Overdale demolition appeal officially halted

Wednesday 28 September 2022

The bid to demolish buildings at Overdale to make way for a new hospital has officially been halted by Government.

The Our Hospital project team instructed the planning consultants, Temple, to withdraw the appeal against planning refusal on 15 September, Express can confirm.

The application to demolish buildings at Overdale was first put forward last year, but unanimously rejected by the Planning Committee in February of this year amid concerns about the loss of newer and well-used facilities such as the William Knott centre. Ministers decided to appeal the rejection - but this was put on hold as a result of the main hospital planning application and the election.

Should the new Government wish to use any part of the Overdale site in future, including space currently occupied by derelict buildings, a new application for demolition will have to be put forward.

The instruction came around two weeks after new Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet, who is leading a review of the hospital project, said the island could no longer afford the proposed £805m 'health campus' - which included an additional two-storey Knowledge Centre, single-storey Mental Health Centre and five-level multi-storey carpark - and that the Governent were seeking a smaller and cheaper alternative.

Pictured: Many of the buildings at Overdale are in a state of serious disrepair.

Although what smaller and cheaper alternative will replace it is yet to be determined, Andium's work on around 100 building homes at Kensington Place has been halted in case the land is required for an expansion of the existing hospital site.

While Rok FCC had been named the 'Design and Delivery Partner' for the project, no delivery contract was signed.

However, there has been speculation that the Government will have to pay off the provider for cancelling the project.

Treasury Minister Deputy Ian Gorst told Express earlier this month that he didn't think this should happen, however.

Pictured: The Government has cancelled a project to build Andium homes in Kensington Place while a review of the next steps in the hospital project take place.

"There might be some issue around the strike price of the contract; that there is an assumption that Government has to sign this big contract with them, and I don't think it does," he said.

"I think whoever is going to do this [the contractor] needs to sharpen their pencil in a way they have not done yet. I also think we need to ask ourselves, in the current climate, is it right to be beholden to one big contractor who thinks they can dictate the price?"

As well as planning permission and a delivery partner, any new hospital project will also need its own new funding model.

Last year, the States Assembly agreed borrowing of up to £756m to fund the £804.5m project.

However, with the Overdale project now officially off the table, it has been confirmed that fresh funding proposals will have to be approved by the States Assembly.