Plans are being finalised for two new hospitals in Birmingham.
Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (BWC) said its Big Build project was gathering pace, with feedback being sought from key stakeholders via a survey.
The scheme would see two new blocks built, one on the Birmingham Children’s Hospital site; and another to replace Birmingham Women’s Hospital.
To be designed by BDP in partnership with Arup, Archus and WT Partnership; construction work is expected to begin in 2023, with doors opening in 2025.
BWC acting chief executive, David Melbourne, said: “Any new building requires us to make decisions about what is most important and it’s really important to us that the initial design principles we agree, and which will feature throughout the project, are those that mean most to everyone who will use these facilities.
”The interest we have received in the Big Build so far has been fantastic and there has been so much excitement about what our future could look like with two new hospital buildings.
“Whether a patient, family member or visitor, member of staff, or a local resident; we want to hear from everyone in our survey.
“This asks for big ideas and thoughts, and we’re happy to hear as much as people want to share.”
Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, the trust’s chairman, a former Birmingham surgeon, and national medical director for the NHS, added: “The children’s hospital is now 123 years old, the infrastructure is crumbling, the wards are cramped, and the Victorian architecture, while beautiful from the outside, is simply not fit for the practice of current complex medicine, let alone fit for a future of increasing complexity.
“Similarly, the women’s hospital is struggling to function at 30% above the capacity for which it was designed 60 years ago.
“Despite the outdated estate our clinicians continue to provide essential regional and national highly-specialist services and conduct leading-edge research. This is simply unsustainable in the current set of buildings given the very-real implications of evolving medical science and technology for advanced diagnostics and medical therapies.”
Funding for the work has not yet been secured, but some of the money is likely to come from a combination of receipts from the sale of vacated land, supported by national funding and fundraising support through the trust’s charity.