Design Director

The opportunity

A major NHS hospital programme is appointing a Design Director to lead the design function from feasibility through to completion. This is a multi-disciplinary healthcare build in excess of £1 billion, delivered under a collaborative framework with significant clinical stakeholder involvement.

The Design Director will own the technical integrity of the scheme. That means holding the design team to account, integrating clinical requirements into a coherent and buildable design, and protecting the programme from the kind of late-stage design risk that causes cost and time overruns on large hospital schemes.

This role sits at the intersection of architecture, engineering, clinical planning, and construction. The successful candidate will have done this before, on a hospital scheme of comparable scale and complexity, and will bring the judgement that only comes from having lived through the full lifecycle of a major healthcare project.

Core responsibilities

• Lead the design function across all RIBA stages, from early concept through to technical design, construction support, and handover.

• Act as the single point of design accountability to the Project Director and the client, taking ownership of technical quality, coordination, and compliance.

• Integrate clinical requirements into the design, working closely with clinical planners, trust estates, and end user groups to ensure the building supports safe, efficient, and future-proof patient care.

• Manage the external design team, including architects, structural engineers, MEP consultants, and specialist healthcare advisors. Set the standard for design quality, coordination, and responsiveness.

• Ensure full compliance with Health Technical Memoranda (HTMs), Health Building Notes (HBNs), HBN 00 series, HTM 08 series, infection prevention and control standards, and the full NHS technical standards framework.

• Drive design coordination through BIM, with robust clash detection, model federation protocols, and a clear strategy for information exchange through the project lifecycle.

• Manage design risk, change control, and value engineering. Protect clinical outcomes and design intent while delivering against cost and programme targets.

• Lead stakeholder engagement with the NHS trust, clinical teams, the Department of Health and Social Care, where relevant, and statutory bodies including planning, building control, fire authorities, and the CQC.

• Chair design reviews, technical workshops, and clinical user group sessions. Translate complex technical content into clear decisions for non-technical stakeholders.

• Provide technical leadership on sustainability, net zero targets, BREEAM certification, and the NHS Net Zero Building Standard.

• Mentor and develop junior technical staff, building bench strength in healthcare design capability.

Experience we need

This is a senior appointment. We are looking for a demonstrable track record, not potential.

• Minimum 20 years of post-qualification experience in the built environment, in roles of increasing technical and leadership responsibility.

• An architectural or technical background. This could be gained in an architectural practice, with a tier one contractor, or with a healthcare specialist consultancy. What matters is the depth of technical understanding and the ability to lead a design team.

• Direct hands-on experience on at least one UK hospital scheme at or above £500 million, ideally at £1 billion plus. A portfolio that is limited to non-healthcare work will not meet the bar.

• Deep working knowledge of clinical adjacencies, departmental planning, patient flow, infection control principles, imaging and diagnostic suites, theatre complexes, critical care, and the operational requirements of an acute hospital.

• Fluency in HTMs, HBNs, and the NHS technical standards framework. The successful candidate will have applied these in anger, not just referenced them.

• Evidence of leading design teams on live construction sites, with the scars to show for it. This role is not for someone who has spent their career in concept design.

• Strong commercial awareness. An understanding of how design decisions translate into cost, programme, and risk.

• Experience of collaborative delivery models such as NEC4 Alliance, ProCure23, the NHP Hospital 2.0 Alliance, or equivalent framework arrangements is a strong advantage.

Qualifications

• A professional qualification in architecture, architectural technology, or a related engineering discipline. ARB, RIBA, CIAT, or equivalent chartered status.

• A degree in architecture, architectural technology, building engineering, or a cognate subject.

• Current CSCS card at appropriate level.

• SMSTS or equivalent site management safety training desirable.

Personal attributes

• Clear, direct communicator. Able to hold technical authority in a room of consultants while translating for clinical and trust stakeholders.

• Decisive under pressure. Comfortable making and defending judgment calls on incomplete information.

• Collaborative by instinct. Hospital programmes are delivered by coalitions, not by individuals.

• High standards. The Design Director sets the tone for design quality across the scheme.

• Commercially literate. Understands that design excellence and commercial discipline are not in tension.

• Comfortable with scrutiny. Major healthcare programmes attract political, clinical, and public attention.

Package

A competitive executive package commensurate with a programme of this scale and complexity. Details available on application.

• Base salary benchmarked against senior design leadership on NHP and comparable major programmes.

• Car or car allowance.

• Performance-related bonus.

• Pension, private medical, and full executive benefits package.