The Monklands project shows that true digital transformation is about much more than models and data platforms, writes Kathleen Baird, associate director at WSP
When we talk about digital transformation in the built environment, the conversation often focuses on tools such as BIM models, data platforms and digital twins. But in healthcare, that framing misses the point.
Digital isn’t just a layer we add to a project. It fundamentally shapes how a hospital is designed, delivered and operated, and ultimately how patients experience care.
Through our work on New University Hospital Monklands, we’ve been exploring what it really takes to deliver on the ambition of a “fully digital hospital”. And one of the biggest lessons is this – digital only works when it is grounded in outcomes, not technology.
Start with outcomes, not tools
On Monklands, the brief wasn’t simply to “use digital better”. It was to support a forward-looking clinical model shaped around patient care, staff wellbeing and long-term performance.
That changes the role of digital from the outset.
Instead of asking what tools we can deploy, we start with questions like how we reduce friction in clinical workflows, how we help estates teams operate the building more efficiently over decades and how we give decision-makers clearer, earlier insight into risks.
That thinking is what has driven the development of multiple digital twin use cases across the programme, not as an end in themselves, but as a way of answering very specific operational and clinical challenges.
Think beyond “the model”
One of the biggest misconceptions in the industry is that a digital twin is just a more advanced version of a BIM model.
On Monklands, we’re working towards something much broader: a set of interconnected digital representations that reflect different aspects of the hospital, from the physical
asset to clinical processes and patient pathways.
That shift matters. It moves digital from being design-centric to being whole-life focused, supporting everything from construction to day-to-day operations.
It also forces a more disciplined approach to data. If information isn’t structured, owned and aligned early, it doesn’t become more valuable over time – it becomes harder to use.
Digital and safety must go hand in hand
Another critical area where digital is changing the conversation is building safety.
Traditionally, elements like firestopping are verified late in the construction process, when changes are costly and disruptive. On Monklands, we’re embedding a more proactive approach by using digital tools to identify and visualise potential issues much earlier in design.
This isn’t just about compliance. It’s about giving teams confidence in what they’re building, reducing risk and improving programme certainty.
The Building Safety Act has sharpened the focus on this, but the principle is broader: digital should make safety information clearer, more accessible and easier to act on
– not just more detailed.
Digital only works if everyone can engage with it
One of the more practical lessons from Monklands has been around engagement.
It’s easy to design digital processes that work well for technical teams. It’s much harder, and more important, to ensure they work for everyone, including clinical stakeholders who may not interact with digital tools day to day.
That has meant designing processes that are inclusive, combining structured digital workflows with approaches that allow input from across the project team. Because if stakeholders can’t engage meaningfully with the information, the quality of decisions suffers.
In that sense, digital transformation is as much about people and behaviours as it is about technology.
A different mindset for digital delivery
What Monklands reinforces is that delivering a “fully digital hospital” isn’t a single milestone. It’s about being receptive to both a process and mindset shift in order to facilitate delivering a project that breaks current barriers.
It requires early agreement on outcomes and use cases, strong information management and governance, collaboration across disciplines and a focus on usability, not just capability.
Most importantly, it requires us to stop thinking about digital as something separate from design and delivery. It’s embedded in both.
As the healthcare sector continues to evolve, with increasing pressure on estates, workforce and budgets, that integrated approach becomes even more important.
Digital gives us the opportunity to improve how hospitals are designed and how they perform over time. But only if we stay focused on what really matters: better environments for staff, better outcomes for patients and more resilient, future-ready healthcare systems.
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