It’s been a week or two and the dust has settled on another exciting awards ceremony, following the conclusion of the 2017 Building Better Healthcare Awards at The Brewery in central London.
Despite our experience and breadth of work in the healthcare sector, Virtus Consult attended as a sponsor rather than a shortlisted contestant, sharing a table with AFL Architects – one of the UK’s leading architecture practices with a proven track record of delivering high quality buildings all around the world.
At a time when the pressures of our workload ensured we had to put clients ahead of gongs, we felt it important to show our support for the sector and in particular the talented businesses affecting significant change with their outstanding contributions.
In front of over 600 industry professionals, awards were presented to winners in 22 categories that recognised the buildings, people, products and processes that make the healthcare sector such an exciting and innovative sector to work in.
Virtus Consult sponsored the award for Best Example of Efficiencies in the Estates and Facilities Management section. The winner was EMS Healthcare, who has designed a mobile eye facility, in conjunction with Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation, to offer vision saving treatment closer to patient’s homes.
An entry highly commended by the judges was that of Stanburys, who delivered estate rationalisation and FM efficiencies at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Of course, the irony that Virtus Consult, a consultancy very much grounded in static infrastructure projects was sponsoring an award won by a mobile entry was not lost on us, or those on our table!
It was an interesting and satisfying day, seeing so much talent and innovation recognised and rewarded in this way.
The Building Better Healthcare Awards, also proved a good opportunity to catch up with a few contacts in what remains a very important sector for Virtus Consult and one where our healthcare sector experience can make a very real difference to the effective and efficient delivery of projects, large and small.
Jan Ponsford
