Circular Healthcare Environments applies circular-building principles to healthcare facilities, where adaptability, continuity of service, hygiene requirements and long asset lives create particular design challenges. The work began with the Joseph Bracops Hospital case and now connects to the wider CARING NATURE programme.

The hospital research evaluates buildings across their whole life cycle, considering embodied impacts, adaptability and the capacity to recover components and materials. A reversible-building-design protocol is used to examine how spatial systems and construction assemblies can change over time without unnecessary demolition or loss of value. Related literature work assesses how design-support models account for context-specific factors that determine whether adaptability is achievable in practice.

By bringing together circular construction, healthcare operations and life-cycle assessment, the project expands the meaning of urban metabolism from city-level flows to institutional building stocks. It supports decision-making that balances environmental performance with care quality, safety, operational resilience and long-term financial considerations.