ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Apparently these were the last words of Oscar Wilde. He wasn't in a modern British hospital, but it's fair to say that if he had been, the décor could have been just as effective in finishing him off as it was in his cheap Parisian hotel.

ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½s are more than just bricks and mortar. They create environments that affect how people live and work – and die. People are finally waking up to the fact that the way a building is put together can change the way children behave in schools, for example, or speed up healing in hospitals.

Cost and functionality have been the supreme values in hospital construction since the NHS was established. But now a growing body of evidence supports what most generations would have taken for granted: we heal better if we are happy. And nobody feels happy in dim, smelly, noisy, crowded places.

The NHS has been undergoing a design renaissance, and the stakes are being raised in both PFI and in Procure21. It's not just for architects, either. The whole supply chain will need to open their minds to holistic hospital design if they want to get along in this sector (see our cover story on page 12).

We need a whole new breed of construction professionals to run these jobs. It's no longer good enough to be an excellent technician and organiser. Tomorrow's managers will need the intellect to think strategically and communicate with ease across the whole built environment team.

Where will we find this new breed? We have to train them. Turn to page 10 for some thoughts on how that might happen.