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Hospital redevelopment gets go ahead

By James Ledward
Jan 27, 2012 - 6:17:38 PM
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Brighton & Hove City Council’s planning committee today unanimously approved a £420m redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
 
Main components of the scheme are a central block shaped like a letter ‘W’ rising to 12 storeys, plus a five-storey building to the west, mainly housing a new cancer centre.
 
The existing Thomas Kemp Tower will have a helicopter pad added. 

The grade 2 listed hospital chapel will be dismantled and resited.
 
The old main hospital buildings dating from 1826 will be demolished as they have become unsuitable for delivering modern medicine.
 
The development will bring £550,000 worth of public transport improvements plus a roof garden on the lower new building, open to patients and the public.

The development will provide modern wards, expand the neurosciences centre and create a Major Trauma Centre for the region. There will be 100 additional beds. The Sussex Cancer Centre will be rebuilt and there will be an expansion of teaching facilities.
 
Some 390 parking spaces will be available to patients and visitors.  Currently limited parking on site is mostly taken up by staff, leaving a shortage for visitors.
 
New buildings will reach national ‘excellent’ environmental standards and the entire project will take around 10 years to complete.  Work will be undertaken in phases to ensure continuity of service.
 
Chair of the planning committee Councillor Phelim MacCafferty said:
“This is the biggest development the city has seen. The injection of £400m from the Royal Sussex development is brilliant news. Today we’ve recognised the need to keep our city at the forefront of public healthcare provision. It demonstrates that we are committed to working with applicants of large-scale developments to deliver high-quality plans for the city.
 
“When the economy is looking unstable, this important development for the city will also create hundreds of jobs and apprenticeships both in the construction of the hospital and its operation. Importantly a minimum of 20% of the construction workers will be local.”
 
“The council was always supportive of the principle of getting a state-of-the-art regional trauma hospital into Brighton.  The debate has been about the detail – things such as transport, the mass of the building and its impact on the neighbourhood.
 
“I would like to thank the hospital’s developers for carrying out a comprehensive public consultation. Planning officers have also worked incredibly quickly and efficiently to process such a huge application in such a short time.  They have negotiated major improvements on the development to reduce its bulk and mass and soften its impacts on neighbours."
 
The planning application can be viewed at:
 http://bit.ly/wSOQD8
 


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