The Greener NHS Estate: Retrofitting, Biodiversity, and Smart Infrastructure

Decarbonising an ageing NHS estate isn't a technology problem — it's a funding problem. This panel cuts through the complexity of public decarbonisation schemes and private green finance to give estates leaders a clear, practical view of how to actually pay for the heat pumps, ventilation, and insulation upgrades the Net Zero master plan demands.

• Where public decarbonisation funds are genuinely accessible — and where the application process trips Trusts up
• How a major acute Trust is sequencing retrofit priorities across a sprawling, ageing estate
• What green finance options exist beyond public funding, and how to make the business case for them
• Balancing capital constraints against the long-term cost of inaction on ageing infrastructure

Investment, resourcefulness, and long-term thinking define this conversation. Join us to explore how the NHS can fund a greener estate without letting cost become the barrier to progress.

New legal requirements for Biodiversity Net Gain are reshaping how NHS buildings get designed — and the best estates leaders are discovering that green space isn't just a compliance box, it's a therapeutic asset. This panel explores how biodiversity law, therapeutic design, and ecological expertise can combine to create healthcare environments that heal on more than one level.

• What Biodiversity Net Gain legislation actually requires of new NHS builds and extensions
• How therapeutic architecture is turning legal obligation into genuine patient and community benefit
• Designing mental health facilities where green space is core to the clinical model, not an add-on
• Natural England's perspective on what "good" biodiversity delivery looks like in a healthcare context

Nature, healing, and compliance come together in this session. Join us to explore how the NHS can turn a legal requirement into spaces that genuinely support recovery.

Hospitals run around the clock, but not every corridor, office, and non-clinical zone needs to. This panel examines how ambient sensors and smart building analytics are letting NHS estates dynamically manage energy use — cutting waste without ever putting clinical operations at risk.

• How IoT sensor networks are giving estates teams real-time visibility into where energy is actually being used
• What's achievable in non-clinical zones without compromising safety-critical clinical environments
• A major city hospital group's experience implementing smart energy controls at scale
• Where technology providers see the next wave of smart estate innovation heading

Precision, intelligence, and efficiency run through this whole discussion. Join us to explore how data can help the NHS estate work smarter, not just harder, on the road to Net Zero.

Moving ambulance fleets away from diesel sounds simple in principle — until you're the one responsible for keeping a 999 response vehicle charged and ready around the clock. This panel gets into the operational reality of fleet electrification, bringing together national fleet strategy, frontline ambulance service experience, and charging infrastructure expertise.

• The rapid-charging challenge: what it actually takes to keep an EV ambulance fleet operationally ready
• Lessons from a regional Ambulance Service already navigating the diesel-to-electric transition
• How charging infrastructure providers are adapting their networks to meet emergency service demands
• What AACE sees as the biggest national barriers to fleet electrification at scale

Readiness, reliability, and reinvention are at the centre of this conversation. Join us to explore how the NHS can keep its emergency fleet moving while leaving diesel behind for good.