The Wuhan Research Meeting on the National Health Commission's project, 'Research on Standards for Hospital Building Renovation', was held.

In April 2024, in response to the "Notice on Public Solicitation of Undertaking Units for Health and Health Standards Projects in 2024" issued by the Office of the National Health Commission, the Green Hospital Special Committee of the China Building Energy Efficiency Association, in conjunction with relevant units, submitted the project "Research on Hospital Building Renovation Standards." In September 2024, the National Health Commission's Legal Affairs Department approved the Green Hospital Special Committee's project team to undertake the "Research on Hospital Building Renovation Standards" project, which was included in the list of standard preliminary research projects in the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in Standard Preliminary Research Projects in 2024" issued by the National Health Commission's Legal Affairs Department. On March 29, 2025, the "Wuhan Research Meeting on the National Health Commission's Project 'Research on Hospital Building Renovation Standards'" organized by the Green Hospital Special Committee of the China Building Energy Efficiency Association ("Green Hospital Special Committee") was held at the Union Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (hereinafter referred to as "Wuhan Union Hospital"). The meeting brought together more than 40 expert representatives from hospitals, public institutions, medical institutions in research institutes, universities, design institutes, and enterprises. Through a combination of online and offline methods, the meeting conducted discussions around the four core issues of safety assurance, functional upgrades, green and low-carbon development, and environmental improvement in hospital building renovations, offering suggestions for building a scientific and practical hospital building renovation standard system. The meeting was chaired by Zhu Bin, vice chairman and secretary-general of the Green Hospital Special Committee of the China Building Energy Efficiency Association.

Leader's Speech Ji Xiangnian, vice president of Union Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, expressed gratitude for the trust of the Green Hospital Special Committee in his speech. He emphasized that under the background of the "Healthy China 2030" planning outline, carrying out research on hospital building renovation standards is of great significance. He pointed out that the construction of modern hospitals needs to comprehensively consider relevant factors such as building facilities, electromechanical equipment, and operation and maintenance management, and it is particularly important to attach importance to the requirements of green and low-carbon development. He expressed his expectation that the experts attending the meeting would conduct in-depth exchanges and jointly promote the overall improvement of hospital building quality. Zhu Bin, vice chairman and secretary-general of the Green Hospital Special Committee, mentioned that this Wuhan research meeting is the second special seminar of the "Research on Hospital Building Renovation Standards" project following the Beijing launch meeting (click on the blue text on the left to view the specific content), and will focus on discussing renovations related to hospital building safety assurance, including fire safety, structural safety, hospital infection control, safety protection, resilient disaster prevention, equipment safety, and biosecurity, and will conduct on-site research on hospital safety assurance renovations. The meeting invited experts and scholars from more than 10 medical institutions including Union Hospital and Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, as well as public institutions and research institutes such as Tsinghua University. The choice of Wuhan as the meeting's research location is based on its rich practical experience in epidemic prevention and control. He hopes that through this research meeting, the actual difficulties and needs in the process of hospital building renovation can be comprehensively collected, and opinions and suggestions from all parties on standard formulation can be widely solicited, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent development of scientific and practical industry standards. Yi Hui, director of Huazhong University of Science and Technology's Union Hospital, stated in his speech that Wuhan Union Hospital feels honored to host this important research meeting and warmly welcomes the attending experts. He pointed out that as a century-old hospital with a history of 159 years, the Union Hospital building complex spans different periods from the 1960s to 2020, and the differences in standards and concepts between old and new buildings have brought many challenges to the renovation work. Yi Hui highly affirmed the value of the "Research on Hospital Building Renovation Standards" project, believing that its results will effectively solve the problem of standard unification in hospital renovation. Wuhan Union Hospital is willing to share its experience in ward renovation and looks forward to in-depth exchanges with experts to jointly promote the substantive progress of the project. Liu Li, associate professor/specially appointed researcher at Tsinghua University, pointed out that Wuhan's anti-epidemic experience shows that renovations need to take into account both functional upgrades and epidemic prevention needs. The high cost issue of the WHO hospital ventilation standard, in which his team participated, was exposed in practice, such as the operating cost of Leishenshan Hospital reaching three times the conventional level, suggesting the need to balance ventilation effect and economy. Professor Liu emphasized that hospital building renovations should shift from medical needs-oriented to medical process results-oriented, reflecting clinical needs in building space. Renovation standards should also include resilient needs such as fire protection and earthquake resistance, and it is suggested to integrate anti-epidemic practical experience to formulate feasible plans that ensure safety.
Speech Session Chen Jiaran, deputy director of the Technical Service Department of the Green Hospital Special Committee, systematically introduced the overall framework and research value of the "Research on Hospital Building Renovation Standards" project. Based on the actual needs of current hospital building renovation, this project analyzes domestic and foreign standards, studies key renovation issues, and aims to establish a scientific and standardized hospital building renovation standard system. The project team has formulated professional division of labor and research plans, and the results will be used for industry standard formulation. The meeting specially invited attending experts to participate in questionnaire surveys, and the collected excellent renovation cases and advanced technological products will be selected and included in the Green Hospital Special Committee's case and product resource library to provide practical samples for the innovative development of the industry. Fu Yuqi, assistant researcher at Tsinghua University, systematically introduced the "Research and Application of Key Technologies for Medical Buildings." The research points out that current medical building renovations face the problem of balancing safety assurance (such as hospital infection control, fire protection, and biological safety) and universality (such as energy efficiency). Medical building renovations need to balance safety performance and cost. The requirement in the World Health Organization (WFO)'s "Guidelines for Controlling Infectious Diseases through Natural Ventilation in Hospitals" for a minimum per capita fresh air volume of no less than 160 liters/second in isolation wards under natural ventilation exposed high energy consumption issues during the epidemic. The research suggests: 1) Strengthen multi-hazard resilient design (earthquake resistance, emergency power supply); 2) Optimize the cost-effectiveness of ventilation systems; 3) Promote the application of key technologies such as multi-functional wards. In the future, it is necessary to establish new standards that take into account safety, economy, and emergency capabilities. This requires interdisciplinary cooperation, integration of practical experience, and the formation of standardized, replicable solutions. Cheng Peng, director of Huazhong University of Science and Technology's Union Hospital, introduced the renovation experience of Wuhan Union Hospital, covering project background, design optimization, renovation content, project progress, and expected results. In response to problems such as aging facilities and safety hazards, the renovation content includes barrier-free facilities, structural reinforcement, exterior wall renovation, and upgrades to ventilation and air conditioning systems, focusing on energy saving, environmental protection, and humanized design. Through material upgrades, lighting optimization, and the addition of safety facilities, the patient medical experience and hospital service quality have been significantly improved. Huang Xiaokang, director of the Logistics Support Department of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, shared the practical experience of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University from three aspects: policy background, application principles, and renovation plans. The hospital adheres to the principles of "patient-centered, safety-based, medical process-oriented, comprehensive consideration, moderate preemption, and green environmental protection", implementing a three-in-one plan of building function restructuring, informationization upgrades, and supporting facility renovations. Specific measures include optimizing the number of beds in the internal medicine building, installing elevators, restructuring the outpatient building's subject clusters, constructing a smart hospital platform, renovating the rainwater and sewage separation system, and upgrading the smart fire protection and security system. Wen Yongjian, deputy chief engineer of CITIC Architectural Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd., stated that hospital building renovation is a comprehensive and systematic project that requires the coordination of functional optimization, construction organization, and standard adaptation. Practical cases show that renovations are generally divided into three categories: functional conversion focuses on plane optimization and pipeline updates; ward optimization focuses on improving the inpatient environment; partial adjustments mainly solve specific functional needs. The three major challenges facing renovations are: coordination of operation and construction, balancing differences between old and new standards, and coping with technical complexity. Successful experiences show that it is necessary to establish a multi-party cooperation mechanism, adopt a phased implementation plan, and under the premise of ensuring medical order, achieve a dual improvement of medical functions and building efficiency through flexible design.

Experts in attendance thoroughly discussed the pain points and difficulties in hospital building renovations, pointing out the urgent need to establish a specialized renovation standard system. The key is to resolve three core contradictions: the connection between old and new standards; the conflict between renovation needs and funding limitations; and the adaptability of medical functional needs to current building codes. Experts emphasized that existing standards are difficult to apply to renovation projects, especially the conflict in fire protection and seismic requirements for older buildings. They suggested promoting a tiered renovation standard to avoid a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Regarding the operation and maintenance of hospitals during renovations, experts suggested introducing prefabricated and other rapid construction technologies, and establishing a full-process standard system covering risk assessment, implementation control, and effectiveness evaluation. Particular emphasis was placed on the special nature of medical facilities: prioritizing the safety of life support systems, developing energy efficiency plans based on actual equipment operating data, and promoting modular design in high-frequency renovation areas to comprehensively improve renovation efficiency.
During the meeting, the expert group conducted a field investigation of the renovation project of the Department of Internal Medicine building at Wuhan Union Hospital. This project, through structural reinforcement, ward renovation, elderly-friendly design, and HVAC system upgrades, significantly improved building safety and energy efficiency while ensuring medical functionality, providing a valuable reference for similar renovations. The successful holding of this research meeting provided rich practical references and professional suggestions for the research on hospital building renovation standards. Through in-depth exchanges with participating experts, the meeting clarified the direction and key points of the construction of the hospital building renovation standard system, laying a solid foundation for promoting the standardized and scientific development of hospital building renovations. Next, the task force will organize these suggestions, focusing on the research and development of core content related to safety protection and tiered renovation, and strengthening inter-departmental coordination to ensure the feasibility of the standards and provide strong support for hospital construction and development. Experts from participating units such as Huazhong University of Science and Technology Tongji Medical College Affiliated Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Tongji Medical College Affiliated Tongji Hospital, Wuhan University Zhongnan Hospital, Deyang People's Hospital, Tsinghua University, China Construction International Medical Industry Development Co., Ltd., Zhuhai Gree Electric Appliances Co., Ltd., Wuxi Feelair Air Quality Technology Co., Ltd., and Shandong Baiqing Puhui Technology Co., Ltd., participated in the meeting.
Next, the specialized committee will further develop functional upgrades, green and low-carbon initiatives, and environmental improvements. The committee will organize participating units to conduct field research in western and southern China, deepening data collection and analysis. (Source: China Building Energy Efficiency Association Green Hospital Specialized Committee)

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