Designs for £237m Alder Hey Children's Hospital unveiled

Published: 28-May-2012

Flagship new hospital will create \'Alder Hey in the Park\'

Designs for the £237m revamp of one of the UK’s leading children’s hospitals were unveiled today.

The artist’s impressions are based on the vision of one of the young patients at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

Under the plans, once the new hospital opens in 2015, the current buildings on the Springfield Park site will be demolished and turned into parkland.

The modern new Alder Hey building will have six 32-bed wards, each with two four-bed bays and 24 single en-suite rooms to enhance the privacy and dignity of patients. These will include a total of 48 critical care beds for patients in intensive care, high dependency and burns units. Measuring a total of 60,000 sq m, it will also have 16 operating theatres, four for day-case surgery and 12 inpatient facilities.

The designs for the hospital have been inspired by children and it was a drawing from one of our patients that inspired the design we see today

In addition, the design, which was unveiled by Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, also features landscaped gardens and play areas on every ward, together with 1,200 parking spaces, 200 more than provided on the current site.

And it will set a precedent for sustainability, with 60% of the energy needed to run the facility generated on site.

Louise Shepherd, chief executive of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are extremely proud of the care that takes place every day in our hospital. However, it is credit to our staff that they continue to provide quality healthcare in a building that is old and overcrowded, with limited room for expansion.

“The designs for the hospital have been inspired by children and it was a drawing from one of our patients that inspired the design we see today. We felt it was really important to design this hospital with the help of our children who have been involved throughout the development phase.

Designs for £237m Alder Hey Children's Hospital unveiled

“The new hospital will be fantastic for our patients, families and staff and will enable us to achieve our ambition as an internationally-renowned children’s hospital.”

Our design concept has not only captured the imagination of children, parents and staff, but has also demonstrated itself as a flexible and effective approach, which has evolved through a significant number of user engagement meetings and allowed us to fine tune the clinical layouts and optimise adjacencies to an unprecedented level

Programme director, David Powell, added: “Moving next door to Springfield Park will mean the building can blend into its surroundings and become a hospital in the park. There will be views from most windows and every child will be able to see green space and nature from their room. The development will also give the local community a new and better park than they have now. Along with much better facilities for our patients, there will also be better facilities for parents and families, including more parents’ rooms, plenty of gardens, and a 150-seat restaurant facility.”

As a specialist hospital, Alder Hey provides 275,000 episodes of care to children and young people every year. It is one of Europe’s biggest and busiest children’s hospitals with a national and international reputation as a centre of excellence for children with cancer, heart, spinal and brain disease. However, the care is currently provided in buildings that are almost 100 years old and are not fit for providing modern-day services.

It’s a unique and instantly recognisable design that will help to promote Alder Hey’s care, teaching and research across the UK and internationally, and give children and their families the very best therapeutic environment

A large proportion of the work will be funded by cash surpluses generated by Alder Hey and from the trust's charity. Since Alder Hey became a foundation trust, this has also enabled it to set a longer-term financial savings programme. This means that, year on year, the cash surpluses generated are savings to invest in the new hospital, an achievement that would not have been possible if Alder Hey had not achieved this status. The remaining £104m required will be funded through a PFI deal.

The construction work will be carried out by the trust’s preferred bidder, the Acorn Consortium, made up of InterServe, John Laing and Laing O’Rourke. Under the agreement, Laing O’Rourke Construction will design and build the new hospital and Interserve will provide the hard facilities management services.

Financial close is expected this winter, with work starting on site in 2013.

Designs for £237m Alder Hey Children's Hospital unveiled

Speaking on behalf of Acorn, John Laing’s director of healthcare projects, Peter Ward, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Alder Hey to develop the new hospital, giving the trust’s staff and patients a hospital that matches the quality of their care. It’s a unique and instantly recognisable design that will help to promote Alder Hey’s care, teaching and research across the UK and internationally, and give children and their families the very best therapeutic environment.”

Benedict Zucchi, the lead architect for the project at BDP Architects, added: “Our design concept has not only captured the imagination of children, parents and staff, but has also demonstrated itself as a flexible and effective approach, which has evolved through a significant number of user engagement meetings and allowed us to fine tune the clinical layouts and optimise adjacencies to an unprecedented level.”

Designs for £237m Alder Hey Children's Hospital unveiled

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