Like many, the AFL team attended and exhibited at the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management (IHEEM) conference last week, held in our home city of Manchester. After a few years of having either online or hybrid events, it was great to be - literally - back in the room, with the buzz and excitement that an ‘in real life’ event creates.
And it seemed that it wasn’t just us who were pleased to get back to a sense of normality with many familiar and new faces to meet and greet from across the healthcare sector – be it from Trusts, consultants, contractors or other stakeholders. It was the first year we had held a IHEEM networking event, and we thought in the spirit of the healthcare sector, a networking breakfast would set everyone up for the day so thank you for all of those who attended and made it such a huge success.
But of course, these events are not just about seeing colleagues, old and new, but about discussing innovation, about reviewing best practice and about discussing how we can support those managing and running healthcare estates to meet their objectives – be those sustainable ones in meeting their carbon zero ambitions and implementing their Green Plans, social value and community focused ones, health and safety related ones or plans to maintain and improve their estates. And we are delighted that we had many of these conversations too – with those who visited us at the stand and who we saw across the two days.
We look forward to continuing these conversations post IHEEM and continuing to talk about how we can help with these challenges and opportunities through architectural, design led solutions.
