Woods Bagot has announced the appointment of Stanton Kroenert as Regional Health Sector Leader, based in the Brisbane Studio and working across the region.

The appointment of Stanton, a leading health designer and health service planner, signals an increased focus on the health design sector for Woods Bagot.

“I am delighted to join Woods Bagot as part of the Education, Science and Health sector,” says Stanton. “I look forward to working with the firm’s dedicated architects to deliver world-class health design and contribute to changing and improving the state of the art in healing design.”

Stanton joins Woods Bagot after a long career in health architecture and health service planning where he has led around 150 health projects. Most recently, Stanton was a Director of Hames Sharley, opening their Brisbane studio in 2009. Prior to this, he created and led the health sector at S2F, where he was the leader for the original reference design for the AUD 1.8 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH). Stanton was involved from the inception of this project, which included health service planning and developed the brief, for not only the SCUH, but also the supporting facilities in the Sunshine Coast Health Service District.

He was also responsible for the design of the Nambour Hospital Ward Block, which at the time was seen as a prototype for what may be possible in the new SCUH. In this design, Stanton introduced an 8-bed pod arrangement, an innovation in ward design that resulted in a more efficient staffing model, as well as introducing sleep pods for visitors in patient bedrooms that are built into the window sill, offering added amenity without sacrificing floor space.

This was as a result of collaboration with various Stakeholders, and examining the benefits for patients’ wellbeing through the use of Evidence Based Design. “I believe in continuously expanding my library of health design innovations, and in every project, I try to include one design feature which has not been seen before,” explains Stanton.

Previous to S2F, Stanton worked at the Health Science Planning Consultants, as well being part of the creation of the health arm of Hames Sharley more than 15 years ago. He counts the concept design for Wenzhou Hospital in China as one of his most satisfying projects. With 2900 beds and 150 operating theatres, this was to be one of the largest hospitals in the world, presenting a major health planning, logistical and design challenge.

Stanton has spent his entire 20 year career designing health buildings, and he has degrees in both Architecture and Health Service Planning.

Regional Executive Chairman Mark Mitcheson-Low says, “Stanton is a well-known, visionary leader with local and international expertise in health design and delivery. We look forward to working with him on the next phase of health architecture projects within the firm.”

Stanton Kroenert is affiliated with Australian and International health organisations that feed the research basis of his work. “Woods Bagot’s focus on Evidence-Based Design in the health field will continue to inform high level thinking for projects both in Australia and globally,” says Stanton. “In addition, our focus on salutogenic design ensures that we will build health environments that help patients get well, rather than just stopping them becoming more unwell.”

Woods Bagot

woodsbagot.com.au