Today sees the release of artists’ impressions of how the new Edinburgh Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Clinical Neurosciences will look when it opens in 2017.
The use of light and colour is evident throughout the design, along with the impressive entrances to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children from Old Dalkeith Road, and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, opposite the entrance to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
The new six-floor development - including a basement - will have a large atrium with a shop and café, a stunning skylight linking both entrances, a high percentage of single en-suite rooms with good natural light, a helipad on the roof, and a link building joining adult and paediatric emergency departments.
Janice Mackenzie, clinical Director for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Clinical Neurosciences at NHS Lothian, said: “Seeing these new designs really brings home just how the new building will look once it's completed.
"Lots of hard work has gone into getting the project to this stage and we have taken account of patients, staff and visitors opinions on how they want the building to look and feel.
“Over the next few months we will be working closely with HLM Architects to finalise the designs and we are confident that once the new building is completed it will provide a first-class centre for healthcare.”
John Ballantyne, bid director at Integrated Health Solutions Lothian, added: “Integrated Health Solutions Lothian is delighted to be part of such an exciting project where we will design, build, finance and maintain the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Clinical Neurosciences.
“This new development will bring together the children’s hospital, department of clinical neuroscience, child and adolescent mental health services all on one site. We look forward to working with NHS Lothian to deliver one of Scotland’s major healthcare facilities.”
And Scottish Health Secretary, Alex Neil, welcomed the images. He said: “These are fantastic pictures which show how the new hospital will look, and show that the new building will enable children from Lothian and the surrounding areas to be treated in the best possible surroundings. “This project is part of a £750m health revenue finance pipeline delivering a range of improvements to hospital and community health facilities right across Scotland.
"High-quality health services as close to home as possible is what the people of Scotland want, and that is something this Government is determined to give them.”
NHS Lothian, working alongside Integrated Health Solutions Lothian, is progressing with planning consent and full business case approval from the City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Government respectively.
If approved, construction work would start in autumn 2014, with the hospital opening in the summer of 2017.
The new facility will be constructed on the site of car park B at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. It will be delivered by Brookfield Multiplex Construction Europe, with Bouygues E&S FM UK as FM provider.
The project is the first acute hospital facility to be procured under the Scottish Government’s Non Profit Distributing (NPD) model.
The entrance to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children
