Hospital demolition plans include properties still to be purchased

Wednesday 18 April 2018

Plans to demolish the Stafford and Revere Hotels, as well as residential units along Kensington Place, have gone in with the revised planning application for the Future Hospital - despite negotiations still ongoing to purchase the buildings.

Submitted this week, the revised proposal for the hospital includes a lower, wider facility and stays within the £466 million approved budget.

Some areas of the current hospital building will also be knocked down including Peter Crill House, the Gwyneth Huelin Wing, Westaway Court and the 1960’s and 1980’s blocks to make way for the new hospital.

While the compulsory purchase and demolition of nearby hospitality establishments and residences also forms a key part of the plan, documents submitted alongside the application revealed that "negotiations are active and continuing for the acquisition of the Sutherland Court and Stafford and Revere Hotels."

Back in January, Mike Waddington - an architect working with both hotel premises - told Express that owners remained in limbo, as they awaited confirmation from the States of the next steps. He stated that they “eagerly await the outcome of the next steps in the Future Hospital project and remain keen to discuss the disposal of their site with them." Planning documents show that process is still ongoing three months later.

Pictured: Hotels to be demolished to make way for the £466million Future Hospital.

The original hospital plan was rejected by the Planning Minister earlier this year, after an Independent Planning Inspector labelled the nine-storey development as “grossly out of scale of the immediate surroundings”, making the project team go back and revise their idea.

They’ve now come back with a lower development, standing at 34 metres high, which is lower than the current 1980’s hospital block, and with a wider footprint, which will be built three storeys tall increasing to six storeys in the centre of the development, without encroaching on anymore surrounding buildings than the ones previously included.

The team have managed to do this by redeveloping more of the original hospital building, which was previously kept aside in the first plan as scope to grow the health facilities to meet future demands – therefore shortening the lifespan of the new £466 million capital project.

Pictured: Illustrative designs of the hospital development planned at Westaway Court across Parade Gardens. (Health Department)

The lower hospital design means the way the development is carried out and how the facility is fuelled has changed. The old-fashioned boiler room won’t be needed anymore as the hospital will be run off electric, and the project will be developed over three stages, which will mean it’s clinically operational by 2024, and completely finished by 2027.  

The planning application states the illustrative scheme submitted is not the final design, but merely an interpretation of the parameter plans and design principles – including the scale of the design and environmental impacts - which the project team say’s “provides a degree of certainty about the nature of development that will be delivered.”

The application also states that the revised design also encourages “sustainable transport choices and future mode shift to non car-based travel” as it only includes the construction of 58 extra parking spaces at Patriotic street car park, and doubles the amount of staff bike parking to 150 spaces.

Pictured: The current hospital could be replaced by 2027, if the revised plans are given planning permission.  

It’s hoped the 1,300sqm of outdoor space and roof decks also included in the revised hospital plan will enhance the patients wellbeing.

Although the hospital project team admit there will be noise, air quality and traffic during the construction phase, they have been considered to be of low risk to human health and the water environment.

The new future hospital plans were first unveiled to the public last month, but now islanders can see and comment on them online. Another public planning inquiry is expected to happen in September 2018.

Pictured: Illustrations of the revised design of the future hospital which is lower and wider than the original plan. (Health Department)

A spokesperson for the hospital project team said: “We’re pleased to have reached another important landmark in the project by submitting this application. We hope many Islanders will take the opportunity to have a look at the plans online, and we will also be holding further engagement events during the coming months where members of the team will be available to answer queries.”