The transformation of a trade fair and exhibition centre into a field hospital for COVID-19 patients via multi-utility tunnels

•Multi-utility tunnels (MUTs) enable quick adaptation of buildings.•Large multi-use buildings must be designed with a long-term vision.•MUTs have contributed save lives of COVID-19 patients.•Transformation of an exhibition hall into a field hospital via MUTs in just 100 h.•The quality of life in cities largely depends on the quality of their infrastructures. This article exposes, through the case study of the IFEMA Trade Fair and Exhibition Centre in Madrid (Spain), the benefits of using a multi-utility tunnels (MUTs) system as a smart and sustainable solution for the distribution of utility networks in buildings, or in complexes made up of several buildings, to enable their quick and continuous adaptation. The saturation of the health system in the capital of Spain, motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic, forced the authorities in Madrid to improvise an emergency centre in this building. The multi-utility tunnels system was the key enabling element to deploy the necessary networks, including those for medical gases, to convert several exhibition halls into a field hospital with a maximum capacity of 5000 conventional beds and another 500 Intensive Care Unit beds, in just 100 h.