Reimagining healthcare spaces: how South Walks House is shaping a smarter NHS estate

In today’s healthcare landscape, the challenge isn’t always about building new hospitals, it’s about rethinking how existing spaces can work harder for patients, clinicians, and the wider community.

Across the NHS estate, there’s growing recognition that adaptability and location can often deliver more value than size or scale. That’s precisely the thinking behind the transformation of South Walks House in Dorchester.

Working with Dorset County Hospital, NHS Dorset CCG, and local partners, Tilbury Douglas helped reimagine a town-centre office building into a fully functioning Outpatient Assessment Centre, creating new clinical capacity at pace, while unlocking long-term value from the existing built environment.

This project could act as a blueprint for how thoughtful design and delivery can help the NHS meet immediate demand pressures while building towards a more agile, integrated estate for the future.

The opportunity in existing assets

When the team looked to expand outpatient and diagnostic capacity, the question wasn’t “where can we build?” but “what can we repurpose?”

South Walks House, a purpose-built office block in the heart of Dorchester, offered a unique opportunity:

• Location – close to public transport and town-centre amenities, improving accessibility for patients
• Flexibility – open floorplates suitable for reconfiguration into clinical zones
• Sustainability – reusing an existing structure instead of building new, aligning with the NHS Net Zero agenda

Adaptive reuse can be a powerful lever for healthcare transformation, as it brings services closer to communities and can relieve pressure on acute hospital sites, usually faster and more sustainably than through new builds.

Delivering transformation within constraints

Working within a conservation area, we had to respect the character of the building while introducing complex clinical infrastructure. Our teams converted two floors into clinical accommodation, integrating new M&E systems without altering the external façade.

To achieve this, we designed and installed a bespoke plantroom within the basement car park, threading ductwork and services vertically through the building via new steel-supported voids. This required precision engineering, tight sequencing, and constant coordination, all while maintaining access to the remaining occupied areas.

But the technical challenge was just one part of the story. The real success lay in collaboration between the client, design partners, clinicians, and our supply chain to achieve transformation without disruption. That shared purpose enabled delivery of a high-quality healthcare facility on time, within budget, and with minimal community impact.

People, place, and purpose

Projects like South Walks House show how the built environment can act as an enabler of change. The new Outpatient Assessment Centre now delivers high-volume, low-complexity procedures outside the acute hospital, freeing space for emergency and specialist care.

Equally important, its location in the town centre enhances patient experience, removing the barriers of travel and parking often associated with hospital visits. It is healthcare designed around people, not infrastructure.

And our commitment didn’t end at the site boundary. Through our Social Value Action Plan, we delivered a measurable community return of £866,000, including over £750,000 spent with local businesses, 167 hours of education and careers outreach, and 500+ training weeks for apprentices and young people.

This holistic approach, combining technical excellence with social and environmental impact, is how we believe construction can become a true partner in public service delivery.

Lessons for the future NHS estate

The South Walks House project encapsulates a key lesson: the future of healthcare isn’t only about new hospitals; it’s about smarter estates. By re-engineering under-used assets, we can expand capacity quickly, reduce carbon impact, and bring care closer to communities.

Across the South West and beyond, we’re seeing increasing demand for solutions that deliver fast, safe, sustainable transformation of complex public-sector buildings.

A collaborative vision

I’m incredibly proud of what the South Walks House team achieved alongside Dorset County Hospital, NHS Dorset, Dorset HealthCare, Live Well Dorset, and Active Dorset, supported by our partners ADP Architecture, Hoare Lea, Calcinotto Associates, and Gleeds.

Together, we’ve demonstrated how construction, healthcare, and community outcomes can align to deliver more than the sum of their parts. It’s a tangible example of the future NHS estate: integrated, efficient, sustainable, and rooted in place.