IBI Appointed on NHS Healthy Towns Initiative
International design and technology firm, IBI Group has been appointed as specialist advisors in support of the NHS England Healthy New Towns programme. Working in collaboration with ‘World Health Organization Collaborating Centre’ at the University of the West of England (UWE), sustainability consultant Greengage, and wellness consultant Anni Hood, the role will be to integrate Evidence Based Design (EBD) approaches into the proposals formulated by the teams selected as NHS Healthy New Towns; ultimately promoting community wellbeing.
Launched in March 2016 in response to the NHS Five Year Forward View, the programme sets out to rethink how we live, how health and care services can be delivered, and takes an ambitious look at improving health through the built environment. The NHS has identified ten demonstrator cities as a testbed for this ambitious initiative, potentially impacting 76,000 homes, over 200,000 people, and the supporting community infrastructure.
IBI Director, Mario Bozzo added: “It is fantastic that NHS England is working towards shaping the future wellbeing of our towns and cities. We are very excited to be part of this process and share our inter-disciplinary cross-sector knowledge to proactively remediate the health and care challenges of tomorrow.
Expert support and advice provided by IBI Group will include: Health and Public Service Strategy; Travel and Transport; Digital Smart Cities; Behavioural Insights; and Inclusive Design and Dementia.
The launch meeting for the expert support package for the Healthy New Towns programme was held in July. IBI Group and their partners have now commenced engagement with each of the Healthy New Towns to further develop their proposals before the end of the year.
About NHS England Healthy New Towns
NHS England is working with ten housing developments to shape the health of communities, and to rethink how health and care services can be delivered. This programme offers a golden opportunity to radically rethink how we live – and takes an ambitious look at improving health through the built environment.
The ten Healthy New Towns demonstrator sites include:
- Whitehill and Bordon, Hampshire – 3,350 new homes on a former army barracks.
- Cranbrook, Devon – 8,000 new residential units.
- Darlington – 2,500 residential units across three linked sites in the Eastern Growth Zone.
- Barking Riverside – 10,800 residential units on London’s largest brownfield site.
- Whyndyke Farm in Fylde, Lancashire – 1,400 residential units.
- Halton Lea, Runcorn – 800 residential units.
- Bicester, Oxon – 393 houses in the Elmsbrook project, part of 13,000 new homes planned
- Northstowe, Cambridgeshire – 10,000 homes on former military land.
- Ebbsfleet Garden City, Kent – up to 15,000 new homes in the first garden city for 100 years
- Barton Park, Oxford – 885 residential units.
