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Primary care trusts new guidance
Our capital build projects
The NHS is one of the largest and most complex property portfolios in Europe. In England, we own 9,000 hectares of land and 25 million square meters of buildings – this is equivalent to the size of Bristol.
Every year, we invest almost £2 billion in capital build projects. These projects give us the opportunity to display the NHS brand and identity on our building sites to show the public how we are investing in the future of the health services, and how public money is spent.
It is the main contractor who is responsible for providing and maintaining any NHS branding on site – but any design specification must be based on these guidelines. This should be clearly stated in the project contract.
Branding our building sites
The extent to which the NHS brand is implemented on the building site depends on the size of the project.
- If the project has a capital or works value of £100,000 or more, it must display the NHS corporate identity. This applies to both publicly and privately funded schemes (ie PFI).
- If the project has a capital or works value of less than £100,000, the project manager can use their own judgement to decide how to implement these guidelines.
Using these guidelines
Because every project is different and has its own requirements, we suggest using your judgement and common sense when applying these guidelines. It’s important that you implement all the parts of the guidelines that are mandatory and we suggest you consider the advisory and optional branding, and apply the ones that are suitable for your project.
Mandatory branding
Advisory branding
Optional branding
Key principles for using the NHS brand at building sites
Making the brand part of the process
- The design and production of NHS-branded material should form an integral part of the overall contract agreement, and should be produced in the most cost-effective way possible.
- The signage should be an essential part of the original scheme brief, the approved business case and the design specification.
Using the NHS logo
- When applying the NHS logo, make sure you download the original NHS artwork.
- Use your judgement to make sure that the NHS logo is used in an appropriate way and communicates our message correctly.
- In general, you should position the NHS logo in the top right corner of any application. However, there may be products or applications where it may be more appropriate to place it more centrally - use your judgement based on the examples shown in these guidelines.
Last updated: 13/11/08
Download Guidelines
Download Brand Guidelines for Primary care trusts new guidance - PDF (7.49 MB)
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