4 November 2011
Hundreds of local residents, patients, councillors, staff and volunteers attended public exhibitions recently (13 and 21 October 2011) to view the latest designs for the redevelopment of St Helier Hospital.
Before making detailed planning applications to the council, the team in charge of the £219 million project unveiled the latest plans for the very first time, and over 300 people visited the exhibitions at St Helier and Sutton hospitals to give their views.
Tim Wilkins is the project director for the St Helier redevelopment. He said: "It was absolutely fantastic that so many local people attended the events, which were a great opportunity for us to meet people and tell them about the project in more detail.
"People were extremely positive about the project, and it was very useful to be able to explain the huge amount of work that is going on behind-the-scenes in preparation for the building work to begin.
"They were able to give their views on the designs for the hospital's brand new multi-level car park, as well as how we plan to move our clinics from areas where the demolition will take place to Sutton Hospital, temporarily, so that we're ready to start knocking the existing building down in 2013.
"It was an invaluable opportunity to answer questions that many local people have, including the timescale for the building work, and the work we are doing to reduce demands for car parking during the works."
Tim added: "We're really keen to involve local people as we move forward with the redevelopment and we'll be holding further events as our plans progress."
Work on the new building is due to start in 2014 and to be completed and opened in 2017.
Key facts about the redevelopment of St Helier Hospital:
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£127 million to be spent on new hospital building;
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£40 million spent on upgrading remainder of the site;
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£17 million local care centre;
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346 beds, including 50 per cent in single rooms;
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Purpose-built outpatients department;
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New pharmacy department;
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Centralised eye clinic;
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Multi-decked car park and improvements to hospital entrances/exits.
