Every healthcare client now asks about surge capacity. The honest answer is that surge is rarely a bed-count problem. It is an air, access and services problem.
The wards that converted successfully during the last crisis were the ones with generous floor-to-floor heights, oversized risers and ventilation zoning that could be isolated without shutting a whole floor.
None of those are glamorous line items. They are the first things value-engineered out of a budget, and the first things regretted.
Our position is straightforward: build the structural and services generosity once, because it is the only part of a hospital that cannot be retrofitted cheaply later.