The NHS estate is entering a period of significant opportunity. The Government’s 10 Year Capital Plan provides greater certainty for investment in healthcare infrastructure, while the challenge remains to ensure progress reaches both new developments and the buildings delivering care today.
Against this backdrop, Healthcare Estates, taking place on 13–14 October at Manchester Central, brings the sector together to share what works, explore practical solutions and build the relationships needed to turn investment into progress.
This year’s theme, ‘Mind the Gap: Are We Heading Towards a Two-Tier Estate?’, recognises the different starting points across the NHS. While new hospitals can incorporate intelligent systems, low-carbon technologies and modern engineering standards from the outset, much of the existing estate faces challenging infrastructure with maintenance pressures. The estimated cost of eradicating backlog maintenance now stands at £15.9bn.
Sessions in the Conference look beyond the theory to the realities of working in healthcare environments. For building services engineers, facilities managers, designers and researchers, the Conference provides an opportunity to explore these challenges in depth. Five specialist streams cover:
- Digital Technology & Innovation
- Medical & Healthcare Engineering
- Estates & Facilities Services
- Governance, Assurance & Compliance
- Strategic Health & Social Care Planning
Building services feature throughout, with discussions spanning ventilation, electrical resilience, energy performance, water safety, digital systems and decarbonisation. Sessions examine the practicalities of retrofit, the Net Zero Hospital Standard, intelligent hospitals and improving digital maturity across existing estates. The focus is firmly on experience that can be taken back and applied.
Learning continues in the Exhibition, where there are more than 250 suppliers and industry associations to explore. Discover products, technologies and specialist expertise covering engineering, HVAC, energy, digital technology, facilities management, water safety, infection prevention, design and construction. Six free-to-attend Exhibition Theatres add further technical presentations and case studies.
For engineers investigating a particular problem or facilities teams planning future investment, the Exhibition provides something equally valuable: the chance to discuss a challenge face-to-face, compare approaches, see technologies in action and meet suppliers with relevant healthcare experience.
Just as important are the conversations that happen around the formal programme.
Healthcare Estates creates time and space for knowledge exchange. NHS estates teams, engineers, academics, consultants, contractors and specialist suppliers come together to compare approaches, share lessons learned and explore solutions to challenges many organisations have in common.
The dedicated Design & Construction Networking Area offers a space for those involved in planning and project delivery to continue discussions.
Ultimately the value of Healthcare Estates lies in this combination: technical learning, practical solutions and the opportunity to spend meaningful time with the people tackling the same challenges.
It is an opportunity not only to keep pace with a changing healthcare estate, but to contribute knowledge and experience to the conversations shaping what comes next.
No single solution will transform an estate as diverse as the NHS, but sharing what works, learning from what has already been tried and bringing engineering expertise into the conversation can help investment go further.
Healthcare Estates 2026 | 13–14 October | Manchester Central Conference. Exhibition. Awards.