Manchanda Associates taking health-care facilities to a new height

“Manchanda Associates has taken a conscious decision to concentrate on health-care facility planning,” says Architect Shamit Manchanda
Manchanda Associates was established in 1993 after R. C. Manchanda left the Government of India service as chief architect, after working for more than 30 years, and Shamit Manchanda left a well-known consultancy in order to start their own firm. In a conversation with ACE Update, Architect Shamit Manchanda shares how Manchanda Associates has been growing from strength to strength.
The journeyManchanda Associates is a professional consultancy firm, offering expertise in architecture, interiors, health-care buildings as well as urban and environmental design.The team comprises of principle architect R. C. Manchanda, a graduate from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (1955) and post graduate in community planning from McGill University, Canada (1970) and Shamit Manchanda, a graduate from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (1989).
The firm today specialises in health-care architecture, having prestigious projects.
Remarkable achievementsEven with the long professional experience of Architect R. C. Manchanda in the government, establishing own practice is a totally different challenge. Clients wanted to see what we were capable of achieving. The practice started initially with handling residential buildings, small factories, interiors and so forth. The first big project was a 176-bedded expansion of the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in New Delhi.
The turning part in our practice came in 2007 after winning a national level design competition to design the expansion of Nizam’s Institute of Medical Science in Hyderabad. It was an opportunity to move into bigger projects. The whole office really put in all its efforts for this competition from understanding the requirements to coming out with a solution that was not only functionally acceptable to the client, aesthetically pleasing and also environmentally sustainable.
The methodologies adopted for functional planning laid a basis for all our future health-care projects.
This led to win another national level design completion to design the “Centre for Excellence in Transfusion Medicine & Metro Blood Bank” project in New Delhi.
Days aheadManchanda Associates has taken a conscious decision to concentrate on health-care facility planning. The Indian health-care industry is expected to reach $230 billion by 2020. Such exciting growth responds to various demographic and economic trends, including an increasing population, rise in disposable income, increasing consumerism and demand for high-quality health care as well as increased government spending on public health care. A substantial portion of this value is expected to be devoted to develop health-care infrastructure.
There is a serious push to develop health-care facilities in Tier-2 and Tier-3 Indian cities that were lacking earlier in health-care infrastructure. The key driver for public health-care projects is to increase capacity and provide more beds to meet the high demand for health-care services now and in future. This will ensure a lot of work for those involved in health-care infrastructure development.
We have recently started work on a super specialty hospital in Sri Ganganagar, Rajastahn and another in Greater Noida.
While the future holds a lot of opportunities for development, the architects must always keep in mind their roles in making it a sustainable environment.
Architects create the platform, the stage on which our lives unfold. This gives them a great responsibility towards society.
Completed projectsSanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, New DelhiA 176-bedded maternity and child block, emergency block and additional facilities at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Mangolpuri, New Delhi, for Ministry of Health, Govt. of Delhi. (Cost Rs. 25 crore).
Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad. A 500-bedded expansion to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, under the Pradhan Mantri Swastha Suraksha Yojna (Cost ` 125 crore).
Medical College and Hospital, TezpurA 500-bedded teaching hospital in Bihogur, Tezpur, Assam, for Society of Medical Education, Govt. of Assam (Cost ` 50 crore).
Ongoing projectsCentre for Excellence in Transfusion Medicine, New Delhi Centre for Excellence in Transfusion Medicine and Metro Blood Bank in New Delhi for NACO, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India (Cost `  50 crore).
Guru Gobind Singh Govt. Hospital, New Delhi150-bedded Maternity and Paediatric Wards and Doctors Hostel at Guru Gobind Singh Govt. Hospital, Raghubir Nagar, New Delhi, for Ministry of Health, Govt. of Delhi. (Cost `  62 crore).
S. N. Super Specialty Hospital, Sri Ganganagar  A 126-bedded super speciality hospital in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan

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