Building for a better hospital

Recent deregulation of laws on hospital real estate in the Netherlands implies that healthcare institutions have more opportunities to make independent accommodation choices, but at the same time have themselves become responsible for the risks associated with the investment. In addition, accommodation costs have become an integral part of the costs of healthcare. This sheds new light on the alignment between the organisation of healthcare and accommodation: care institutions themselves bear the risk of recouping their investment in real estate and high accommodation costs lead to higher rates for healthcare compared to competing institutions.

In this thesis, the ideas and concepts of Corporate Real Estate Management 
(CREM) are examined in terms of the contribution they could make to the process
of accommodation decision by using recent cases in Dutch hospitals. CREM can be defined as the management of the real estate portfolio of a corporation by aligning the portfolio and services with the needs of the core business in order to obtain maximum added value for the business and an optimal contribution to the overall performance of the organisation. This definition assumes that accommodation can add value to the organisation and contribute to its overall achievement. Elaborating on the added value of real estate in addition to quantifying these added values and making them applicable to hospital real estate management is therefore central to this study. The added values determine the transition between the different phases in the cycle of the initiation, design, construction and occupancy of the accommodation. In addition, the added value of real estate functions as a common language between the disciplines involved in the design and construction of hospital accommodation, such as the healthcare institution, healthcare manager, real estate manager and architect.