New University Hospital Monklands marks an exciting step for NHS Lanarkshire, with the potential to significantly transform how healthcare is delivered across Scotland and the UK. Shaped by digitalisation and net zero, the Health Board aims to deliver a forward-looking clinical model, with patient care and staff wellbeing being central to the planning and redesign process.

Client

  • NHS Lanarkshire and Currie & Brown

Architect

  • Keppie Design

Project Status

  • Expected completion: 2031

Location

  • Airdrie, Scotland

The new state-of-the-art hospital will be relocated and built at Wester Moffat, replacing the previous 1970s campus. This will feature essential specialist departments, including an emergency department, endoscopy, infectious diseases, critical care, renal services, radiotherapy, imaging and outpatient services.

With significant expertise in healthcare projects and digital solutions, our multi-disciplinary team was appointed by Currie & Brown as the Full Design Team Partner to help the Health Board achieve their pioneering vision. We’re providing expertise across more than 11 disciplines, including but not limited to structural and facade engineering, Building Information Modelling (BIM) and smart places.

This is a first-of-its-kind facility, with the potential to reshape how healthcare is delivered nationwide. It gives our clinical teams a modern, purpose-built environment to provide the best possible care to patients. WSP brings deep expertise in delivering complex hospital projects and we’re proud to be working side by side to bring this transformative vision to life.

Key achievements

Beds provided, an increase of 74 beds compared to the previous facility
485
Device types will be connected across 35 hospital systems
250+
Use cases created to define how the digital twin will be used to meet healthcare needs
~68

A design built around its users

The hospital’s design is shaped by the ‘Village’ concept, an approach that brings care closer to people by creating warm, human-scale spaces that feel familiar and connected. Departments will sit side by side to streamline care and reduce travel for patients and staff.

At its heart is a central public street, a dynamic spine that links each district through three open ‘civic spaces’. These corridors will act as places for people to pause, meet and recharge. Additionally, the campus’ garden courtyard and natural light-rich spaces will create a calming ‘green lung’, supporting wellbeing and encouraging collaboration across teams.

Creating a digitally empowered hospital

As part of a plan to build Scotland’s first fully digital hospital, our team will be implementing three distinct and interconnected digital twins at New University Hospital Monklands – a digital counterpart (or twin) of the hospital with all physical and process elements represented as data. Each twin will focus on a different layer of performance, including facilities, clinical processes and patient care.

This approach harnesses cutting-edge technology and real-time data to transform hospital management, streamline clinical workflows, deliver safe and high-quality care and elevate patient outcomes fit for current and future needs.

Paul Langer, Technical Director – Building Technology Systems at WSP UK and Ireland, says:

“By integrating data from various systems into a single platform, these digital twins will provide real-time insights and predictive analytics. This empowers healthcare professionals to make quick, impactful decisions. This groundbreaking project marks the beginning of a new era in digital healthcare, enhancing asset management, clinical operations and patient experience.”

Embedding fire safety from the outset

Following the launch of the Building Safety Act 2022, fire safety has become a critical part of early-stage design in the UK. Yet too often, compliance checks are delayed until construction – adding risk, cost and complexity for clients and contractors.

We’re changing that. Our specialists have developed a digital-first firestopping approach that combines digital tool applications with a set of “Golden Rules” to identify gaps early, which is being applied on this project.

As part of this, we utilised our advanced visualisation tool to quickly assess potential firestopping issues in fire seals in walls and floors across 10 zones. This project data was then captured and presented in an interactive 3D model, allowing project teams to easily understand and determine where any non-compliant firestopping details sat, supporting faster, more informed decision-making.

Benjamin O’Connor, Associate, Digital Services at WSP in the UK and Ireland, says:

“We used our unique visualisation tool to turn thousands of firestopping data points into a clear, interactive format, showing where potential issues could arise and the level of severity. This means teams can proactively respond to problems, understand the impact and know exactly where to prioritise rework.”

This innovative digital approach helps reduce risk, improve buildability and ensure firestopping measures meet current regulations – while accurately documenting this information to support streamlined asset and facility management later down the track.

This industry-leading process highlights how a multidisciplinary approach can be combined with technology to drive data-driven compliance with building regulations, while de-risking projects to enhance programme surety.

Streamlining document management

We used a structured digital process to align design models and spot clashes between building components, improving how the design is built and maintained. Alongside this, our specialists provided information management advisory, authoring BIM documentation in line with ISO 19650 standards and best practices.

Advanced cloud hosting was utilised to streamline collaboration and ensure clear lines of communication between project teams as the project has progressed. This included online workshops to ensure various stakeholder groups could provide feedback. This approach facilitated a carefully coordinated design, which will help optimise the construction schedule and further enhance programme surety.

Images are courtesy of Keppie Design and NHS Lanarkshire.

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