Healthcare refurbishment

Recent ward refurbishments: £70,000 and £80,000
Standards: HBN and HTM
Key risk: Infection control on live sites

Healthcare refurbishment covers GP surgeries, dental practices, clinics, pharmacies and hospital departments. What sets it apart is that the building almost never closes: patients are treated next door to the work, so dust, noise, water systems and fire safety all need tighter control than in an office.

Design follows national NHS guidance, and funding for GP premises has its own rules.

Brief a contractor

Typical healthcare packages

GP and dental practices: New consulting and treatment rooms, accessible toilets, reception and waiting areas, often to add capacity within the same building.
Wards and departments: Bays, side rooms, nurse bases and sanitary areas refurbished in phases with the ward decanted or partly open.
Clinical support: Decontamination rooms, treatment rooms and clean and dirty utilities, where finishes and airflow matter most.
Services and water: Ventilation, medical gases, nurse call and hot and cold water systems, with water safety a constant concern.

Reference awards, healthcare

Item	Scope	Guide cost
Ward refurbishment	Ward refurbishment at an Essex NHS hospital trust, Sep 2025 to Mar 2026	£70,000
Ward refurbishment	A second ward refurbishment at the same trust, Nov 2025 to Mar 2026	£80,000
Practice internal fit-out	Office-standard Cat B rates as a floor, plus clinical finishes and services	from £1,300 to £2,150 per m²

Award values from Contracts Finder notices; scope and floor area are not published, so treat them as a sense of scale. Clinical fit-out costs depend heavily on room types and services, and no reliable public per m² guide exists. A guide, not a quote. Build a budget in the cost plan.

Working in healthcare buildings

The national guidance

Health Building Notes (HBNs) set out best practice for the design of healthcare buildings and rooms, from primary care premises to inpatient wards. Health Technical Memoranda (HTMs) cover engineering services such as ventilation, water safety, medical gases and decontamination. NHS England publishes both. They are the starting point for any specification, and NHS commissioners will expect them to be followed where they fund the work.

Infection prevention and control

Before work starts in an occupied healthcare building, the infection prevention team normally assesses the risk and agrees controls: sealed hoarding, negative pressure where needed, dust control, cleaning regimes and routes that keep construction traffic away from patients. These controls belong in the specification and programme, not as extras discovered on site.

Water safety

Refurbishment often leaves dead legs and little-used outlets in water systems, which raise the risk of Legionella and other waterborne organisms. HTM 04-01 sets out how water systems in healthcare buildings should be designed, flushed and commissioned.

GP premises funding

In England, improvement grants and rent reimbursement for GP premises are governed by the NHS (General Medical Services Premises Costs) Directions 2024. Grant-funded work usually needs approval before it starts, and the commissioner may require a set number of quotes and an independent valuation. Talk to the commissioner early.

Where our information comes from

Cost ranges are typical figures from published UK cost guides and price guides, read November 2026, given before VAT. Firms that publish them are not named.

Practice, ward or clinic, the rooms involved and whether it stays open: that is a healthcare brief.

Brief a contractor

How the work gets done

How live-site healthcare refurbishment is usually phased.

Brief and approvals
Clinical brief, HBN and HTM requirements, funding approval and the infection control risk assessment.
Decant and protect
Services moved or closed, temporary rooms set up, sealed hoarding and dust control in place.
Works in phases
Strip-out, services, clinical finishes and fittings, one zone at a time with the rest in use.
Validate and return
Ventilation and water validated, deep clean, fire safety checks, then the space returned to clinical use.

Healthcare refurbishment questions

What standards apply to healthcare refurbishment?

NHS England's Health Building Notes for design and Health Technical Memoranda for engineering services, along with the building regulations and fire safety law.

How much does a ward refurbishment cost?

It depends entirely on scope. Two recent awards at one NHS trust were £70,000 and £80,000; larger ward schemes with new services run to seven figures.

Can the surgery stay open during the work?

Usually yes, with phasing, out-of-hours noisy work and sealed separation. It needs careful planning with the practice and an infection control risk assessment.

Are there grants for GP surgery improvements?

In England, improvement grants are available under the NHS (General Medical Services Premises Costs) Directions 2024, at the commissioner's discretion and usually with approval needed before work starts.

Who is the client under CDM?

The practice, trust or other body commissioning the work. The client duties apply in the same way as for any building.

Keep reading

M&E services
Ventilation, water and medical services.
CDM 2015 client duties
For practices and trusts.
School refurbishment
Another occupied public estate.
Office refurbishment
For admin and non-clinical space.

Brief a healthcare refurbishment contractor

Three short steps: where the building is, what the scope is, and who to speak to. Rough answers are fine; a contractor firms them up on a site visit.

Your brief stays with us until you approve the independent commercial refurbishment contractor we name for your building.

Where is the building?

Postcode of the building