The impact of existing buildings, however, has been left unattended.

Wood confirms that by turning the upper floor, outpatient windows inward toward the courtyard, Bryden Wood were able to create ‘much better acoustic and views’ for those rooms.‘We made the building an experience that was unaffected by surroundings…major roads and other buildings that we had privacy issues with onsite.

We turned the section of the building, so it’s quite introspective…instead of looking out, or typically out, to the surrounding environment, which is compromised.’ Additionally, he comments that the removal of the ‘domesticity’ of these windows aids with providing the building’s external aesthetic that ‘higher, almost iconic value,’ it manages to achieve.. It’s all part of Circle’s larger focus on personal experience, which Highton also discusses with respect to the patient bedrooms.These he describes as being ‘of a very good size...not too big… So they’re not cold and very clinical,’ he says, before highlighting that because the patients all have their own individual rooms, ‘there is much more space.’ Each in-patient room also contains a couch able to double up as a bed for guests if they want it overnight.It’s all been well considered, in other words, with practicality and comfort being the priorities..

This ongoing sense of space, light and comfort lend themselves to what is undeniably a positive hospital experience for staff, with the feeling manifesting in a variety of ways.. Sharon Matchey, Circle’s Admin Lead, works alongside Adam Chivers on the admin floor and comments on the department’s open plan structure, ‘If you’re having a bad day the team lift you,’ she says.‘We all keep an eye on each other.’.

‘It’s a bit of a team spirit, really,’ confirms Adam.. Paul Highton is located nearby with other key members of the Circle Team, including the Head of Operations and the Hospital Director.

‘What I really like is that there’s no segregation.’ he says.This decrease in operational carbon will continue over time with things like the decarbonisation of the electricity grid.

However, the result is that embodied carbon in buildings, due to material usage and the amount of carbon which is integral to the building itself, becomes a larger proportion of the overall carbon emitted from the building across its lifespan.As such, embodied carbon is increasingly playing a much bigger role in our day-to-day focus on sustainability as architects and designers..

Embodied carbon varies based on the building typology.For example, in residential architecture, we might see a ratio of one third embodied carbon to two thirds operational carbon across a building’s lifespan.