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The former Les Quennevais School – which is currently undergoing a £15m transformation into a hospital - is due to be handed over to the Government in July with outpatient services expected to open before the end of the year.
Under the former Our Hospital plan, the empty school was going to temporarily house many of the services currently provided at Overdale while the latter site was cleared and rebuilt as a £804m ‘health campus’.
While the new Government has abandoned that plan – arguing that it is now unaffordable – it is continuing with the Les Quennevais component, not least because a contract for the work had already been signed with contractor RoK by the previous Council of Ministers.
Originally, the school – which became vacant in 2020 – was going to stay open until the end of 2026, when Overdale was due to reopen as a single-site hospital.
However, as part of his review into the project, Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet said it should stay open for longer.
He told the States in November that the cost of converting the school was £13m and for an additional £2m, the once-temporary hospital could be made to last 25 years.
In this year’s Government Plan, Members have agreed to allocate £7m to transform the old school into a medical facility, initially funded through short-term borrowing.
Last week, Deputy Binet and members of the Future Hospital Review Panel visited the site, where they were given a presentation on the progression of the ‘Overdale Reprovision’ project.
Pictured: Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet with Future Hospital Review Panel chair Deputy Sam Mézec, and Panel members Deputy Lyndsay Feltham and Constable Mike Jackson.
Deputy Binet was joined by the Panel Chair, Deputy Sam Mézec, and Panel members Deputy Lyndsay Feltham and Constable Mike Jackson.
Deputy Binet said: “I want to thank the members of the Scrutiny Panel for joining me to see the excellent work being undertaken to repurpose the old Les Quennevais School site to provide flexible and modern healthcare facilities that all Islanders need, as part of our ongoing programme of work following the Our Hospital Project review.
“As part of our ongoing engagement process, HCS staff have had and will continue to have an opportunity to visit the site to see first-hand the progress made.
“This will assist them in understanding the size, layout and location of their services within the new facility which will assist them in preparing for their planned move.”
Afterwards, Deputy Feltham said: “It was very useful to see what was going on and to find out more about some of issues raised by residents, such as how the site will be accessed.
“The visit will also help inform future questions about the suitability of the former school as a long-term health facility.”
The approved plans for Les Quennevais include the creation of two access roads for homes off Clos des Sables.
141 parking spaces will be available in the playground, with a car park reserved for staff to be accessed from Clos des Sables.
The former school is currently surrounded by hoarding while Rok makes significant changes to the internal structure of the buildings.
Services that were due to move to Les Quennevais from Overdale include:
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