approach – An in‐depth study of two local improvement finance trust schemes to procure new primary health care premises. These are contrasted against the ad‐hoc arrangements for the traditional procurement of general practice doctors surgery premises. Interviews were undertaken with key participants on both sides of the negotiations.Findings – The process can be an unequal struggle between large consortia and small, inexperienced clients that may result in a wasted opportunity to obtain the optimum design and price.Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to early use of the local improvement finance trust process and procedures; client bodies, such as primary care trusts, may benefit from the experience of earlier projects. The method of procurement will evolve and be ref...

Effectiveness of simple ventilation strategies and partitioning in mitigating the effects of passive smoking

Pubs, bars and restaurants are places where smoking policy is still left to the discretion of the manager and where smoking is often permitted. However, there is demand to take measures to eliminate or reduce the effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) to non-smoking occupants. This paper reports the results of a field study in which ETS markers and air flow patterns were monitored in a number of occupied spaces. The measurements included CO concentrations as a marker of ETS, CO2 concentrations as a general indoor air quality (IAQ) indicator and air flow measurements to estimate ventilation and infiltration rates. The findings indicate that shared-space smoking needs action beyond that of simple ventilation, segregation of occupants or simple partitioning to minimise the potentially harmful effects of ETS to both staff and customers.

Urban Road Traffic Pollution and Its Effect on Indoor Air Quality

Indoor and outdoor concentrations of various pollutants were measured in a naturally ventilated city centre office building in order to assess the effect upon indoor pollution levels of the closure of some streets in the city to road traffic. The relationships between indoor and outdoor air qualities in respect of traffic-generated pollutants were studied and the buildings relative attenuation of external pollution levels investigated. It is important to consider whether or not these external pollutants are significant in terms of their ingress into buildings and present a potential health hazard. The peak concentrations of some of the external pollutants were attenuated by the building and the internal concentrations showed a reduction of up to 30% in some periods. Data was used as input to a particle tracking dispersion model in order to present an integrated approach to monitoring and modelling pollution in the urban environment.