Oxford Brookes to Co-lead One of Seven National Projects to Shield the NHS from Extreme Heat

From research to retrofit: How the ARCHI project is heat-proofing the NHS for a warming climate.

With a staggering £13.8 billion maintenance backlog, the NHS is facing major climate challenges. As temperatures rise, the very buildings meant to heal are becoming hazards. This isn't just a matter of comfort; extreme heat is directly linked to higher morbidity and mortality rates, particularly among vulnerable groups.

While there is now a clear policy mandate for health systems to adapt to climate change, the big question remains: how do we actually do this?

The ARCHI project is one of only seven national initiatives selected for a £100,000 NIHR award. The project brings together researchers, frontline staff, and patients to co-design cost-effective upgrades that protect patients and ensure resilient care in a warming climate.The full title of the project is ARCHI: Adaptation for Resilience and Equity in Communities and Health Infrastructure. ARCHI is co-led by Professor Rajat Gupta (Oxford Brookes University) and Susie Vernon (Associate Director Sustainability at Care Without Carbon, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust), with co-applicants Professor Mike Davies and Professor Anna Mavrogianni (University College London) and Professor Shakoor Hajat (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).

The goal is to make sure these hospital upgrades actually work, save the NHS money, and, most importantly, keep people safe. Over the next 10 months, the project team will be gathering the experts, searching for solutions, listening to NHS patients and staff and targeting sites in need. 

A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Safety

The ARCHI project will also work closely with the HEARTH (National Hub on Net Zero, Health and Extreme Heat), a £7.4 million national research programme led by Oxford Brookes University that investigates the health risks of overheating and strategies for climate adaptation across buildings and infrastructure. The collaboration will enable deeper analysis and more impactful findings by integrating data, expertise, and stakeholder engagement from both initiatives.

Professor Gupta explains how the ARCHI and HEARTH projects are working together to turn scientific research into practical fixes for NHS buildings:

“The way hospital buildings are designed, managed and retrofitted has a direct impact on patient safety, recovery and staff wellbeing. As temperatures rise, poorly adapted healthcare estates can amplify heat stress, particularly for older people, those with long-term conditions and frontline staff working in demanding clinical environments.”

“Through ARCHI, we are bringing together expertise in architecture, engineering and public health to identify practical, evidence-based upgrades that make NHS buildings more resilient to extreme heat. This collaboration is closely linked with the HEARTH Research Hub, which is generating national evidence on the health risks of overheating in buildings and the solutions needed to deliver climate-resilient, low-carbon environments.”

Prof Gupta adds, "by integrating insights from both ARCHI and HEARTH, we will be able to undertake deeper analysis of building performance and health impacts, ensuring that the solutions developed for NHS hospitals are robust, scalable and grounded in the best available research. Our goal is simple but critical: to ensure that the buildings designed to care for people remain safe, comfortable and resilient in a warming climate."

Collaborating with Patients and Staff

To ensure these upgrades are practical for all, the project is hosting workshops with patients and frontline staff, specifically including often-overlooked communities. While researchers have many ideas on how to fix buildings, we often lack proof of what actually works in a busy, real-world hospital. This collaborative approach ensures that site improvements work for everyone who walks through hospital doors. 

Co-lead Susie Vernon highlights the importance of this project in bridging the gap between academic study and the daily needs of the NHS:

“NHS hospitals are already feeling the effects of climate change, and despite growing research into how we can adapt buildings, there’s little real-world evidence on implementation in hospital settings.” 

“This project will bring together insight from within the NHS with academic research on building adaptations to shape a programme that supports the NHS to prepare its hospitals for extreme heat. Engaging with staff and patients, we’re developing a programme to identify solutions that are affordable and deliverable in the context of intense frontline pressures, benefitting those most at risk of climate change impacts. This work will strengthen the NHS response to climate change and support healthier, fairer, more resilient healthcare environments.”

Not every building is the same. The ARCHI project will pinpoint the specific NHS sites where intervention is most urgent, focusing on locations where upgrades can simultaneously improve patient safety, lower energy bills, and reduce carbon emissions.

Next Steps 

The ARCHI project is the first step in helping to improve our NHS buildings. The next step is to move from planning to practice by rolling out these heat-resilient solutions across the UK and tracking their long-term impact to ensure a cooler, safer future for the entire NHS estate.