Work will start later this month on the first phase of the redevelopment of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
The £48m project will go ahead after the Scottish Government approved the Full Business Case and confirmed a further £120m would be made available for future phases of the campus revamp.
Throughout this project we have listened to what matters to people and are confident that the new buildings will deliver an excellent mental health facility that will open a new chapter in the hospital’s proud 200-year history
Work will include a new state-of-the-art facility for adult acute mental health inpatient services, an older people’s mental health assessment unit, an intensive psychiatric care service (IPCU), and the new Robert Fergusson national brain injury unit.
David Small, chairman of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital Project Board at NHS Lothian said: “To have reached this point in the project is extremely pleasing. To think that work will soon start is exciting and is the culmination of much hard work and effort on the part of staff, patients and the team involved with the project.
“We expect construction of the £48m first phase to start later this month and so the timing of this announcement of further funding could not have been better.
“This will now allow us to bring together phases two, three and four of the project and will mean that these works should be completed sooner than we had initially anticipated.
“Throughout this project we have listened to what matters to people and are confident that the new buildings will deliver an excellent mental health facility that will open a new chapter in the hospital’s proud 200-year history.”
Health Secretary, Alex Neil, added: “With full business case approval now granted, work will soon get underway on this exciting phase of the project. The new facilities will ensure that patients can benefit from modern, fit for purpose facilities, while also benefitting the local community through investment in the area.
“Our recent announcement of an additional £400m programme of health investments includes a further £120m of investment at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital that will see the completion of the site’s redevelopment.
“The new campus, which is part of the Scottish Government’s £1.15billion revenue-financed investment in health infrastructure across Scotland, will also see efficient use of energy, water and waste management to reduce costs and carbon emissions.”
The redevelopment of the hospital site will be undertaken in partnership with Hub South East Scotland, which has appointed Morrison Construction – part of the Galliford Try Group - as the preferred phase one contractor.
We look forward to continuing our successful partnership with NHS Lothian to ensure that patients will benefit from modern, fit-for-purpose facilities and the community will benefit from investment in the local area
Paul McGirk, chief executive of Hub South East Scotland, said: “We’ve been involved in this project from the beginning, so it’s exciting to reach this major milestone and know that work will soon be able to start on construction to make these plans a reality.
“We look forward to continuing our successful partnership with NHS Lothian to ensure that patients will benefit from modern, fit-for-purpose facilities and the community will benefit from investment in the local area.”
The Royal Edinburgh Hospital provides acute psychiatric and mental health services, including treatment for learning disabilities and dementia.
The redevelopment of the campus is planned to be undertaken in phased stages. The projected timescale for completion of phase one is autumn 2016.
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